DPMP submission to the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into the Drug 'Ice'

Recommendation 1. Measures of harmful consumption should replace the focus on population prevalence of use (1.1.1; 1.1.2)

Population prevalence measures of drug use have been the focus of most governments for many years (and this is reflected in questions 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 where the Commission is seeking better ways to measure prevalence). However, population prevalence of use is a meaningless measure of the success or otherwise of policies and actions against drug use. The problem with population prevalence of use is that it does not identify either patterns of consumption that may be of concern, nor the harms associated with use. For example, if population prevalence of the use of amphetamines is 5%, those people may have used once in the last year or every day. Clearly there are major differences between infrequent annual use and daily use - and significant differences in the policy implication (as can be seen for example in early DPMP work on the social cost per gram Moore, 2007). This is why measures of the quantity, frequency and/or intensity of use are vital to inform policy (Bewley-Taylor, 2017; Kilmer, Reuter, & Giommoni, 2015).