Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS)
The Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) is an ongoing project funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and conducted every year in every state and territory. Co-ordinated by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, it provides a coordinated approach to the monitoring of data associated with illicit drugs in Australia. The study is intended to serve as a strategic early warning system that monitors emerging trends in illicit drug markets, to better prepare policy makers and the health and law enforcement sectors for issues likely to be of future concern. The IDRS is also designed to identify areas that require further and more detailed research.
Outputs from the project include the following:
The IDRS is primarily concerned with four main drug classes: heroin, cocaine, cannabis and methamphetamine. It also monitors diverted pharmaceuticals and issues related to drug use, for example injection-related problems and overdose. It has been conducted in New South Wales since 1996, South Australia and Victoria since 1997 and nationally since 2000.
The IDRS involves the collection and analysis of three sources of data:
- interviews with regular injecting drug users, who represent a sentinel population likely to be aware of any new trends in illicit drug markets
- interviews with experts who work with drug users (such as treatment personnel, law enforcement personnel, and needle and syringe program (NSP) workers)
- existing databases such as customs data, overdose data, seizure data, and National Household Surveys of Drug Use
The three sources of data are triangulated against each other in order to minimise the weaknesses inherent in each one and to ensure that only valid emerging trends are documented.