People Seeking Treatment for Meth/Amphetamine Use Are Getting Older and Treatment Services Need to Adapt

Harms associated with meth/amphetamine use increase with cumulative exposure and overlap with age-related health conditions. Understanding demographic shifts in drug treatment populations is required to ensure services meet evolving needs.

We analysed data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set, including all treatment episodes where meth/amphetamine was the primary drug of concern from 2003-04 (first data available) to 2023-24. Weighted linear regression assessed changes in age distribution over time.

The analysis included 697,280 treatment episodes, 35% (n = 245,782) of whom were female. In 2003-04, people aged 20-29 years were the largest group accessing treatment (n = 6835, 48%), but by 2023-24 those aged 30-39 were the largest group seeking treatment for meth/amphetamine use (n = 258,063, 39%, p < 0.001). Over the last 20 years, the most pronounced increases occurred among adults over the age of 50 years, with treatment episodes increasing 16-fold (from 64 to 4313, p < 0.001) among those aged 50-59 and 13-fold (from 11 to 609, p < 0.001) among those aged 60 years and over.

The population seeking treatment for meth/amphetamine use disorder is ageing, outpacing the general Australian population. The absence of policies and practice guidance for management of meth/amphetamine use disorder and coexisting conditions among older people represents a critical gap. Treatment services must adapt to provide age-appropriate care for older Australians, as the proportion of people over the age of 50 accessing treatment continues to grow.