Non‐medical use of pharmaceutical opioids with and without other illicit substances in Australia: Prevalence and correlates

Abstract Introduction and Aims To estimate the prevalence of non‐medical use of pharmaceutical opioids and examine the socio‐demographic, psychological, health and behavioural correlates and type of opioids used. Design and Methods Data from the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2016 was used. The sample consisted of. 23 448 participants aged over 14 years (54% female). The key measure was opioid use status in the past year. Based on participants’ responses to questions about their substance use in the past 12 months, they were grouped into four opioid use status: (i) No illicit substance use (ISU) and no non‐medical use of pharmaceutical opioids (NMUPO); (ii) ISU but no NMUPO; (iii) NMUPO but no ISU; and (iv) NMUPO and ISU. Results The prevalence non‐medical pharmaceutical opioid use was 3.56%. Two‐thirds of them engaged in NMUPO but no ISU; one‐third engaged in NMUPO and ISU. Younger people were more likely to use pharmaceutical opioids in addition to other illicit drugs, while older people were more likely to only use pharmaceutical opioids. Alcohol risk and daily smoking were associated with using pharmaceutical opioids and other illicit drugs, but not with pharmaceutical opioids only. Those who reported only using pharmaceutical opioids were more likely to use over‐the‐counter codeine products. Discussion and Conclusions Over 700 000 Australian used pharmaceutical opioids for non‐medical purpose. Among users, two‐thirds used only opioids and one‐third used opioids in addition to other illicit drugs. Profile of these two types of users were substantially different. Future prevention efforts targeting different type of opioids users may need to be optimised based on their profiles.