The making of an Australian Ice "pandemic". Submission to the Joint Parliamentary Law Enforcement Committee Inquiry into Crystal Methamphetamine (Ice).

Abstract

In May 2015 the Australian Crime Commission suggested in its annual report that the there was an Ice Pandemic in Australia akin to the cocaine pandemic in the United States. Whilst there is evidence to suggest a continuing trend of amphetamine use and amphetamine-related harm, there is debate as to whether the nature and extent of the changes observed in the existing data constitute a pandemic. It is suggested that the assertion of an “Ice Pandemic” was ill-advised and constituted a “drug scare” or “moral panic”. This article examines the contributions of existing data without seeking to prove or disprove the status of the claim of pandemic, but rather to examine the extent to which differen..