‘Ice’ use soaring in Tasmania, drug study finds

Tasmania tops the nation in the use of three drugs — and ice usage had doubles in recent years.

A NEW report has found that Tasmania’s use of the deadly drug ice has nearly doubled in just three years.

The latest Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Wastewater Drug Monitoring Report has found Hobart also had the highest average cannabis, oxycodone and MDA consumption levels of any Australian state capital in August last year.

Alcohol and nicotine are the most widely consumed drugs in Tasmania — at levels the second-highest in the nation — although use is decreasing over time. .

Tasmanian illicit drug users consume an estimated 180 kilograms of methylamphetamine a year, 16 kilograms of cocaine, 54 kilograms of MDMA and 2.8 kilograms of heroin, the survey found.

The Commission tracks the levels of methylamphetamine, amphetamine, cocaine, heroin, cannabis, oxycodone, fentanyl, nicotine, alcohol and other drugs in wastewater at various sites around Australia.

In Tasmania it analyses waste water from two Hobart and three regional wastewater treatment plants.

The report noted that Australians spent an estimated $11.3 billion on methylamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA and heroin in 2019.

The weight of methylamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, heroin, oxycodone and fentanyl consumed annually has increased over the period.

“This is one of the more tragic, harmful and wasteful aspects of illicit drug markets — expenditure on drug purchases which might otherwise have been spent in the legitimate economy generates illicit profits for the sole benefit of organised crime groups,” Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission CEO Michael Phelan said.