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
- 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.

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

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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).

Published by the Australian Criminal Intlligence Commission.

*Good source of current statistics and general information
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Search for the following word: cannabis
Ensure the everything box (upper left/content type is selected

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Search for the following articles:
- Cannabis and crime: findings from a longitudinal study
- The cannabis effect on crime: Time-series analysis of crime in Colorado and Washington State
- Crime and the legalization of recreational marijuana
- Marijuana and crime: Is there a connection beyond prohibition?
- Does heavy adolescent marijuana use lead to criminal involvement in adulthood
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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Select articles in the material type >
Search for the following:
- The legal regulation of drugs and role of government: Perspectives from people who use drugs

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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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Search for the following book titles:
- Drug Use in Australian Society (see ch.2)
- Drugs and Crime (by Bean - see the chapter on theoretical formulations - ch. 3)

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Search for cocaine.
Ensure the everything box (upper left/content type is selected

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Search for the following publications:
- Australian threshold quantities for'drug trafficking': Are they placing drug users at risk of unjustified sanction
- How much crime is drug or alcohol related? Self-reported attributions of police detainees
- Cocaine use among a sample of police detainees

The search below is linked above.
Go to the library catalogue >
Click on the advanced search page >
Box 1 (contains): cocaine
Box 2 (contains): crime
Box 3 (contains): Australia
After the results load, change the date range on the left to 2005-2025

Published by the Australian Criminal Intlligence Commission.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025, February 25). Illicit drug use in Australia.
Cocaine comes under drug types > amphetamines and other stimulants.

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Search for the following publication:
- Evaluating Australian drug trafficking thresholds
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 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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Click on continue when the choose databases screen loads >
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Try the following keyword search:
heroin use AND risk factors AND Australia

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Search for the following publications:
- Benzodiazepine and pharmaceutical opioid misuse and their relationship to crime
- 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.

The search below is linked above:
Go to the advanced search page on the library catalogue >
Select artiles in the material type box >
Box 1 (contains): heroin
Box 2 (contains): crime
Box 3 (contains): Australia
After the results load, amend the date range on the left

Search for the following artilcle on the library catalogue:
The criminal careers of Australian drug traffickers.

Published by the Australian Criminal Intlligence Commission.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025, February 25). Illicit drug use in Australia.

*Good source of current statistics and general information
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Search for the following word: heroin
Ensure the everything box (upper left/content type is selected.

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Log in using your ACAP student portal log in details >
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.

Here are the instructions for the linked search above:
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Select articles in the material type box >
Box 1 (contains): methamphetamine
Box 2: crime
Box 3: Australia
After the results load, change the date range to 2005-2025.

Search for the following article if it isn't visible in the search above:
- 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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Search for the following articles:
-The market for crystalline methamphetamine in Sydney
- Problems, policy and politics: making sense of Australia's ‘ice epidemic'
- Methamphetamine dependence in Australia–why is ‘ice’ (crystal meth) so addictive? (published Aug 2024)
You must print or save the PDF of each article.
Don't use book reviews.

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Search for the following: methamphetamine

Published by the Australian Criminal Intlligence Commission.

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 Institute of Health and Welfare. (2025, February 25). Illicit drug use in Australia.

*Good source of current statistics and general information
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Search for the following word: methamphetamine
Ensure the everything box (upper left/content type is selected.

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Search for the following book titles:
- Drug Use in Australian Society (see ch.2)
- From Hunting to Drinking: The Devastating Effects of Alcohol on an Australian Aboriginal Community
- Alcohol: A History

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Select articles in the material type box >
Search for the following artcles:
- Harms associated with extramedical use of prescription opioid analgesics in Australia: A scoping review

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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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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.

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Search for the word opioid

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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).
- Imprisonment of opioid‐dependent people in New South Wales, Australia, 2000–2012
- Benzodiazepine and pharmaceutical opioid misuse and their relationship to crime
- The effect of entry and retention in opioid agonist treatment on contact with the criminal justice system among opioid-dependent people
- Offending, custody and opioid substitution therapy treatment utilisation among opioid-dependent people in contact with the criminal justice system
- 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.

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.

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Try the following searches:
prescription opioid
opioid harm
Non-medical use of pharmaceutical drugs

*Good source of current statistics and general information
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Search for the following word: opioids
Ensure the everything box (upper left/content type is selected.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, (2014, June 6). What do Australians die from.

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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

Try the following keyword searches:
"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
- "a historical look at Australian drug policy"

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. (2024). 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. (2025, February 25). 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)

Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement. (2024). Australia’s illicit drug problem: Challenges and opportunities
for law enforcement.