Drug use and possession has more than doubled in regional Victoria in the past five years, new crime figures show.

The Crime Statistics Agency report, which used data based on police records, showed big jumps in drug use and possession, particularly in small towns.

The Gisborne-Macedon area, north of Melbourne, saw a rise of more than 300 per cent in drug use in the last five years while in the state's east, the Warragul-Drouin region, recorded a jump in drug use of more than 200 per cent.

Victoria Police Inspector Chris Major, from the Baw Baw police, said increased policing of drug crimes in the Warragul area may have contributed to the statistics showing a rise in drug use.

"There was a lot of community concern brought to our attention about drug use by a certain percentage of the youth community," he said.

"So we then focused on that particular aspect and then formed a special duties unit that started addressing the community concerns."

The profile of first-time drug offenders has also changed across regional Victoria, with the data showing an increase in female offending.

In Mildura, Horsham and Shepparton women made up nearly a third of first-time drug offenders this year.

Inspector Major said it was a trend he has also seen in eastern Victoria.

"There has been a tendency for young women to get involved in the use and sale of drugs," said.

"It now appears there's probably more access to drugs and there's now a more common acceptance among a certain part of our youth that drug taking is part of the social scene."

The Crime Statistics Agency said police records were not always an accurate measure of the level of offending in the community.

The agency said it was unclear what was driving the increase in drug use in regional Victoria.