Based on the results of the 2004 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS), 38% of Australians aged 14 years and over had used an illicit drug at least once in their lifetime, and 15% had used an illicit drug at least once in the last 12 months. Marijuana /cannabis was the most common illicit drug used, with one in three persons having used it least once in their lifetime and 11% of the population having used it in the previous 12 months. Ecstasy and related drugs were commonly used by 12–24-year-old Australians in 2004. The most prevalent drugs from this group were ecstasy and meth/amphetamines, with 7% of persons in this age group having used each substance in the last 12 months. In particular, the highest recent use of ecstasy (13%) and meth/amphetamines (11%) were reported by 20–24-year-olds.
The same survey indicated that the pattern of alcohol consumption by the Australian population has remained relatively unchanged over the period 1991 to 2004. People were most likely to drink either weekly (41%) or less than weekly (34%), and 9% of Australians consumed alcohol on a daily basis. Around one in three people (35%) aged 14 years and over consumed alcohol in a way that put themselves at increased risk of alcohol-related harm in the short term on at least one occasion in the last 12 months. One in ten Australians consumed alcohol at levels that are considered risky or high risk for alcohol-related harm in the long term.
Smoking rates declined over the period 1991 to 2004. 17% of the Australian population aged 14 years and over were daily smokers. Approximately one in four Australians (26%) were ex-smokers and just over half the population (53%) had never smoked.
More than $53 million was expended by the NHMRC over the last five years on research into addiction and substance misuse related issues (with expenditure in 2008 of more than $11 million for 86 active research grants).
| Calendar Year |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Addiction and Substance Misuse |
$3,807,341 |
$4,749,162 |
$6,990,220 |
$8,367,415 |
$9,182,783 |
$11,324,289 |
$11,158,354 |
$11,257,642 |
$11,524,226 |
| Financial Year |
2000-01 |
2001-02 |
2002-03 |
2003-04 |
2004-05 |
2005-06 |
2006-07 |
2007-08 |
2008-09 |
Addiction and Substance Misuse |
$2,739,211 |
$4,107,229 |
$5,913,635 |
$8,009,265 |
$8,361,644 |
$10,254,607 |
$11,656,381 |
$10,918,800 |
$12,047,518 |
| Work Sheet Type |
Date |
Status |
|---|---|---|
11/Nov/08 |
Updated |
Further feedback
If you would like to give us further feedback for this dataset to improve this information send us an email.
DISCLAIMER:
The material contained on this site is made available to assist researchers, administering institutions and the general public in searching for NHMRC Grant funding information.
The Commonwealth accepts no liability for any interference with or damage to a user's computer system, software or data occurring through the download and/or usage of these data. Users are encouraged to take appropriate and adequate precautions to ensure that whatever is selected from this website is free of viruses or other contamination that may interfere with or damage the user's computer system, software or data.