JALE2024 Drugs & Crime

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Search for the following book titles:
Cannabis Policy: Moving beyond stalemate
Consuming Pleasures
Drug use in Australian society
Preventing Harmful Substance Use
Once you have located the title, click on it to open the book. Then select the Read Online button.

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Search for the following articles:
- Rates, characteristics and manner of cannabis-related deaths in Australia 2000–2018
- Trends in the sequence of first alcohol, cannabis and cigarette use in Australia, 2001–2016

Try the following keyword searches:
cannabis AND Australia NOT medicinal
cannabis onset AND Australia
cannabis decriminalisation AND Australia NOT medicinal
cannabis use AND stigmatisation NOT medicinal
cannabis use Australia AND stigmatisation NOT medicinal
cannabis use Australia AND news media NOT medicinal

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Try the following keyword searches:
cannabis AND drug policy AND Australia
cannabis users AND Australia
cannabis AND decrim* AND Australia
cannabis AND prohibit* AND Australia
cannabis AND "law reform" AND Australia
cannabis AND Wodak AND Australia (Wodak, an academic, supports the decriminalisation of drugs).
cannabis AND Ritter AND Australia (Ritter is an Australian academic).

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Try the following keyword searches:
cannabis AND policy AND Australia
cannabis AND history AND Australia
"cannabis use" AND Australia NOT medic*
cannabis AND policy AND Australia
cannabis AND prohibit* AND Australia
cannabis AND "law reform" AND Australia

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Enter the following words into the keywords box:
"illicit cannabis" australia
Many results have a PDF attachment under them.
If you don't see a PDF attachment under a record then the article isn't available in full text.

Search for the following article on Elsevier/Science Direct:
- The legal regulation of drugs and role of government: Perspectives from people who use drugs

Click on the link above and try the following keyword searches:
"predictors of cannabis use" + Australia
older onset cannabis use + Australia
nimbin mardigrass (once the search results have loaded, click on since 2016 on the upper left and wait for the results to reload)

Search for the following articles on Google Scholar:
- The Government's proposal to legalise cannabis in New Zealand: 10 key questions
- What is the prevalence and risk of cannabis use disorders among people who use cannabis
- The adverse health effects of chronic cannabis use
- Trends in the sequence of first alcohol, cannabis and cigarette use in Australia, 2001–2016
Note: When using Google Scholar, if an article has a link to the right, such as [PDF] researchgate.net, it is available for free. Click on the link to the right to open the article.
Most of the referencing information for these publications can be found by clicking on the little quote mark under each record. If some of this information is missing, check the headers and footers of the article you are reading.

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Try the following keyword search:
cannabis
Remember that articles & reports from this site have a criminological slant.

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Try the following keyword search:
cannabis
Once the results have loaded, click on the By Date link (grey link just above the search results) so that the most recent results load first.

Jiggens, J. L. (2004). Marijuana Australiana: cannabis use, popular culture and the Americanisation of drugs policy in Australia, 1938-1988, PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology.

Published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Hughes, C. (2020, January 15). The Australian (illicit) drug policy timeline: 1985-2019. Drug Policy Modelling Program, UNSW and Centre for Crime Policy and Research.
Do a find in page/ctrl f command for cannabis.

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. (2021). Illicit drug data report 2019-20.
See section on Cannabis (includes a description of the drug).

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2018). Causes of Death, Australia, 2016 (No. 3303.0).
Note: do a ctrl F/find in page command for cannab.

ACT Government. (2020). Know the ACT Cannabis rules.
On 31 January 2020, we introduced new rules around personal use of cannabis in the ACT to help people get support and stay out of our justice system.

Bright, S., & Bartle , J. (2020). ACT cannabis laws come into effect on Friday, but they may not be what you hoped for. The Conversation.
NOTE: this source is not academic but you may refer to it as an extra source. Check with your lecturer.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2023, June, 30). Illicit drug use in Australia.

Couper, E. & Wang, J. (2023, June 20). Aussies could possess, grow and share recreational cannabis under proposed laws. News.com

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Search for the following book titles:
- Drug Addiction in Australia (see ch. 2)
- Governing the Heroin Trade: From Treaties to Treatment
- Drug Use in Australian Society (version with the white cover - see ch. 2)
- Drugs and Crime (by Bean - see the chapter on theoretical formulations - ch. 3)
Once you have located the title, click on it to open the book. Then select the Read Online button.

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Try the following keyword search:
heroin use AND risk factors AND Australia

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Search for the following articles:
- Trends in heroin and pharmaceutical opioid overdose deaths in Australia
- Years of potential life lost amongst heroin users in the Australian Treatment Outcome Study cohort, 2001–2015
- Predictors of transitions across stages of heroin use
- Trajectories of heroin use predict relapse risk among heroin-dependent patients
- How risky are heroin markets
- Unintentional and intentional drug poisoning deaths
Many results have a PDF attachment under them.
If you don't see a PDF attachment under a record then the article isn't available in full text.

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Search for the following publications:
- The causes, course and consequences of the heroin shortage in Australia (see ch. 3)
- marijuana Australiana (This is a thesis. See ch. 2 which mentions heroin & do a find in page search for the word heroin).
- The societal cost of heroin use disorder in the United States
- Australian drug trends 2020: key findings from the National Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) interviews.
- Opioid use, health and crime: Insights from a rapid reduction in heroin supply
- Illicit drug use and harms in Australia in the context of COVID‐19 and associated restrictions
Note: When using Google Scholar, if an article has a link to the right, such as [PDF] researchgate.net, it is available for free. Click on the link to the right to open the article.
Most of the referencing information for these publications can be found by clicking on the little quote mark under each record. If some of this information is missing, check the headers and footers of the article you are reading.

Published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

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Search for the word heroin

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. (2021). Illicit drug data report 2019-20.
Click on the latest edition which is published the year after the title suggests. Locate your drug of choice from the contents.
Note: this publication contains a description of the drug.

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Search for heroin death

Hughes, C. (2020, January 15). The Australian (illicit) drug policy timeline: 1985-2019. Drug Policy Modelling Program, UNSW and Centre for Crime Policy and Research.
Do a find in page/ctrl f command for heroin.

Research and Trend Analysis Branch. (2021). Opium cultivation in Afghanistan: Latest findings and emerging threats. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Chrzanowska, A., Man, N., Akhurst, J., Sutherland, R., Degenhardt, L., & Peacock​​, A. (2023). Trends in overdose and other drug-induced deaths in Australia, 2002-2021. National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre.

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Search for the following book titles:
- Drug use in Australian society
- Meth Mania: A History of Methamphetamine (the focus is American but there is a history of the drug in ch. 3)
- Consuming pleasures: Australia and the International Drug Business (see ch.4).
- Drugs and Crime (by Bean - see the chapter on theoretical formulations - ch. 3)
Once you have located the title, click on it to open the book. Then select the Read Online button.

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Select articles in the material type box >
Search for the following articles:
- Australian news media reporting of methamphetamine: an analysis of print media 2014–2016
- A prospective cohort of people who use methamphetamine in Melbourne and non-metropolitan Victoria

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Try the following keyword searches:
"methamphetamine use" AND Australia
methamphetamine AND "drug policy" AND Australia

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Enter the following words into the keywords box:
methamphetamine Australia
Many results have a PDF attachment under them.
If you don't see a PDF attachment under a record then the article isn't available in full text.

Search for the following articles title on Elsevier/Science Direct:
- Quantifying the societal cost of methamphetamine use to Australia
- The use of methylamphetamine chemical profiling in an intelligence-led perspective and the observation of inhomogeneity within seizures
- The legal regulation of drugs and role of government: Perspectives from people who use drugs

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Ensure the full text and scholarly/peer reviewed boxes are ticked.
Try the following keyword searches:
methamphetamine n/20 Australia

Click on the link above and log in using your Navitas student portal details.
Search for the following articles:
-The market for crystalline methamphetamine in Sydney
- Problems, policy and politics: making sense of Australia's ‘ice epidemic'
You must print or save the PDF of each article.
Don't use book reviews.

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Search for the following article titles:
- Methamphetamine use in Melbourne, Australia
- Estimating the number of regular and dependent methamphetamine users in Australia, 2002–2014
- “Ice”(crystal methamphetamine): concerns and responses
- Exposure and Risk Associated with Clandestine Amphetamine-Type Stimulant Drug Laboratories'
- Manufacturing by-products from, and stereochemical outcomes of the biotransformation of benzaldehyde used in the synthesis of methamphetamine
- Trends in methamphetamine use, markets and harms in Australia, 2003–2019
- Clinical and demographic characteristics of people who smoke versus inject crystalline methamphetamine in Australia: Findings from a pharmacotherapy trial
Note: When using Google Scholar, if an article has a link to the right, such as [PDF] researchgate.net, it is available for free. Click on the link to the right to open the article.
Most of the referencing information for these publications can be found by clicking on the little quote mark under each record. If some of this information is missing, check the headers and footers of the article you are reading.

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Search for the word methamphetamine.
You may want to search for the National Drug Strategy Household Survey too.

Drugs & Crime Prevention Committee. (2004). Inquiry into the issue of amphetamines and party drug use in Victoria: final report. Parliament of Victoria.
From p.27 (or page 66 if you use the little black page box at the top of the report) - history of the drug and introduction to Australia.

Law Reform, Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee. (2014). Inquiry into the Supply and Use of Methamphetamines, particularly ‘Ice’, in Victoria — Final Report. Parliament of Victoria.

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. (2021). Illicit drug data report 2019-20.
See section on Amphetamine-type stimulants.

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. (2019). Methylamphetamine supply reduction—measures of effectiveness.

Hughes, C. (2020, January 15). The Australian (illicit) drug policy timeline: 1985-2019. Drug Policy Modelling Program, UNSW and Centre for Crime Policy and Research.
Do a find in page/ctrl f command for methamphetamine.

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018, Causes of Death, Australia, 2016, cata. no. 3303.0 , viewed 23 July 2018 from < http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/3303.0~2016~Main%20Features~Drug%20Induced%20Deaths%20in%20Australia~6 > Note: do a ctrl F/find in page command for mehtamphetamine.

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Try the following keyword search:
methamphetamine
Once the results have loaded, click on the By Date link (grey link just above the search results) so that the most recent results load first.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2023, June 30). Illicit drug use in Australia.

Published by the Australian Institute of Criminology.

Published by the Australian Instittute of Health & Welfare (AIHW), 2023.

Click on the link above >
Log in using your ACAP student portal log in details >
Search for the following book titles:
Drug use in Australian society
Consuming pleasures: Australia and the International Drug Business (see ch. called sighs of the oppressed).
Once you have located the title, click on it to open the book. Then select the Read Online button.

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Login using your ACAP login details >
Click on continue when the choose databases screen loads >
Ensure the full text and peer reviewed boxes are ticked >
Try the following keyword searches:
prescription opioid* AND Australia
opioid* AND predictors AND Australia

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Ensure the 'Only content to which I have full access' button is selected >
Search for the following article title:
- a historical look at Australian drug policy

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Log in using your ACAP student portal details >
Search for the following articles on Elsevier/Science Direct:
- The legal regulation of drugs and role of government: Perspectives from people who use drugs
- Unintentional and intentional drug poisoning deaths
Many results have a PDF attachment under them.
If you don't see a PDF attachment under a record then the article isn't available in full text.

Click on the link above >
Try the following searches:
prescription opioid
opioid harm
Non-medical use of pharmaceutical drugs

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Search for the following publications:
- Australian drug trends 2020: key findings from the National Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) interviews.
- Opioid use, health and crime: Insights from a rapid reduction in heroin supply (do a find in page search for prescription. There's some information on the history too).
- Enforcement strategies for fentanyl and other synthetic opioids
- Pharmaceutical opioid poisonings in Victoria, Australia
- Opioid Prescribing and the Very Human Toll of Drug Harms
- Impact of Removing Nonprescription Codeine in Australia
- Twenty‐five years of prescription opioid use in Australia: a whole‐of‐population analysis using pharmaceutical claims
- Opioid prescribing in general practice: an Australian cross-sectional survey (do a ctrl f/find search for the word risk)
- opioid poisonings in Victoria, Australia: rates and characteristics of a decade of emergency department presentations among nine pharmaceutical opioids
Note: When using Google Scholar, if an article has a link to the right, such as [PDF] researchgate.net, it is available for free. Click on the link to the right to open the article.
Most of the referencing information for these publications can be found by clicking on the little quote mark under each record. If some of this information is missing, check the headers and footers of the article you are reading.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2020, July 16). National drug strategy household survey 2019: report.
Download the PDF and do a ctrl f/find search for opioid. Alternatively, click on ch. 5 in the table of contents.

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. (2021). Illicit drug data report 2019-20.
See section on other drugs for information on opiates (Do a ctrl F/Find in page search for opiate).

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2018, Opioid harm in Australia: and comparisons between Australia and Canada, AIHW, Canberra.

Dertadian, G.C. (2015). Painkiller (ab) use: The discursive construction and lived experience of non-medical consumption [Doctoral dissertation, University of Western Sydney]. Western Sydney University Research Direct.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2019). Causes of Death, Australia, 2018 (No. 3303.0).

Son, A. (2003). The Life and Times of Cheok Hong CHEONG, (Zhang Zhuoxiong) 1851-1928, Australian National University.
Do a ctrl f command and look for the word opium.

Click on the link above and then click on the The history and politics of prohibition (ch.4) in the table of contents. You won't be able to download it but you can read it online. This book is also available in hard copy from the Melbourne Library campus.
Brereton, D. (2000). The history and politics of prohibition. In G. Stokes, P. Chalk, & K, Gillen (Eds.), Drugs and democracy: in search of new directions ( pp. 85-99). Melbourne University Press.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021, September 29). Causes of death, Australia.
See section on drug-induced deaths.

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Search for opioid death

Click on the link above and then click on Developing more effective responses (ch.11) in the table of contents. You won't be able to download it but you can read it online. See the section entitled 'How did Australia develop its drug policy?' on p.186
Wodak, A. (2000). Developing more effective responses. In G. Stokes, P. Chalk, & K, Gillen (Eds.), Drugs and democracy: in search of new directions ( pp. 183-200). Melbourne University Press.
This book is also available in hard copy from the Melbourne Library campus.

Nielsen , S. (2019). 'Opioid dependence treatment saves lives. So why don’t more people use it?' The Conversation.
NOTE: this source is not academic but you may refer to it as an extra source. Check with your lecturer.

Therapeutic Goods Administration. (2020). Prescription opioids: Information for consumers, patients and carers.
NOTE: this source is not academic but you may refer to it as an extra source. Check with your lecturer.

Tait, R., Mukhtar, A., Allsop, S., & Whetton, S, (2020). 2,200 deaths, 32,000 hospital admissions, 15.7 billion dollars: what opioid misuse costs Australia in a year', The Conversation.
NOTE: this source is not academic but you may refer to it as an extra source. Check with your lecturer.

Langford, A., Schneider, C., Lin, L., & Gnjidic, D. (2021, March 11). Opioid script changes mean well, but have left some people in chronic pain. The Conversation.

Several sections refer to opitates

Chrzanowska, A., Man, N., Akhurst, J., Sutherland, R., Degenhardt, L., & Peacock​​, A. (2023). Trends in overdose and other drug-induced deaths in Australia, 2002-2021. National Drug & Alcohol Research Centre.

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Select Only content I have full access to
Enter a custom range: 2010 - 2024
Enter the following into the Published in box: Journal of Criminology (wait for the drop down to load and then select Journal of Criminology again >
Enter the following keywords and hit the search button or enter key:
drug prohibition
"drug policy"
drug policy AND Australia
"supply reduction" AND Australia
"demand reduction" AND Australia
drug prohibition AND Australia

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Search for the following articles:
- The price elasticity of demand for illicit drugs: A systematic review
- The relationship between drug price and purity and population level harm

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Search for the following article:
- "a historical look at Australian drug policy" (partial title)

Try the following keyword searches on AustLII:
"drug policy"
"drug control"

Click on the link above and try the following keyword searches:
"illicit drugs" + cryptomarkets + "drug control" + Australia (note: try the same search again with crypto markets too).
"illicit drugs" + cryptomarkets + "supply reduction" + australia (note: try the same search again with crypto markets too).
"illicit drugs" + "harm reduction" + australia
"illicit drugs" + "drug control" + australia
Note: When using Google Scholar, if an article has a link to the right, such as [PDF] researchgate.net, it is available for free. Click on the link to the right to open the article.
Most of the referencing information for these publications can be found by clicking on the little quote mark under each record. If some of this information is missing, check the headers and footers of the article you are reading.

Search for the following articles:
- Considering the Harms: Drug Supply Indicators
- COVID-19: the hidden impact on mental health and drug addiction

Norberry, J. (1997). Illicit Drugs, their Use and the Law in Australia (Background Paper 12 1996-97). Parliament of Australia.
This paper may be useful for a historical overview but may not reflect current trends.

Rowe, J. (2001). Pure politics: a historical look at Australian drug policy. Alternative Law Journal, 26(3).

Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee. (2004). Inquiry into amphetamine and 'party drug' use in Victoria: Final report. Parliament of Victoria.
Note: this report discusses drug control in a general sense as well as focusing on particular substances.

Law Reform, Road and Community Safety Committee. (2018). Inquiry into drug law reform. Parliament of Victoria.
Do a ctrl f/find in page command for the substance examined in your report, for example: opiate, methamphetamine or cannab.

Roxburgh, A., Ritter, A., Slade, T., & Burns, L. (2013). Trends in drug use and related harms in Australia, 2001 to 2013. National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2023). World drug report.
Open each section of the report, do a ctrl f command and search for the word Australia.

Department of Health. (2017). National Drug Strategy 2017-2026. Australian Government.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Australian Institute of Health & Welfare. (2023, December 13). Alcohol, tobacco & other drugs in Australia.

Australia21 is an independent, not-for-profit think tank established in 2001.

Burton, K. (2004). Illicit drugs in Australia: use, harm and policy responses. Parliament of Australia.

Macintosh, A. (2006). Drug law reform: beyond prohibition. Australia Institute,

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Search for household drug
Click on the latest household drug survey (2022-23)

This page was developed by the ACAP Academic Skills Team.