Delahunty, Brendan; Putt, Judy --- "The Policing Implications of Cannabis, Amphetamine and Other Illicit Drug Use in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities - Digest" [2006] AUIndigLawRpr 86; (2006) 10(4) Australian Indigenous Law Reporter 99

• The Policing Implications of Cannabis, Amphetamine and other Illicit Drug Use In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities
• Chapter One: Introduction
• Recent rapid uptake in use and availability of cannabis

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The Policing Implications of Cannabis, Amphetamine and other Illicit Drug Use In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities

Brendan Delahunty and Judy Putt

National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund, Canberra

Monograph Series 15, 2006

Chapter One: Introduction

This report focuses on the policing of cannabis, amphetamine and other illicit drug use in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in rural and remote areas, including the role of police in efforts to reduce drug-related harms.

Recent shifts in drug supply and use appear to be exposing isolated Aboriginal communities to unexpected difficulties. Cannabis is now flowing into remote areas at an alarming rate, a trade fuelled by high demand and extreme profi ts but increasingly facilitated by profi teers from outside the community rather than resident user-dealers.

Despite a sharp rise in cannabis smoking, particularly among young people, there is no evidence of a corresponding fall in drinking. Alcohol and alcohol-related conflicts remain an urgent issue for most communities, while the illicit drug trade is adding fresh and dynamic impediments to an already complex policing environment.

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Recent rapid uptake in use and availability of cannabis

Although cannabis has been present in rural and remote communities for some years, much of the increased cannabis use noted in remote areas appears to be very recent, to involve large numbers of first-time users and to involve binge use of other substances (Clough et al. 2004b).

A survey in the mid-1980s found little or no cannabis use in the Northern Territory’s ‘Top End’ communities. Police sources confirmed that cannabis use was rare in remote Northern Territory communities before 1991 (Select Committee on Substance Abuse in the Community 2003), but began to notice and warn of an emerging market in remote areas in the mid-1990s (ABCI 1999).

Surveys across the East Arnhem Land region showed that cannabis use by males aged over 15 years quickly increased to 31% by the late 1990s, then to 55% in 1999. Female cannabis use jumped from 8% to 13% in 1999. By 2001-02 regular cannabis usage had surged to 62-76% of males and 9-35% of females aged 13-34 years (Clough et al. 2004b). The accelerating use was most noticeable at individual community level. Between 1999 and 2000 the proportion of males using cannabis in one East Arnhem Land locality almost doubled, from 21% to 39%, while cannabis use among females emerged for the first time, with up to 20% trying the drug that year (Clough et al. 2004b). Expert evidence and public meetings in Lajamanu, Tiwi Islands, Jabiru and Katherine noted that remote communities across the Northern Territory all recently experienced similar rapid increases in cannabis use, plentiful supply from external sources, and community cooperation in distribution (Select Committee on Substance Abuse in the Community 2003).

Although others have noted that cannabis use is becoming more prevalent among Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders elsewhere in Australia (ANCD 2002), there is little published information detailing changing patterns or rates of use. Most studies are neither current nor pertinent to remote area populations. Consequently, relevant information exists for just a few localities in the Northern Territory and rural communities elsewhere.

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National, state and territory drug reporting systems have generally not detected these patterns in remote Aboriginal communities. The dearth of relevant information limits the ability to develop strategies to act against substance abuse, despite its importance to Aboriginal health in general (Clough et al. 2004a).

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Surveys of Aboriginal community attitudes to drug use indicate that more immediate concerns, about excessive alcohol consumption and associated violence and disorder, can overshadow community concerns about substances such as cannabis even if the longer-term harms associated with cannabis smoking are understood (AIHW 1995). Since the late 1990s there has also been wider availability and use of cannabis nationally, a trend Rey & Tennant (2002) link to broader social changes: “The ready availability of the drug, the increasing social disapproval of cigarette smoking, stern drink driving laws, and perceptions that cannabis is safe or less harmful than cigarettes or alcohol may explain these changes”.

The full text of this Monograph is available on the website of the Australian Institute of Criminology: <http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/other/2006-ndlerfmono15.html> .

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