The data captured by the 13th and latest report, released by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, covers sampling of wastewater in December 2020 and February 2021 and spans roughly 56 per cent of the Australian population. Since 2017, on average the consumption of all but three of the detected drugs decreased.

However, on a population-weighted basis, across the country's capital cities the use of methylamphetamine, alcohol, cocaine, and oxycodone all increased.

The report stated that prior to the 2020 pandemic, national methylamphetamine daily levels were running at 50 doses per thousand people. By August 2020, it had fallen to 30, but four months later, as the pandemic threat had eased, doses were back up to 40.

The ACT has had a long-running issue with excessive use of oxycodone, commonly prescribed for powerful pain relief. It's often known as hillbilly heroin, oxy, or just simply O. It depresses respiration and lowers blood pressure which can lead to seizures, comas or cardiac arrest.

Late last year in the US, pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to charges of enabling the use of OxyContin, its oxycondone brand, "without legitimate medical purpose", resulting in a US$8.3 billion settlement.

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Ketamine, a nervous system depressant and anaesthetic often used by veterinarians, was added to the wastewater testing regime for the first time.

The Asian region is historically the world's largest for illicit ketamine, according to ACIC's most recent illicit drugs report.

The same report detailed that of the 1363 border detections and seizures of anaesthetic-type illicit drugs in 2018-19 (which includes GBH and GBL), more than half were ketamine. Volumes increased by 37 per cent over the previous year.

The wastewater report found that ketamine use has largely replaced methylone and mephedrone. It's a relatively low-cost pharmaceutical compound with the national median price for 1 gram of ketamine powder increasing from $170 in 2017-18 to $190 in 2018-19.

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