The Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) is a national illicit drug monitoring system intended to serve as a strategic early warning system, identifying emerging trends of local and national concern in illicit drug markets. The IDRS consists of three components: interviews with people who inject drugs (PWID) regularly; interviews with key experts (KEs), who are professionals who have knowledge of drug trends and/or regular contact with users through their work; and analysis and examination of indicator data sources related to illicit drugs. The IDRS monitors the price, purity, availability and patterns of use of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and cannabis. The IDRS is designed to be sensitive to trends, providing data in a timely manner, rather than describing issues in detail.
The aims of this project are:
to monitor the price, purity, availability and patterns of use of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and cannabis
to identify emerging trends in illicit drug markets in Australia that require further investigation
The IDRS analyses three main sources of information to document drug trends:
a quantitative survey of people who inject drugs (PWID)
a semi-structured interview with key experts (KE), who are professionals working in the illicit drug field, and have regular contact with and/or specialised knowledge of users, dealers or manufacturers
a collation of existing indicator data on drug-related issues
Data from these three sources are triangulated against each other to determine the convergent validity of trends detected. The data sources complement each other in the nature of the information they provide. Data from each year's IDRS studies are compared to earlier findings to determine changes in drug trends over time. The strengths of the IDRS are the ability to compare data across jurisdictions as well as over time.
The IDRS is an ongoing project that is conducted annually in all Australian jurisdictions. In 2012, 924 IDU were interviewed across Australia, providing information on their use patterns, drug markets and related issues. Key experts from a range of professions provided information on the ecstasy and related drug users they had contact with. Indicator data including Australian Customs Service seizures, purity analysis, overdose and treatment data were examined.
Drug Trends hosts an annual conference in October. The 12th National Drug Trends Conference was held on October 9, 2012 and presented recent findings in illicit drug use, markets and related harms across Australia and internationally. You can find the conference handout under the 'Resources' heading at the bottom of this page.
Throughout the year, quarterly bulletins outlining current drug trends or issues of interest are disseminated. These bulletins are available on the NDARC website on the 'Drug Trends' group page.
Finally, national and state reports of IDRS findings are released in April each year. Recent national and jurisdictional reports can be found at the bottom of this page. Older reports can be accessed by going to the Resources page and clicking on 'Drug Trends National Reports' or 'Drug Trends State Reports' on the right hand menu. You can also search for a specific report in the Resources page search bar.
CRICOS Provider Code: 00D98G
ABN 57 195 873 179
T +61 (2) 9385 0333
F +61 (2) 9385 0222
E ndarc@unsw.edu.au
NDARC
University of New South Wales
Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
Randwick Campus
22 - 32 King Street
Randwick NSW 2031
