Methamphetamine use among at-risk teenagers has doubled in five years in the ACT and NSW, while most adolescents in rehabilitation are now listing ice as their drug of most concern.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
New research published in the Medical Journal of Australia on Monday shows a disturbing rise in self-reported methamphetamine use among those entering drug rehabilitation programs.
The report looked at four residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation treatment sites run by the Ted Noffs Foundation across the ACT and NSW from 2009 to 2014.
Surveys of adolescents aged between 14 and 18 showed 60 per cent of those entering rehabilitation reported using methamphetamine in 2014.
That is up from 30 per cent in 2009.
The drug was also cited most commonly as being their "drug of greatest concern".
The vast majority of those using methamphetamine say they are now smoking it – up from 12 per cent in 2009 to 85 per cent in 2014.
Reported use of cannabis, alcohol, and other drugs remained high among teenagers entering rehabilitation, but the levels did not spike the way that ice has over the five years.
The increases in ice use were more significant than researchers from the University of NSW's School of Public Health and Community Medicine expected.
Lead researcher Dr Sally Nathan said they showed more needed to be done to resource rehabilitation centres, so they can properly help vulnerable teenagers.
"It was much higher than we thought," Dr Nathan said.
"We went in there knowing other drugs were going to remain important, but we definitely went in there with a hypothesis that methamphetamine use had increased because that's what the clinical teams at the services were telling us."
"[They said] 'we're seeing it, but does it actually bear out in the numbers?' And it does."
In the ACT, those wishing to enter residential rehabilitation can face huge wait times, sometimes stretching out to three months.
Dr Nathan said focusing on early intervention and diversionary programs, to help at-risk teenagers before use becomes problematic, was key to reducing ice use, and relieving the strain on the health system and residential rehabilitation services.
"I think it's about having more availability of treatment, particularly in areas where there hasn't been treatment programs," she said.
"It's not just residential treatment ... but for these types of young people who are in quite unstable accommodation, residential treatment offers a real safe space for them to work out their issues."
But Dr Nathan said it was about more than just getting teenagers off drugs.
For rehabilitation to be successful in the long term, it must combine drug treatment with supports in areas like accommodation and employment.
"There's no quick fix, it's a longer-term approach," Dr Nathan said.
"But for every young person that we can divert away from this sort of problematic trajectory, we can save a lot of money as a society, and we can give a young person an opportunity that they wouldn't otherwise have had."
Increased media coverage and focus on ice may have influenced the levels of self-reporting, but Dr Nathan said that was likely balanced by the continuing stigma surrounding methamphetamines, which often deters teenagers from admitting its use.
Last week, more research from the UNSW's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre showed the increase in the number of regular and dependent methamphetamine users was mostly accounted for by 15 to 24-year-olds.
