Illicit drug use—Workforce
618. Hon Dr Brian Walker to the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Health:
I refer the minister to a recent major study undertaken by the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction that reported nearly 7% of the Australian workforce use illicit drugs on a weekly basis, including cannabis, methamphetamine and cocaine. The report emphasised the significant impact that impairment from such drug use has on performance over the days following substance use, and on the basis of its findings, I ask the following.
(1) Was the Cook Labor government aware of this report prior to me raising it today, and are its conclusions being actively considered?
(2) What data, if any, does the government collect regarding the cost to WA's economic bottom line of workplace impairment across WA, and does that data correlate with the findings of the study?
(3) If not, what can we do to better understand these trends?
Hon Pierre Yang replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided by Minister for Health.
(1)–(3) The state government is progressing the new Mental Health and Alcohol and Other Drugs Strategy 2025–2030, which will guide service delivery and supports. Additionally, the state government invests more than $162 million into alcohol and other drug services to support Western Australians.
