Illicit drug use and associated criminal activity are significant social problems that confront governments across the globe. To effectively target and monitor intervention and prevention strategies, policy-makers require rigorous and authoritative data on the problem. The Australian Institute of Criminology is contributing to an evidence-based policy-making agenda through its Drug Use Monitoring in Australia (DUMA) project. DUMA monitors the use of illicit drugs amongst people who break the law.
This paper reports on international data which show that some Australian sites have among the highest rates of opiate use amongst detainees in the five countries in which similar research is being undertaken.
This research has significant policy implications. If local heroin markets could be reduced, for example, rates of property offending around those markets should decline. Further, there is increasing evidence that open illicit drug markets are associated with a range of social disorders, not least of which is easy entry into drug use by novice users. Thus, an important crime prevention strategy should include tackling local open drug markets. This is best achieved by way of partnership between law enforcement, health, community services, housing and education sectors.