Patterns of amphetamine use in New Zealand: findings from the 2001 National Drug Survey.

Aims: To measure the level of heavy amphetamine use, poly drug use, and intravenous drug use by amphetamine users in New Zealand.
Methods: Using a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) system, a national sample of approximately 5500 people (aged 15-45 years) were interviewed about their recreational drug use.
Results: Five percent of the sample (4.3-5.7) had used stimulants (uppers, speed, amphetamine, methamphetamine) in the last year. Eighty-one percent of these users used stimulants once-a-month or less frequently. Twenty-two percent used half a gram of stimulants or more on a typical occasion. Stimulant users used an average of 6.4 drug types in the last year (range 1-17, standard deviation [SD] 2.8) and 4.2 drug types in the last month (range 0-13, SD 2.1). Three percent of last-year stimulant users (0.7-4.6) had used a needle to inject drugs in the previous year.
Conclusions: About one in five amphetamine users used quantities of amphetamine in a single session that have been identified in previous research as being hazardous levels. High levels of poly drug use among amphetamine users indicate users may be at risk of problems from a range of drug types and combinations of drug types, and not just from amphetamine alone. Ongoing monitoring is required to identify if increased amphetamine use is a source of increased intravenous drug use.