The extent to which substance use – illicit drugs or alcohol – contributes to offending has been measured using data from interviews with police detainees in Australia. The findings are used to estimate the total number of principal offences attributable to different substances.

Applying these attributable fractions to recorded crime data for 2019, it estimated that substance use contributed to approximately 156,760 principal offences in Australia. This included 95,990 offences attributable to methamphetamine and 56,627 attributable to alcohol use.

Understanding the complex interplay between substance use and criminal activity is important in informing law enforcement and health strategies aimed at reducing drug-related crime, allowing policymakers to allocate resources effectively, and providing estimates against which national and jurisdictional policies can be compared and evaluated. 

Key findings

• In 2019, 45% of all detainees attributed their offending to substance use.
• Offending was most commonly attributed to methamphetamine (27%) and alcohol use (16%).
• Alcohol attribution was more common for violent crimes, while methamphetamine featured prominently among both violent and property offences.