Cannabis remains the most commonly used illicit drug in Australia, with an estimated five million people aged 14 and above having tried the drug. Typically, people begin using cannabis in their late teens or early twenties; thereafter, use steadily decreases. While most cannabis use is experimental or intermittent, it has been estimated that around one...

The Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) is Australia’s federally funded national drug monitoring system. The purpose of the IDRS is to provide a standardised, comparable approach to the monitoring of data relating to the use of opiates, cocaine, methamphetamine and cannabis. The IDRS is intended to act as a strategic early warning system, identifying emerging...

These reports present the results of an ongoing study that monitors ecstasy and related drug markets in every state and territory of Australia. Trends in the demographic characteristics and patterns of drug use among regular ecstasy users, their criminal behaviour, and harms perceived to be related to their ecstasy use are presented, along with the...

In November 2004 the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy agreed to the development of a National Cannabis Strategy, the first of its kind in Australia. This consultation paper, developed by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, serves as a starter to what will be a comprehensive consultation process.

In the past decade there has been increased concern with broader environmental influences on health and wellbeing, but relatively little attention has been given to the social determinants of problematic alcohol and other drug use. Attempting to fill this gap, this report by Catherine Spooner and Kate Hetherington contains an extensive review of literature on...