$2.7bn drugs haul fails to kill demand
DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN APRIL 29, 2014
THE value of illegal drugs seized across Australia leapt more than $1 billion last year amid record numbers of seizures and arrests, without any obvious impact on the price paid on the street.
In its annual Illicit Drug Data Report, released today, the Australian Crime Commission says more than 19 tonnes of illicit drugs, worth more than $2.7bn, was seized nationally in the past financial year.
Widely seen as a vital tool in the fight against organised crime, the report says law enforcement agencies made unprecedented hauls of amphetamines, cannabis, heroin, cocaine and other drugs at the country’s borders, as well as making more than 100,000 drug-related arrests.
Yet the price paid on the street for these drugs has remained broadly the same, with experts saying Australian economic prosperity and a willingness to pay high prices make the country a key target for international crime gangs. “Australians are willing to pay top dollar,” said ACC national manager Hamish Hansford.
“We’ve had over 20 years of economic growth and really high unemployment levels … it’s the high demand, the high cost that we are willing to pay.”
Attracted by the profits in Australia, the gangs involved are increasingly sophisticated in terms of their methods of importation and of dealing with the proceeds of their crimes, Mr Hansford said. “Take cocaine, it’s about $3000 per kilo in Columbia and then goes to around $14,000 in Mexico, even up to $54,000 in the US — and then Australia is $180,000 to $360,000. That’s the general mark-up,” he said.
The report also specifically warns that “crystal methylamphetamine is emerging as a pandemic akin to the issue of crack cocaine in the United States”.
The total amount of amphetamines, including crystal methamphetamine or ice, seized at Australia’s borders increased more than 500 per cent in the past year, largely due to three shipments from China and Thailand.
“In the last two to three years it’s really skyrocketed,” said James Pitts, the chief executive of Sydney’s Odyssey House rehabilitation centre, where amphetamine addiction is the leading problem.
With no prescribed medical treatment available, Mr Pitts said the drug could have a devastating impact on families and frontline health professionals.
In Victoria, where a parliamentary inquiry has been investigating the methylamphetamine trade, the annual number of ambulance call-outs relating to the drug’s use recently doubled, to almost 600 in metropolitan Melbourne alone. Victoria yesterday announced $34 million for treating substance abuse, specifically in response to the increasing use of ice and other drugs.
Some regional communities fear they will miss out on the funding, however, with Michelle Withers, executive director of the Project Ice Mildura community group in the state’s northwest, saying support services were being overwhelmed.
pretty striking charts
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...-to-kill-demand/story-e6frg6nf-1226898782554#
DAN BOX THE AUSTRALIAN APRIL 29, 2014
THE value of illegal drugs seized across Australia leapt more than $1 billion last year amid record numbers of seizures and arrests, without any obvious impact on the price paid on the street.
In its annual Illicit Drug Data Report, released today, the Australian Crime Commission says more than 19 tonnes of illicit drugs, worth more than $2.7bn, was seized nationally in the past financial year.
Widely seen as a vital tool in the fight against organised crime, the report says law enforcement agencies made unprecedented hauls of amphetamines, cannabis, heroin, cocaine and other drugs at the country’s borders, as well as making more than 100,000 drug-related arrests.
Yet the price paid on the street for these drugs has remained broadly the same, with experts saying Australian economic prosperity and a willingness to pay high prices make the country a key target for international crime gangs. “Australians are willing to pay top dollar,” said ACC national manager Hamish Hansford.
“We’ve had over 20 years of economic growth and really high unemployment levels … it’s the high demand, the high cost that we are willing to pay.”
Attracted by the profits in Australia, the gangs involved are increasingly sophisticated in terms of their methods of importation and of dealing with the proceeds of their crimes, Mr Hansford said. “Take cocaine, it’s about $3000 per kilo in Columbia and then goes to around $14,000 in Mexico, even up to $54,000 in the US — and then Australia is $180,000 to $360,000. That’s the general mark-up,” he said.
The report also specifically warns that “crystal methylamphetamine is emerging as a pandemic akin to the issue of crack cocaine in the United States”.
The total amount of amphetamines, including crystal methamphetamine or ice, seized at Australia’s borders increased more than 500 per cent in the past year, largely due to three shipments from China and Thailand.
“In the last two to three years it’s really skyrocketed,” said James Pitts, the chief executive of Sydney’s Odyssey House rehabilitation centre, where amphetamine addiction is the leading problem.
With no prescribed medical treatment available, Mr Pitts said the drug could have a devastating impact on families and frontline health professionals.
In Victoria, where a parliamentary inquiry has been investigating the methylamphetamine trade, the annual number of ambulance call-outs relating to the drug’s use recently doubled, to almost 600 in metropolitan Melbourne alone. Victoria yesterday announced $34 million for treating substance abuse, specifically in response to the increasing use of ice and other drugs.
Some regional communities fear they will miss out on the funding, however, with Michelle Withers, executive director of the Project Ice Mildura community group in the state’s northwest, saying support services were being overwhelmed.
pretty striking charts
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...-to-kill-demand/story-e6frg6nf-1226898782554#
