The high and rising prices of drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine are not deterring Australians from using them, and the drugs remain relatively accessible despite police seizing increasing amounts , the findings of the fourth Global Drug Survey suggest.

The survey is conducted in partnership with global media partners, including the Guardian, with 4,931 respondents from Australia answering questions about their drug use and experiences. The survey was conducted between November and January and, while the data is not nationally representative, it has been used to identify emerging trends and drug-taking behaviours.

In the past year, 27.1% of respondents said they had used only legal drugs and 70.6% had taken at least one illegal drug. Only 2.3% had not used any drug at all.

In the month before taking the survey, 39% of respondents said they had used only legal drugs, 56% had taken at least one illegal drug and 4.9% had used no drug.

The most common drug respondents reported having used in the past year was alcohol (93.5%), followed by cannabis (61.1%), energy drinks (42.4%) and MDMA, also known as ecstasy (38.3%). These were followed by cocaine, which one-quarter of respondents said they had used in the past year. About half – 2,390 respondents – said they had used cocaine at least once in their life.

Australian respondents showed a higher use of cannabis, ecstasy, opioids and nitrous oxide than all types of amphetamines, including ice and speed.

Five per cent of respondents said they had used cocaine 50 or more times and 67.9% said they always or nearly always drank alcohol when they used cocaine. The mean price paid for a gram of cocaine was $302, rising to almost $400 for premium cocaine. The mean amount used in a session was 0.5g.

For ecstasy, the mean price was $26 a pill and the mean dose was two pills. The mean price for ecstasy powder was $$212 a gram, with 86% of respondents saying they bought 1g or less each use. Almost half (49%) said they always drank alcohol with ecstasy. The average dose was 0.24g each session.

The average age of all Australian respondents was 34.

“These findings reveal that Australians pay well above the global standard for drugs like MDMA and cocaine and it really is extraordinary how much Australians pay for illicit drugs and continue to pay, even as prices rise,” said John Ryan, the chief executive of the Penington Institute, a drugs and health research organisation.

“These prices are mostly due to our isolation.

“Though we spend the lion’s share of the government budget for drugs on law enforcement, these drugs remain readily available and easy to access by those who want them. They’re not cheap but people are finding the money and most people who consume them are employed in the workforce with incomes to dispose of.”

Cocaine was about 5,000% more expensive in Australia than in places such as Colombia, Ryan said.

“It should also dispel the idea that most people who use drugs are unemployed and living on the street.”

In 2013–14, the 1,512 detections of cocaine by Australian Customs and Border Protection represented the second-highest number on record. The total weight of cocaine detected was 245.6kg. While the number of ecstasy detections at the Australian border decreased in 2013-14, the number of seizures still represented the second-highest number on record.

“I think it is really interesting that no matter how tough law enforcement is, there’s obviously lots of people still using,” Ryan said.

“We’ve got to start thinking of drugs as a health challenge, not a law enforcement challenge. Even in countries with very zero-tolerance law enforcement approaches, people are using the internet to access drugs and use is occurring no matter what.”

He said that given a large number of respondents reported mixing their drugs, there should be more education about how to take illicit drugs more safely by giving users more information about purity, or the risks of mixing certain drugs.

Results of the survey from other countries indicate a rise in popularity of ecstasy crystal/powder globally and a general increase in the quality of the drug due to new precursor availability and routes of synthesis.

But better quality ecstasy was not without its risks, the study found, with an increasing number of people globally seeking emergency medical treatment after using. Women were twice as likely to seek medical treatment after using the drug than men, the survey found.

One reason may be the the high purity of ecstasy powder available in many countries and the gradually escalating amount of it in a pill, leading to overdoses, the authors of the survey wrote.

A co-author of the study, Dr Monica Barratt from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, said the findings could add weight to the argument for pill-testing, for example at music festivals.

“In the Netherlands they have a really comprehensive system where pills are tested regularly and they have databases recording this information so they can say that over time the purity of MDMA has been increasing,” she said.

“This information can then be provided to the public so they know that by taking two pills they might be overdosing. We’re trying to say this is a real thing that is happening and in Australia too there are more people reporting going to the emergency department after using MDMA. And it’s likely not because it was adulterated with another substance but, because these pills are strong and if you don’t know that, you might be in trouble.”

Without such testing it was difficult to determine definitively the cause of adverse reactions, she said.



“We have had in Australia over the last summer season a number of deaths at festivals but it’s unclear exactly what they died from – an adverse reaction to the drug because it was adulterated with other substances, or because the drug was just too high in purity,” she said

Barratt said that while law enforcement actions might affect supply, the market was also heavily driven by demand.

“Australia has long had a high demand for cocaine with relatively low supply,” she said.

“Compared to the rest of the world, Australians have high disposable income. Cocaine has particular effects, for example a short-acting high, and a certain prestige that may be particularly desirable by subgroups of Australians.

“Also, in the context of methamphetamine being heavily stigmatised in Australia, cocaine may be a preferred powdered stimulant for those with access.

“Another potential driver may be that in the last five years some Australians have had access to better quality and relatively cheaper cocaine through online drug markets.”