Australian Cannabis Statistics

September 23, 2016

Australian Cannabis statistics show cannabis remains the most popular and widely available illicit drug. Its use is rising across all continents.

Cannabis makes up 80% of all seizures in Europe. Only a small amount of countries are entry points. Moroccan cannabis resin coming into Spain accounted for over two thirds of the cannabis intercepted in Europe in 2013. There has been more cannabis plant material imported in Greece, Italy and Spain. And, Turkey seized 180 tonnes in 2013.

Cannabis is also Australia’s drug of choice. The 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) found that a third of Australians used cannabis at some time in their life. This is despite Australia’s investment in services to educate people about cannabis to prevent and reduce its use.

Current Australian trends

Australian cannabis use statistics remain high when assessing the statistics from the 2013 NDSHS. It revealed that 35% of Australians over the ag of 14 had used cannabis at some point in their life. This equates to around 6.6 million people.

There were 21% of people who said they had the opportunity to access cannabis in the last year. Of these, the survey found that 10.2% took the opportunity and used it in the last 12 months.

This is around 1.9 million people. Of these, 3.9% admitted to using cannabis in the previous month. With 3.5% admitting they used it in the week leading up to the survey. Of these, the survey found that 32% of recent users and people over 50 used cannabis weekly. Of the these, 19.8% said most of their friends were also cannabis users. While only 0.8% of those who never used cannabis had friends who used cannabis.

The study revealed that males were more likely to use cannabis than women across all survey categories. It also showed that young people in the 14 to 24-year-old age group, trying cannabis for the first time had risen slightly from age 16.2 in 2010 to 16.7 in 2013. And, that they usually tried cannabis at a younger age that they tried other illegal drugs.

Rise in cannabis use in older Australians

Australian cannabis statistics show that while the level of cannabis use in Australia has changed little over the years, there have been changes in uses among different ages. Where cannabis use dropped among the 14 to 39 age groups, it increased or remained the same in people over 40. There is an indication that regular cannabis use in older Australians is rising.

There was an increase of 1.8% among those in the 50 age group and a 0.7% rise in people over 60. In the three years between 2010 and 2013, there was a 1% increase from 0.8% to 1.8% of men over 60 using cannabis regularly. The number of women in their 50s who were more likely to use cannabis rose 2% from 3.2% to 5.2%. Cannabis prices remained steady at between $12 to $50 for a gram and $200 to $450 for an ounce during 2014-2015

Border Interceptions Australian Cannabis Statistics

According to the Illicit Drug Data Report 2014–15, Cannabis, there was a 61.9% decrease in the amount of cannabis coming into the country during the reporting period. While the amount decreased, there were a record 59 271 seizures with 75 105 arrests. This was a 9.7% increase in arrests nationally. So it’s seems to be much safer growing inside Australia from cannabis seeds then trying to import the actual cannabis buds into Australia.

During 2014 to 2015, Australian border cannabis detection rose 74.3% in 12 months from 2840 (2013) to 4949. But, the amount of cannabis seized decreased to 60.2 kg from 158.1 kg the previous year. Fourteen cannabis seizures weighed more than 1 kg and made up 56.5% of the total weight of the cannabis seized in the reporting period.
Australia’s international mail system was the most common way of importing cannabis into the country. There were 98.3% cannabis detections made through the mail system coming from 41 countries around the world. This compared to 36 countries the previous year.

Morocco and Spain were the most common embarkation points. They accounted for 76.8% of cannabis interceptions coming into Australia through the mail. The most cannabis intercepted from one country was 39.7 kg arriving through the mail from America. This is 66% of the total weight detected during 2014 to 2015.