Public drug warnings (‘drug alerts’) issued by health agencies notify the public of the presence of higher risk drugs in circulation in local markets, promoting harm reduction behaviours among people who use drugs. Drug alerts are increasingly being issued in Australian states and territories, but little is understood about how people who use drugs interact with alerts. The Informing Drug Alerts in Australia (IDAA) study aims to understand how people who use drugs engage with drug alerts and their preferences for risk communications about drugs in their area. From July to September 2023, participants aged 18 and over who used illegal drugs and reported living in Australia were invited to complete an online survey about awareness of, responses to and preferences for drug alerts in Australia. This report outlines findings from the IDAA survey.

Key findings

Around 3 in 4 participants had seen or heard about a drug alert in Australia in the past 5 years (77%).
The most common drug types mentioned in the alert were MDMA (30%), methamphetamine (18%) and cocaine (14%).
Over half found out about it via social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram (58%)
Most shared information from the alert with someone else, and almost 2 in 3 (65%) wanted to know more information after learning about the alert.
Over half changed their use of the drug type mentioned in the alert after finding out about the alert, either by stopping using the drug entirely (18%), avoiding using drugs matching the alert specifically (20%) or changing their use behaviours (18%; most commonly by practicing safer dosing such as using a smaller amount or adhering to ‘start low, go slow’). Of those who continued to use the drug type as usual, half (53%) said the alert did not have an impact because they were already using suggested harm reduction strategies.
Over half (55%) of participants were interested in knowing about all future alerts, regardless of whether this related to their location or drugs they use.
Almost 3 in 4 (72%) said the purpose of alerts should be to empower people who use drugs to make informed decisions.
The most trusted sources to issue credible drug alerts were drug checking services (77% of people highly/completely trusted these services to issue credible alerts) and harm reduction or peer organisations (73% highly/completely trusted).

Resources

Informing Drug Alerts in Australia (IDAA) Report

Author(s)

Jane Akhurst, Alice Pierce, Isabelle Volpe, Mary Ellen Harrod, Rachel Sutherland, Raimondo Bruno, Monica J Barratt, Harry Sumnall, Robert Page, Jared Brown, Joel Keygan, Penelope Hill, Nadine Ezard, Amy Peacock