Northern Territory drug trends 2005: Findings from the Illicit Drug Reporting System
NDARC Technical Report No. 243
NDARC Technical Report No. 243
This report presents the results of the 2005 Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) for the Northern Territory (NT). This is the seventh year that the IDRS has been conducted in the NT.
The IDRS is coordinated by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) which is part of the University of NSW. It is jointly funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (the Department) and by the National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund (NDLERF).
The IDRS combines data from a survey of injecting drug users (IDU), a survey of key experts (KE) and the collation of illicit drug-related indicator data to monitor the price, purity and availability of a range of illicit drug classes and to identify emerging trends in illicit drug use and the illicit drug market.
Demographic characteristics of injecting drug users
As in previous years, the IDU sample was primarily male (71%), aged in the mid-to-late-thirties (mean=38 years), spoke English at home, and was unemployed (81%). Fifteen percent of the sample identified as indigenous, 56% had been in prison, and 24% were in treatment at the time of interview.
Patterns of drug use among IDU
The five illicit drugs most commonly used by the IDU sample in the last six months remain unchanged from the previous year: morphine, cannabis, speed powder, benzodiazepines and some form of methadone. Morphine use and injection among the IDU remains stable compared to last year; diverted MS Contin is still the preferred form, although Kapanol use is increasing. Recent speed use and injection continues to rise while recent use and injection of the other two
forms of methamphetamines, base and crystal, have declined. Recent use and injection of heroin has fluctuated over the last three years. The proportion using and injecting illicit methadone syrup increased this year, with the other forms fluctuating.
Heroin
Methamphetamine
Cocaine
Cannabis
Use of illicit pharmaceuticals
Associated harms
Citation: Newman, J. and Moon, C. (2006) Northern Territory Drug Trends 2005: Findings from the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS), Sydney: National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.
Reports