Drugs in a Multicultural Community An Assessment of Involvement Public Health Division Drugs in a Multicultural Community An Assessment of Involvement Public Health Division Victorian Government Department of Human Services Copyright State of Victoria 2000 This work is copyright and if reproduced reference must be cited as follows: Drugs in a Multicultural Community—An Assessment of Involvement, Victorian Government Publishing Service 2000. Published by Public Health Division, Victorian Government Department of Human Services, Melbourne Victoria. All rights reserved. Except for the purposes of education, fair dealing and use within the intended environment by health professionals in Victoria, no portion of this document should be reproduced or copied for any purposes, including general exhibition, lending, resale and hire. September 2000 Also Published on http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/phd/0008087/ (0870800) Acknowledgments This report was funded by the Department of Human Services and supported by a Steering Committee which provided ongoing advice and support: Paris Aristotle Director, Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture Chief Inspector Paul Ditchburn Victoria Police, Drug and Alcohol Policy Coordination Unit Robert Eldridge Director, Policy and Strategic Development Division, Department of Justice Inspector Steve James Victoria Police, Drug and Alcohol Policy Coordination Unit George Lekakis Director, South Central Migrant Resource Centre Stephan Romaniw Chairperson, Victorian Multicultural Commission Bill Stronach Chief Executive Officer, Australian Drug Foundation Adam Sutton Department of Criminology, Melbourne University Celia Wigzel Project Officer, Backgrounds Project, Department of Education, Employment and Training Department of Human Services Drug Policy Unit and Drugs and Health Protection Services This report was produced by the Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research in Collaboration with the North Richmond Community Health Centre for the Department of Human Services Researchers: Lorraine Beyer MA, BA, Grad Dip Data Coll Analysis Gary Reid RN, MTH Contents Acknowledgments iii Contents v Tables vii Figures vii Executive Summary 1 Introduction 1 Research Findings 19 Recommendations 25 Community and Parent Education and Information 25 Harm Reduction 25 Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities: Resources and Services 26 Treatment Services 26 Further Research 26 Data Collection 27 Further Recommendations 27 Literature—Health and Social Impact 33 Defining Ethnicity 33 Ethnicity and Databases 34 Utilisation of Drug Treatment Services 48 Ethnic Groups Selected on the Basis of Adequate Available Literature 57 Greek 57 Italian 60 Asian 62 Chinese Language Speakers 65 Cambodian 67 Vietnamese 73 Arabic Speaking 81 Literature—Criminal Justice 87 Part 1: Setting the Scene 87 Part 2: Drugs, Crime and Ethnic Involvement 99 Trends in Drug Use 106 Drug Use Overview 112 Drugs In Prisons 116 Other Determinants Affecting Involvement in Illicit Drugs and Crime 120 Drug Trafficking/Organised Crime 122 Drugs in a Multicultural Community—An Assessment of Involvement v Some Solutions 130 The Media and Its Coverage of Illicit Drug Issues 135 The Media’s Construction of the Vietnamese-Australian 145 Ethnic Media Coverage of Drug Issues 148 Databases 155 Methodology 155 Results—All Databases 156 Discussion 160 Summary of Health and Drug Treatment-Related Databases 175 Background 175 General Comments on Health and Drug Treatment Related Databases 175 Key Findings 176 Alcohol and Drug Information System (ADIS) 179 Description of Database 179 Concluding Remarks and Recommendations 204 Drug of Dependency Information System Methadone Registry 205 Further Analysis 208 Recommendations for Further Research 210 Databases 213 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Surveillance Database 213 The Victorian 1996 Secondary Students Alcohol and Drugs Survey 215 The Victorian Emergency Minimum Data Set (VEMD) 219 1995 Victorian Drug Household Survey 223 Victoria Police Statistics: Illicit Drugs 228 Juvenile Justice Client Information System (SSCIS)—Illicit Drugs 233 Prisoner Information Management System—PIMS: Prison Statistics: Illicit Drugs 238 Corrections—Community-Based Court Dispositions (OASIS): Illicit Drugs 246 Statistical Profile of Victorians from Main and Non-Main English Speaking Countries, 1996 Census (Australian Bureau of Statistics) 250 The Key Informant Interview Phase: Health, Welfare and Drug Treatment Services 271 Summary of Key Informant Interviews on Health, Welfare and Drug Treatment Services 272 The Key Informant Interview Phase: Criminal Justice 293 Summary of Findings 294 Difficulties for People from Non-English Speaking Backgrounds in the Criminal Justice System 297 Backgrounds of Drug Offenders: Differences Between Anglo and Asian Drug Offenders 302 Observations on Frequency of Offending 303 Outcomes from the Community Consultation Phase 320 Reasons for Using Illicit Drugs 325 vi Drugs in a Multicultural Community—An Assessment of Involvement Appendices 349 Appendix 1: Persons Aged 15 to 24 Years, by Birthplace, by Proficiency in English, by Labour Force, 1996 Census, Victoria 349 Appendix 2: Non-Main English Speaking Countries, by Labour Force Status, in Select Local Government Areas, Melbourne, Aged 15 to 24 Years 357 Appendix 3 Specialist Alcohol and Drug Services—Victoria—Delivery 363 Appendix 4: Stress Factors and Issues that Impact on Illicit Drug Use/Misuse among Three Different Ethnic Groups 365 References 369 Health and Social Impact 369 Bibliography 382 Health 382 Criminology 383 The Media’s Influence on Illicit Drug Issues 395 Tables Table 1 Number of articles appearing in The Age and the Herald Sun newspapers which contain combination key words, over four years 147 Table 2 Summary of Databases and their Ethnicity Variables 167 Table 3 Clients’ episodes of care by LGA 180 Table 4 Clients’ episodes of care by age 182 Table 5 Clients’ episodes of care by sex 183 Table 6 Clients’ episodes of care by marital status 184 Table 7 Clients’ episodes of care by services type 186 Table 8 Clients’ episodes of care by source of referral 188 Table 9 Clients’ episodes of care by language interpreted 189 Table 10 Clients’ episodes of care by employment status 191 Table 11 Clients’ episodes of care by living status 193 Table 12 Clients’ episodes of care by accommodation 194 Table 13 Clients’ episodes of care by legal status 196 Table 14 Clients’ episodes of care by period of drug use 198 Table 15 Clients’ episodes of care are by drug use status 199 Table 16 Clients’ episodes of care by injecting drug use 200 Table 17 Clients’ episodes of care by previous alcohol and drug treatment 202 Table 18 Clients’ episodes of care by concurrent methadone program 203 Table 19 Illicit drug use by COB—MESB and NESB 225 Table 20 Illicit drug use by language spoken 226 Drugs in a Multicultural Community—An Assessment of Involvement vii Table 21 Heroin − consumer and provider arrests, by jurisdiction and per 100,000 population, 1997–98 229 Table 22 Cannabis offences by jurisdiction, per 100,000 population, 1997–98 229 Table 23 Number and proportion of offenders aged 15–49 years arrested in Victoria for trafficking heroin, by year and country of birth 230 Table 24 All drug offences by country of birth of alleged offenders of all ages in Victoria, 1997–98 231 Table 25 Number of alleged traffic heroin offenders in Victoria, by age, by selected countries of birth, per 100,000 ethnic population 1997–98 232 Table 26 Total number and percentage of clients supervised by Juvenile Justice Service 1997–98, by ethnicity 234 Table 27 Drug offences of Juvenile Justice clients by ethnicity, 1997–98 235 Table 28 Drug offence by type of concurrent offence, Juvenile Justice clients 1997–98 236 Table 29 Juvenile Justice clients with drug and violence offences, by ethnicity 1997–98 236 Table 30 Juvenile Justice clients with drug and property offences, by ethnicity 1997–98 237 Table 31 Prisoners in custody, per 100,000 adult population, as at September 1998, by State or Territory 238 Table 32 Number of prisoners in Victoria and proportion whose most serious offence was a drug offence, by year 239 Table 33 Sentenced Victorian prisoners whose most serious offence was a drug offence, by type of drug offence, sex and year of incarceration 239 Table 34 Ethnic background of Victorian prisoners by sex and year, 1995–98 240 Table 35 Number of male prisoners in Victoria, born in Vietnam and proportion of all prisoners, by year 240 Table 36 Age distribution of prisoners by ethnicity, whose current episode most serious offence is a drug offence, 1997–98 244 Table 37 Offenders on community-based orders for drug offences, by country of birth 1997–98 247 Table 38 Stress Factors and Issues that Impact on Illicit Drug Use/Misuse among Three Different Ethnic Groups 365 Figures Figure 1 Individual methadone permit forms by ethnic groups, Victoria, 12 February 1998 to 12 February 1999 207 Figure 2 Individual methadone permit forms by ethnicity, by country of birth, Methadone Registry, Victoria, 12 February 1998 to 12 February 1999 208 Figure 3 Prisoners’ current episode most serious offence by COB, 1997-98 241 Figure 4 Prisoners’ current episode most serious offence by COB, rate per 100,000 ethnic population 242 Figure 5 Prisoners’ country of birth/most serious drug offence 1997-98 243 Figure 6 Prisoners' illicit drug use by COB, 1997-98 245 Figure 7 Offences of offenders on community-based dispositions by COB, 1997-98 249 Figure 8 Unemployment and not in labour force