Canberra tops capital cities for use of oxycodone; fentanyl and heroin use on rise

Some users of the drug start taking it as a medicine but find they need more and more of it to get the same painkilling effect.

As well as dulling pain, it gives takers a "floaty effect" which demands greater and greater doses of the drug to maintain.

Doctors say some users become misusers.

The rise in its use is revealed by the results of a national analysis of waste water done for the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.

The official study found use of the painkiller was 50 per cent higher in Canberra than the average for the capitals.

The police said they were "concerned".

"These results are obviously of concern to ACT Policing, and we will continue to work with government and health authorities on strategies to reduce individual drug use.

"Police will continue to target both the manufacture and sale of illicit substances in the ACT, and will bring those found committing these offences before the courts."

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It's impossible to know from the study how many of the users are also misusers who take it for an addictive pleasure.

On New Year's eve, the ACT's walk-in pill testing clinic detected counterfeit oxycodone in a small yellow pill.

Apart from oxycodone, the commission also reveals Canberrans use some other drugs more than people in other capitals do, including another addictive painkiller, fentanyl.

"The Australian Capital Territory ranked first nationally in capital city consumption of oxycodone," the commission says, "and second in cocaine, fentanyl and cannabis consumption and MDA (similar to ecstasy) excretion."

There's also been a rise in the use of heroin in the ACT, according to the study.

The National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program analysed waste in 58 treatment plants across the country from April to October last year.

On heroin, the report says: "The Australian Capital Territory has shown considerable, but variable increases in consumption over the past 12 months."

For every thousand Canberrans, nine shots of heroin are consumed a day, the results say.

That compares with an average for the Australian capital cities of seven doses and two doses for regional Australia.

The report does not offer any explanation for the jump in the drug's use in the ACT.

Changes in drug use depend on both supply and demand - tastes in narcotics may change or supply gets easier or harder (if there's been a drugs bust, for example).

As well as heroin, cannabis use in the ACT is double the national average as shown by the research, and pretty well double the usage in other capital cities.

Canberrans drink alcohol to the same extent as people in the other capitals (but not as much as people in regional Australia).

On the other hand, cocaine use in the ACT was only half that of the national average. There was a big spike in 2019 and 2020, but that rising trend started coming down in 2021, and has kept coming down since.

The police are keeping an eye on drug use as the ACT moves towards liberalising use later in the year. Chief police officer Neil Gaughan recently visited cities in North America and witnessed widespread opioid abuse with many people in city centres walking around like, as he described it, "zombies".

He added the Australian problem was nowhere near that in the US and Canada.

Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732.

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