ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2023
Disruption to Australian heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy markets with the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lisdexamfetamine in the treatment of methamphetamine dependence: A randomised, placebo-controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Trial
- Socioenvironmental disasters and the dialectics of overdose mortality.The International journal on drug policy · 2026Article
- Trends in alcohol, smoking, and drug use in cross-sectional samples of young people in Australia, 2015-24.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Changes in drug-use behaviors among people who use drugs with comorbid psychiatric disorders across the COVID-19 pandemic: a three-phase longitudinal cohort study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Changes in Drug-Induced Hospitalisations and Deaths During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Changing age profile and incidence of injecting drug use initiation among people in Australia who inject drugs: evidence from two national repeated cross-sectional studies.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Article
- Trends and characteristics in ketamine use among US adults with and without depression, 2015-2022.Journal of affective disorders · 2025Article
- Changes in the rates and characteristics of gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB)-related death in Australia, 2001-2023.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the availability and retail price of unregulated drugs in Vancouver, Canada: An interrupted time-series analysis, 2018-2022.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Historical and theoretical roots of the big events framework.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Trends in reported and biologically confirmed drug use among people who use ecstasy in the nightclub/festival-attending population, 2016-2022.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2023Article
- Shifting drug markets in North America - a global crisis in the making?International journal of mental health systems · 2023Article
- Trends in drug use among nightclub and festival attendees in New York City, 2017-2022.The International journal on drug policy · 2023Article
- Trends in deaths following drug use in England before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdowns.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
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10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChanges to drug markets can affect drug use and related harms. We aimed to describe market trends of heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy in Australia following the introduction of COVID-19 pandemic-associated restrictions.
methodsAustralians residing in capital cities who regularly inject drugs (n ∼= 900 each year) or regularly use ecstasy and/or other illicit stimulants (n ∼= 800 each year) participated in annual interviews 2014-2022. We used self-reported market indicators (price, availability, and purity) for heroin, crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, and ecstasy crystal to estimate generalised additive models. Observations from the 2014-2019 surveys were used to establish the pre-pandemic trend; 2020, 2021 and 2022 observations were considered immediate, short-term and longer-term changes since the introduction of pandemic restrictions.
resultsImmediate impacts on market indicators were observed for heroin and methamphetamine in 2020 relative to the 2014-2019 trend; price per cap/point increased (β: A$9.69, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.25-17.1 and β: A$40.3, 95% CI: 33.1-47.5, respectively), while perceived availability (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] for 'easy'/'very easy' to obtain: 0.38, 95% CI: 0.24-0.59 and aOR: 0.08, 95% CI: 0.03-0.25, respectively) and perceived purity (aOR for 'high' purity: 0.36, 95% CI: 0.23-0.54 and aOR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.20-0.54, respectively) decreased. There was no longer evidence for change in 2021 or 2022 relative to the 2014-2019 trend. Changes to ecstasy and cocaine markets were most evident in 2022 relative to the pre-pandemic trend: price per gram increased (β: A$92.8, 95% CI: 61.6-124 and β: A$24.3, 95% CI: 7.93-40.6, respectively) and perceived purity decreased (aOR for 'high purity': 0.18, 95% CI: 0.09-0.35 and 0.57, 95% CI: 0.36-0.90, respectively), while ecstasy was also perceived as less easy to obtain (aOR: 0.18, 95% CI: 0.09-0.35).
conclusionThere were distinct disruptions to illicit drug markets in Australia after the COVID-19 pandemic began; the timing and magnitude varied by drug.
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