Our Daily Fix: Drugs in Australia

318 Pages·1986·14.205 MB·English

by  Valerie A Brown, Desmond Manderson, Margaret O'Callaghan, Robyn Thompson

This book was published by ANU Press between 1965–1991.
This republication is part of the digitisation project being carried
out by Scholarly Information Services/Library and ANU Press.
This project aims to make past scholarly works published
by The Australian National University available to
a global audience under its open-access policy.

Sponsored by Alcohol and Drug Foundation,
Australia
Valerie A. Brown • Desmond Manderson
Margaret O'Callaghan - Robyn Thompson
S
Australian National University Press
A division of Pergamon Press Australia
Australian National University Press is a division of Pergamon Press Australia and
a member of the Pergamon Group of Companies.
AUSTRALIA Pergamon Press (Australia) Pty Ltd, 19a Boundary
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FEDERAL REPUBLIC Pergamon Press GmbH, 6242 Kronberg-Tanus,
OF GERMANY Hammerweg 6, Postfach 1305, Federal Republic of
Germany
First published in Australia 1986 by the Australian
National University Press.
Copyright © 1986 Valerie A. Brown, Desmond Man-
derson, Margaret O’Callaghan, Robyn Thompson
Cover design by Adrian Young
Designed by Ingrid Padina
Typeset in Australia by Rochester Communications
Group.
Printed in Australia by Brown Prior Anderson Pty. Ltd.
National Library of Australia Cataloguing in
Publication Data
Our Daily Fix
Bibliography.
Includes index.
ISBN 0 08 033044 4.
1. Drug abuse — Australia. 2. Drugs — Australia.
I. Brown, Valerie A. II. Title.
362.2 '93'0994
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise
without the prior permission of Pergamon Press
(Australia) Pty Ltd.
Contents
Preface.......................................................................................... ix
Foreword...................................................................................... xii
PART 1 IDEAS: UNDERSTANDING DRUG USE
1 The world in our heads: totems and taboos..................... 3
2 The social context of drug use.......................................... 21
3 Drug policy, politics and values........................................ 45
4 Effects and extent of drug use............................................ 59
PART 2 STRATEGIES: REDUCING DRUG ABUSE
5 Our heads in the world ...................................................... 89
6 Control ................................................................................ 97
7 Treatment............................................................................ 116
8 Education............................................................................ 130
9 Social change....................................................................... 141
PART 3 ACTION: BALANCING DRUG USE AND ABUSE
10 Changing the world............................................................. 165
11 A national campaign against drug abuse........................ 175
Appendix 1: DA:NA workshop .................................................... 197
Appendix 2: Official release from the Special
Premiers’ Conference on Drugs,
Canberra, 2 April 1985 ........................................... 211
12 A national repertoire of action plans ............................. 215
13 The heart of the matter.................................................... 256
Postscript .................................................................................... 270
Notes for further reading........................................................... 273
v
Bibliography.............................................................................. 281
Glossary...................................................................................... 297
Index.......................................................................................... 300
Figures
1 Levels of action on social issues...................................... 14
2 One view of marihuana use ............................................ 19
3 Tic-tac-totem ..................................................................... 21
4 Marihuana in the headlines.............................................. 37
5 Drugs in the headlines..................................................... 44
6 Heroin in the headlines .................................................... 103
7 Alcohol in the headlines.................................................... 160
8 Evaluating the action: a five-sided approach................... 173
9 Framework for DA:NA.................................................... 179
10 Drugs in the headlines — again...................................... 255
11 A loaded dice?.................................................................. 265
12 Snakes and ladders........................................................... 266
Tables
1 Royal Commissions, etc.: the 6400 page questions........... 10
2 Framework for drug issues 1: overview ........................... 16
3 Framework for drug issues 2: marihuana......................... 17
4 What counts as a drug problem: a social history............. 24
5 Patterns of drug use by age .............................................. 27
6 Politics, values and policy.................................................. 49
7 Framework for drug issues 3: policy analysis — a binary
view .................................................................................... 57
8 Most commonly abused chemical substances in
Australia in 1985 ................................................................. 63
9 Admissions to hospitals with a principal dignosis
specifying drug involvement, 1981..................................... 73
10 Death rates and drugs, 1974-83 ........................................ 74
11 Drinking patterns among persons aged 25-64 years,
Australian State capital cities, 1980 and 1983 75
12 Smoking patterns among persons aged 25-64 years,
Australian State capital cities, 1980 and 1983 77
13 Weekly drug use by year 10 students, New South
Wales, 1971-83 ..................................................................... 79
vi
14 Australian Health Surveys, 1977-78 and 1983: persons
taking medication in the two days before interview .... 81
15 Prescriptions form psychopharmaceuticals and total
prescriptions under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme,
1974-75 to 1983-84............................................................. 83
16 Deaths involving drugs reported upon by Sydney
Coroner’s Court, 1972-80.................................................. 84
17 Choosing a strategy: collecting the evidence ................. 94
18 Framework for drug issues 4: strategy analysis —
responses to heroin use..................................................... 95
19 Criminal charges associated with specific drugs, 1977-81 113
20 Seizures of selected drugs by Federal agencies, 1977-83. 114
21 Framework for drug issues 5: control as policy ............. 115
22 Framework for drug issues 6: treatment as policy........ 129
23 Framework for drug issues 7: education as policy...........139
24 Framework for drug issues 8: prevention as policy .... 161
25 Ranking of thematic content by press and television,
Sydney area, 1984 ............................................................. 190
26 Major drug stories of 1984 in Sydney media................. 191
Cartoons
Pryor: alcohol sponsorship of Melbourne Cup ................... 5
Mitchell: tobacco sponsorship of sport.................................. 22
Mitchell: mixed values on alcohol.......................................... 55
Thaves: prescription of legal drugs ........................................ 78
Pryor: surveillance as prevention............................................ 101
Endean: treatment centres....................................................... 120
Molnar: marihuana smoking.................................................... 132
Thaves: effecting social change................................................ 148
Thaves: social values................................................................. 235
vii
Preface
This is a book about reducing the abuse of drugs, through a better
understanding of their use. Abuse may be inherited from other
parts of the world, or grow out of a homebound tradition; either
way, Australians are showing that they have had enough. Political
promises, public outcry, and professional criticism are carrying the
one message: drug use in Australia has gone beyond the level of our
social tolerance. A national campaign against drug abuse was
promised by the Prime Minister in November 1984. This was to be
designed at a special meeting of the Premiers of the States and
Territories in April 1985. Announcement of that meeting
stimulated people’s awareness of the need to prepare a forceful,
realistic brief on their idea of responses to drug use and abuse. One
resulting community initiative, sponsored by the Alcohol and Drug
Foundation, Australia (ADFA) and the then Capital Territory
Health Commission, was ‘Drugs in Australia: National Action’
(DA:NA), a workshop consisting of forty-four individuals from all
States and Territories, selected from the fields of community
services, health care, education, law, media and policy analysis.
People were invited as individuals with experience of drug use and
personal standing in the community, not as representatives of
organisations. The DA:NA briefing papers, designed to give
participants an overview of current drug use and abuse in
Australia, provided the basis of this book; while ADFA has
supported publication, the authors take full responsibility for the
contents of the book as it now stands.
In the event, the recommendations from the workshop helped
set the agenda for the National Campaign meeting, and were
reflected in its conclusions. That story is told in Chapter 11. We
wish to acknowledge the people who contributed their ideas, their
ix