National Amphetamine-Type Stimulant Strategy Background Paper

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a 10-year period. While some of the increase can be attributed to more effective detection
techniques, it may also indicate a marked increase in the availability of these drugs in
Australia over the past decade.
Indications of availability from official records, such as seizure data, can be complemented
by surveys with the general population and with specific groups of drug users. Both
IDRS and EDRS enquire about market aspects of illicit drugs in the interviews conducted
with regular users. The greatest proportion of the 2006 IDRS sample rated all forms of
methamphetamine as ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’ to obtain, and availability over the previous
six months as ‘stable’ (O’Brien et al., 2007). Jurisdictional differences were observed,
most notably in the Northern Territory where participants in Darwin rated all forms of
methamphetamine as ‘difficult’ to obtain. The findings of the 2006 IDRS regarding
availability of methamphetamine were supported by those of the 2006 EDRS. The greatest
proportion of the national sample of REU rated availability of all forms of methamphetamine
as ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’, and availability over the previous six months as ‘stable’ (Dunn et al.,
2007). These were also the most common responses found for availability of ecstasy.
Figure 1.2: Number and weight of detections of amphetamine (excluding phenethylamine)
at the Australian border, 1995–96 to 2005–06
Source: Australian Customs Service