CRIM10001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Dodgy, Victimisation, Subculture
29 May 2018
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Week 6 Lectures
Illicit Drug Use
Drugs and Crime
The conventional connections:
• Illicit drug use is a crime in itself.
• Some drug users commit crimes to support their use.
• Some people using illicit drugs often also commit other offences while under the influence.
• Illicit drug use causes individuals, their families, neighbourhoods and communities immense
damage and thus causes social harm.
The Origins of Laws Against Drug Use
These can be traced back to the early 20th century. Prior to this, there was a relatively laissez faire
approach to drug use. The early 20th century oversaw the convergence of morality, politics, racism
and public health sensibility, and the crime connection. The idea drug use is a sign of deviance and
potential descent into madness reached a peak in the mid 20th century, around the time that the
movie Reefer Madness was released.
Current Laws
State Legislation
• Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981: Use, Possession, Cultivation, Trafficking.
This act is concerned with domestic drug taking/dealing.
Commonwealth Legislation
• Crimes (Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act 1990; Customs Act 1901;
Narcotic Drugs Act 1967. These acts are concerned with importation.
International UN Conventions
• 1961: Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs: This established International Narcotics Control
Board (INCB) to monitor compliance with conventions banning non-medical use of drugs
• 1971: Convention on Psychotropic Substances: This established international control system for
synthetic drugs
• 1988: Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances: this
convention increased array of measures against trafficking and associated activities (money-
laundering, precursor chemicals) including extradition, controlled deliveries etc
Australian Policy
The National Drug Strategy 2018:
Demand reduction:
• Preventing the uptake and/or delay the onset of use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs
• Reducing the misuse of alcohol and the use of tobacco and other drugs in the community
• Supporting people to recover from dependence and through evidence-informed treatment
Supply Reduction:
• Preventing, stopping, disrupting or otherwise reducing the production and supply of illegal drugs
• Control, managing and/or regulating the availability of legal drugs
Harm reduction:
• Reduce the adverse health, social and economic consequences of the use of alcohol, tobacco
and other drugs for the user, their families and the wider community.
• Examples of harm reduction strategies include the use of pill testing kits, the needle exchange
program, and the implementation of safe injecting rooms.
Drugs:
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Includes alcohol, tobacco, illegal (also known as ‘illicit’) drugs, pharmaceuticals and other
substances that alter brain function and result in changes in perception, mood, consciousness,
cognition and behaviour.
Measuring Drug Use
• Police statistics: Arrest numbers in relation to drug use. When talking about drug arrests, it is
important to note that these arrests are divided into ‘provider’ and ‘consumer’. From 2010-2011,
the total number of drug arrests was approximately 85,000, approximately 82% of which were for
consumption. Of these, 82% of all provider and consumer offenders were male.
• Victimisation surveys: Surveys of victims of crime resulting from drug use.
• Self-report surveys: Surveys conducted on drug users.
• National Drug Strategy Household Survey (2016): There have been 10 surveys since 1985, run
by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
• Waste Water Drug Analysis: Measuring the levels of illicit drugs in household waste water.
The Paradoxes of Drug Use and Drug Policy
• Illicit drugs are seen as critically dangerous, yet tobacco and alcohol kill many times more
Australians each year.
• Australian governments spend billions on illicit drug policy, yet cannot demonstrate systematic
impact.
• Research indicates that many aspects of the enforcement of laws against drug use and drug
trafficking actually increase the net of harm.
• Drug use is illegal, yet we permit needle/syringe exchanges and safe injecting facilities.
• Drug use is stigmatised, yet we use drug terms regularly in advertising (‘rush’) and for the names
of products (e.g. perfume: ‘opium’, ‘addict’)
• Drug conversations are almost inevitably polarising and very emotive.
Traditional Accounts of Motivation for Drug Use
Biology:
• The ‘addiction gene’
Psychology:
• The defective personality
Sociology:
• Strain and retreatism
• A rejection of cultural goals: ‘opting out’
• Status frustration
• Inversion of dominant values; non-utilitarian crime; collective solution to restricted opportunities
• Differential Opportunity
• Alternative opportunities for status; criminal and conflict subcultures
Learning Drug Use
Howard Becker, "Becoming a Marihuana User" (1953):
• How vs. Why?
• Learning> Socialisation > Subculture > Identity
• Focuses on the social processes through which one "becomes" a deviant
• Stages: Novice, Occasional, Regular
Motives for continued behaviour evolve through participation in the behaviour in the company of
others.
People learn to:
• Use the drug
• Perceive its effect
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
These can be traced back to the early 20th century. Prior to this, there was a relatively laissez faire approach to drug use. The early 20th century oversaw the convergence of morality, politics, racism and public health sensibility, and the crime connection. The idea drug use is a sign of deviance and potential descent into madness reached a peak in the mid 20th century, around the time that the movie reefer madness was released. State legislation: drugs poisons and controlled substances act 1981: use, possession, cultivation, trafficking. This act is concerned with domestic drug taking/dealing: crimes (traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances) act 1990; customs act 1901; International un conventions: 1961: single convention on narcotic drugs: this established international narcotics control. Supply reduction: preventing, stopping, disrupting or otherwise reducing the production and supply of illegal drugs, control, managing and/or regulating the availability of legal drugs.
