News Service from House Harris

NSW: Meth, cocaine most popular among NSW drug users

SYDNEY, Nov 23 AAP - Methamphetamine and cocaine enjoy significantly more popularity among drug users in NSW than in other Australian states and territories, a conference has heard.

But users in Australia's most populous state were the least likely to list cannabis as their "drug of choice".

Data revealed at the 2008 National Drugs Trends Conference in Sydney on Sunday showed that of 151 drug users interviewed in NSW as part of research conducted by the Illicit Drugs Reporting System (IDRS), 30 per cent listed methamphetamine as their drug of choice, with 10 per cent opting for cocaine.

But methamphetamine - including speed powder, base, ice and liquid methamphetamine - and cocaine were significantly less popular among drug users in other states.

The trends snapshot was collated by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre based at the University of New South Wales.

Of the 909 users surveyed nationally, an average of just 22 per cent opted for methamphetamine as their favourite drug, and just 4 per cent said their favourite was cocaine.

Just 3 per cent of users surveyed in NSW said cannabis was their drug of choice, compared to a national average of 6 per cent.

But heroin was the overall drug of choice among users across almost all states and territories, according to the data, with 52 per cent of the 909 users surveyed nationally saying it was their preferred illicit substance.

The only exceptions to the rule were Tasmania and Northern Territory, wheremorphine was listed as the overall drug of choice among users.

The IDRS is a national illicit drug monitoring system that aims to identifyemerging trends in illicit drug markets through interviews with drug usersand experts, regular contact with users and analysis of data on illicit drug use.

The average age of drug users surveyed nationally was 37, with the average age the user first injected an illicit drug being 19.

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