Each year, researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) survey hundreds of people about their drug use (including non-prescribed medical stimulants) and release a report.
This year, 54% of participants reported use of a medical stimulant they weren’t prescribed to — up from 47% in 2023, and 52% in 2022.
It’s the highest rate of use since the survey began.
Methodology
UNSW researchers have conducted the Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS) survey since 2003.
The EDRS had a national sample size of 740 people aged over 18 who use illegal stimulants on a regular basis.
The median age of participants was 23 and 55% were men. They were interviewed on the basis of using ecstasy, cocaine, or other illicit stimulants at least once a month for the past six months.
Findings
Of the participants who could drive, half reported driving within three hours of taking a drug.
Nearly 30% said they’d driven drunk.
58% self-reported mental ill-health and 36% said they’d visited a mental health professional.
Of these, nearly seven in ten had anxiety and six in ten had depression.
- 53% reported using ketamine in the past six months, up from 49% in 2023.
- 45% reported using mushrooms for the same period, up from 42% in 2023.
- LSD usage dropped by 5% from 2023 to 36% in 2024.
- More participants considered ecstasy ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’ to obtain, an increase in perceived availability from 2023.
Other findings
In a separate report, researchers surveyed 884 people who “regularly inject” drugs like heroin and meth (ice).
Nearly seven in ten participants in this survey were male, and the median age was 47. Nine in ten were unemployed.
Over a third said they had re-used their own needles in the past month, and had injected another person after administering drugs to themselves.
29% had experienced a health issue due to injected drugs in the past month.
National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline: 1800 250 015
