Queenslanders can’t break the ice, wastewater report finds

Queensland has seen falls in the consumption of nearly all categories of illicit drugs over the past year, except for ice, according to the latest wastewater monitoring.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has released the latest report of its ongoing wastewater monitoring project, which detects the levels of both legal and illegal drugs in wastewater across the country.

Ice use declined in Queensland early in the pandemic but has since rebounded.Credit: Shannon Morris

The latest report, which takes in data from April and June this year, found drug use had trended down for most illicit substances, with a few exceptions.

Methylamphetamine, commonly known as “ice” or “meth”, remained the most-used illicit drug across the country – including Queensland.

Dr Ben Tscharke, a University of Queensland environmental researcher and one of those behind the wastewater program, said the level of ice use declined in Queensland during the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, along with the rest of the country, but had similarly rebounded since then.

He said that went against the trend for other stimulants, such as MDMA – commonly known as “ecstasy” – and cocaine, which had been steadily declining.

Like cocaine, MDMA – commonly known as “ecstasy” – has been steadily declining.Credit: Alamy

“MDMA and cocaine [use] have been steadily decreasing, while ice has recovered,” Tscharke said.

“Before COVID hit, the use of a lot of those drugs, especially cocaine, had been going up, but after COVID, they went back down, except now ice is going back up.”

Regional areas of Queensland had higher rates of ice use than metropolitan areas, while most of the state’s areas had higher consumption than the national average, with usage in June 2022 almost back to 2017 levels.

For most other drugs, usage continued to fall. Cannabis consumption in city and regional Queensland fell by more than one-third since August 2021, while cocaine use declined 50 per cent in cities and 30 per cent in regional areas from a mid-2020 peak.

Cannabis consumption in Queensland fell by more than one-third since August 2021. Credit:

ACIC’s Shane Neilson said the pandemic had affected illicit drug markets in the same way other forms of commerce declined. He said the renewed increase in ice use while other recreational drugs fell off was likely due to “market forces”.

“Like other markets across the country, drug markets have returned to more normal settings, if I can put it that way,” he said.

“For MDMA, there’s been a long-term reduction in consumption going back to 2019 because a lot of it comes from the Netherlands and the groups there that make it have switched to methylamphetamine.”

Neilson stressed that overall, illicit drug use remained low on a population level, but any reduction was welcome.

“It’s always good news when you see the use of illicit drugs decreasing because it means thousands of people around the country are making the choice not to consume drugs,” he said.

“We would love this downward trend to continue, and that’s what all enforcement agencies hope, so we’ll see what happens in another four months when the next report is released.”

Across the country, ice use was strong in both regional and capital city sites, while other drugs were split. Cocaine, heroin and ketamine consumption were higher in capital cities, while methylamphetamine, MDMA, MDA, oxycodone, fentanyl and cannabis use were higher overall in regional areas.

Alcohol use remained steady across the country, while tobacco use continued to very slowly go down, with higher use in regional areas.

The report is the latest to take in the new population data from the 2021 census, making its results more accurate.

The wastewater testing sites cover about 56 per cent of Australia’s population, or about 14.1 million Australians.