The Normalisation of Recreational Illicit Substance Use

Yesterday we spoke about the strong links between alcohol use and drug use, but today we are looking at the large gap between finding drugs and finding help. Let's start with some definitions. What are party drugs? Health Direct defines party drugs as a drug that you are given at a social event with the “promise of a better time”.  Common party drugs include cocaine, MDMA and cannabis. These drugs for the most part are unregulated as they are illicit. Cannabis is a different case however, as the ACT has decriminalised the possession of up to 50 grams of dried cannabis and 150 grams of wet cannabis . This change in law has been in effect for over a year now and has had positive effects on the Canberra community, as it has lessened the stigma around cannabis use and life long charges are not pressed against those caught in possession of these amounts of cannabis. With the ACT further decriminalising certain illicit drugs from 2023 , we can hope that the negative stigma surrounding t...

In yesterday's blog post we discussed how and where you can get help with safely taking drugs in the ACT as we navigate transitioning away from the negative stigma that currently surrounds drug use. Today we are looking at where and why that drug use occurs and the link that we can see between alcohol use and drug use.  50% of our respondents answered that they had tried recreational drugs at least once in their lives with the other 50% saying that they had never tried any drugs ever. This gives us an understanding into the breakdown of our respondents. From the 50% that said they had tried illicit drugs at least once, 16.6% said that they regularly take drugs roughly once a month. 8.3% said they take drugs once or twice a week and another 8.3% said they take illicit substances five or more times a week. This wide range of people helps us to deepen our understanding of drug use predominantly in the ACT.  As our study was 54.2% university students it is interesting to note that...

Within our last blog post, it was detailed how the ACT Government had announced the decriminalisation of small amounts of commonly used illicit drugs. As such, through the normalisation of illicit substances within society, we can see a changing focus from handcuffs to health care. Instead of criminally punishing people who may suffer addiction, or those who may have made an error in their judgement, the ACT Government is seeking to provide illicit drug users the opportunity to seek health care without being treated as a criminal for their life situation.  Given this important change in focus towards health care for illicit drug users within society, it is worth asking the question… Do young adults know where to find information and help regarding drug use? In our survey, when we asked respondents how they found information about drugs, 0 respondents said they found information about drug use from a support centre. Instead, 41.7% of respondents said that they find information on dr...

With drugs becoming so ‘normal’ and the criminal justice system becoming overburdened, particularly with low level offences, decriminalisation of illicit substances has been a hot topic for some time. The decriminalisation of drugs is different to legalisation - it means that if caught with illicit drugs (under a certain amount), rather than criminal charges, you will just be hit with a fine, just like a speeding ticket when you speed. This is different to being legalised as drugs (like speeding) is still very much illegal. From a criminology perspective, decriminalising illicit substances means that not only is there a lot of burden taken off of the criminal justice system, but people will also no longer face issues with employment for example, due to minor drug offences being next to their name. 42% of respondents to our study in Canberra said that drugs should be decriminalised and 4% said that it should be dependent on certain drugs. Just the other day, the Australian Capital Terri...

Over half of respondents from our study conducted in Canberra indicated that they live at home with their parents, however only one respondent indicated that they were comfortable speaking to family about drig use. Why is this and does it affect whether someone will use illicit substances? Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory suggests that one of the reasons one commits deviant acts is because their social bond to certain people or institutions in society is weak or broken (Hirschi, 1969). Institutions can include family, education or religion for example. Hirschi suggests that a child’s separation or weak relationship with their parents heightens their tendency to be deviant. This shows the importance of connection between individuals and their families. Pratt et al. (2011) recounts that for Hirschi, “where youths…form close attachments to their parents and schools [they] will, by extension, experience greater levels of social control” (Pratt et al., 2011, pg. 16).  Despite this importanc...

While normalisation of recreational use of illicit drugs has meant less stigma for young adults, it has also unfortunately meant that the constant use of illicit drugs can turn into a habit for some, or can lead to drug abuse or addiction. It can be hard to identify drug addiction in friends or family if the use of drugs is considered ‘fine’ and ‘normal’ in the surrounding environment where illicit drugs are commonly used. It’s also hard to recognise drug addiction in yourself if it’s you who is dealing with consequences of consistent drug use. While you or others might sometimes be able to admit that you have a problem with drugs or consume too much at times, you might not consider yourself an addict. Narcotics Anonymous Australia (2022) says everyone has a preconceived idea of what an addict is, which makes it difficult to determine sometimes. We found that more than 33% of respondents to our study said that recreational illicit drug use becomes unhealthy if it occurs once a week in...

From the results of our study conducted in Canberra, we discovered that from young adult respondents aged predominately between 21-27, 45% said that they did not mind other people taking drugs because it is their decision which is fine. The fact that almost half of the survey respondents said that drug taking is fine, shows that there is a perception amongst young adults in society that taking drugs is normal, and is accepted. Howard Parker (1998) and his colleagues developed a Drug Normalisation Theory as a way of explaining changes in society relating to drug use. Illicit drug use used to be perceived as deviant behaviour until it started to become normal to take it recreationally. This was a big shift in society in the 1990s and something people weren’t quite used. However, the recreational use of drugs has slowly gained acceptance over the years through a growing number of shared normalised beliefs within modern society. However, it is worth noting that despite 45% of respondents a...