The Health of Queenslanders 2018 report, due to be released this month, will show an estimated 558,000 people aged 14 or older had used illicit drugs in the previous 12 months. Of those, 485,000 people had used cannabis.

The abuse of prescription medication was also an issue for Queenslanders.

An estimated 204,000 Queenslanders aged 14 or older misused painkillers, analgesics and opioids in the past 12 months.

Among users, four in 10 have used an illicit drug, consumed alcohol or smoked tobacco in ways that put them at risk of harm in the past 12 months.

The report will show 3 per cent of Queenslanders had engaged in all three - illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco - on the same occasion.

The 2018 figures in the biennial report were generated using prevalence estimates from 2016.

Queensland Health's chief officer in mental health, alcohol and other drugs, John Reilly, said illicit drug use was a significant contributor to the state's overall disease and injury burden, causing 40,700 patient days and 9500 hospitalisations in Queensland in 2015-16.

In 2016 alone, illicit drug use was responsible for 360 deaths in Queensland, of which 73 per cent were males.

Men were also more likely to use illegal drugs.

About 20 per cent of Queensland males and 13 per cent of females aged 14 and older using illicit drugs recently, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data from the National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016, which was also due to be canvassed in th report.

"Harmful substance use and dependence, whether to legal or illegal substances, impacts both men and women across Queensland, however a number of factors might explain why recent drug use was 52 per cent higher for males than females," Dr Reilly said.

"No one single variable explains why people use illicit drugs, but some of the reasons identified by research include males being more predisposed to engage in risky behaviours, and to using substances at an earlier age because they have more opportunities to do so through peers.

"Women are less likely to disclose their use of substances to their peers, which in turn limits their access to controlled substances and they are also less likely to access treatment, particularly as mothers, for a range of reasons."

Dr Reilly said drug use, including harmful use of alcohol and tobacco, could cause illness, injury and early death.

"This is not counting the financial cost to the Queensland economy, which at the most recent national assessment in 2004-05, was estimated at $1.4 billion," he said.

"Fortunately, help is available for those who need it."

Queensland Health funds a range of counselling, treatment and residential rehabilitation programs for people affected by substance use.

Priority groups for treatment including young people up to 25 years old, Indigenous people, rural and remote Queenslanders, pregnant women and those transitioning out of correctional facilities.