New Burnet Institute research spanning 20 years of data has found the majority of Australians prefer a compassionate, health-based response to people who use drugs, and a more nuanced and supportive approach of harm reduction.
The research analysed 8 waves of Australia’s National Drug Strategy Household Survey from 2001 to 2022/23, one of the longest-running and most comprehensive examinations of Australian public opinion on drug policy conducted.
When asked what should happen to someone found with small amounts of drugs for personal use, most Australians chose options like treatment referrals, drug education, or no action, rather than fines or prison.
Support for treating drug use as a health issue grew significantly across all drug types over the study period, suggesting community attitudes are continuing to evolve in a compassionate direction.
The key findings reveal:
The findings also showed strong and growing support for harm reduction services, including:
Dr Amanda Roxburgh, Senior Research Fellow Alcohol and Other Drugs, said these results make a compelling case for expanding these evidence-based programs, which have strong community support behind them.
The research also tracked news coverage of drug issues between 2000 and 2023, which revealed that stories about methamphetamine increased by 185% over the period, while heroin coverage fell by 88%.
In parallel, the proportion of Australians nominating methamphetamine as the country’s number-one ‘drug problem’ rose from just 3% in 2001 to 43% in 2022/23, reflecting how community concern tends to be influenced by media attention and portrayals of drug issues over time.
“Accurate, evidence-informed public conversations about harm reduction services are important for communities to make sense of these issues.
"Initiatives like AOD Media Watch, a group of expert clinicians and researchers who support quality media reporting on alcohol and other drugs, are a valuable resource for journalists covering this subject matter,” Dr Roxburgh said.
The research also revealed that expansion of harm reduction services across Australia, stronger public education about what these programs do and the evidence behind them, needs greater involvement of people with lived and living experience of drug use in shaping public conversations.
