The Drug Trends program triangulates data from various sources to identify emerging problems in substance use in Australia.
Information from annual interviews with people who regularly inject drugs (Illicit Drug Reporting System IDRS) and who regularly use ecstasy and other stimulants (Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System EDRS) are used alongside analyses of routinely-collected indicator data to describe changes in drug use and markets, related social issues, health and harms across Queensland and Australia over time. We prepare reports at the state and national level for each (see links below).
Drug Trends also produces interactive data visualisations that allow users to interact with program data.
National-level data (e.g., drug-related mortality and hospitalisations) are also regularly reported on to describe country-level trends in drug-related harms (National Illicit Drug Indicators Project). Availability of substances on online drug marketplaces operating on the ‘dark net’ are monitored regularly to capture trends in online availability of illicit and emerging substances (Drugs and New Technologies).
