A SURGE in amphetamine use has left health groups treating more than twice the number of people they helped five years ago.
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There was a 30 per cent rise in 2017/18 alone across central and northern Victoria, a new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report shows.
A total of 2059 people completed treatment for amphetamines that financial year, more than double the 859 who attended three years earlier.
Amphetamines include speed and ice, as well as legally prescribed drugs for conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy.
Escalating treatment rates have come hand-in-hand with increased drug use across central and northern Victoria, but more work is needed to understand what is going on, Murray PHN CEO Matt Jones said.
"These statistics help us start to understand the bigger picture, but it is not everything we need to know," he said.
"Is it a supply issue - in that there might be more access to these drugs than before? Or is it a demand issue - as in, are there more people using these drugs?"
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Amphetamines are not the only drugs that people are increasingly seeking help for.
"We've got significant usage of alcohol across the board, in all of our communities," Mr Jones said.
Alcohol accounted for a third of treatments - or 2397 people - the latest statistics reveal. Cannabis was the main focus for 1722 people.
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Bendigo already has support services, but the 2017/18 figures show more assistance is needed, Mr Jones said.
Attention is focusing on central Victorians aged 39 or less, who are more likely to seek treatment for drug use, Mr Jones said.
"That's work with health providers, and on preventative campaigns," he said.
"We've seen really good results with health campaigns on tobacco and road safety."
State and federal governments also need to work more closely together in what Mr Jones said is a "fragmented system".
"That funding has got to be shared so that it compliments some of the gaps," he said.
Meanwhile, treatment rates have dropped for some drugs in last five years, including by more than half for morphine and benzodiazepine - a priduct often prescribed to help people with sleep and stress.
Forty-nine people got help in 2017/18 for morphine and 41 for benzodiazepenes.
Ninety-five people were treated for nicotine addiction, down by 67 people compared to five years earlier.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
