The use of ecstasy has more than halved in the past four years, a survey for the State's drug advisory committee has found.
The survey of more than 5,000 adults by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs looked at illegal and legal drug prevalence rates by region for 2010/2011.
The survey was released by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs yesterday with results compared to the last survey in 2006/2007.
The use of ecstasy decreased from 1.2 per cent in 2006/2007 to 0.5 per cent of adults in 2010/2011, it found.
The use of illegal drugs such as cocaine and cannabis stabilised or declined in many areas having peaked in 2006/2007, the report found.
Overall 1.5 per cent of adults in the State used cocaine in 2010/2011, compared with 1.7 per cent in 2006/2007.
There was a small decline in cannabis use from 6.3 per cent of adults in 2006 to 6 per cent last year. Cannabis was the most commonly used illegal drug.
The difference in levels of illegal drug use between regions in the State has narrowed in the past four years, the survey found.
The survey found a decline in regions with high prevalence of drug use and a stabilising or slight increase in regions of low drug prevalence.
The report showed a decrease in the concentration of drug use across much of the east coast.
The survey also found a reduction in legal drug use. There was a sharp reduction in tobacco consumption among women down by 5 per cent to 29 per cent .
There was a sharp increase in the use of sedatives and tranquillisers, with 6.5 per cent of adults using them giving an increase of almost 2 per cent. There was also an increase in anti-depressant use by 0.5 per cent to 4.8 per cent of adults.
Anti-depressant, sedative and tranquillisers use had increased more sharply among men and was highest in the north-east.
The use of sedatives and tranquillisers had almost doubled among young adults.
