Weed or speed? Convicted drug dealers' views of substitutions in the Western Australian illicit drug market to 1992

FRANÇAIS :
Une étude qualitative du marché des drogues illicites en Australie a été menée par l'interrogatoire de 33 dealers détenus et de 4 membres de la police des stupéfiants. La plupart des revendeurs ont connu des
disettes de vente de cannabis ce qu'ils attribuent à une répression effective. Le prix du cannabis a doublé ou triplé depuis le milieu des années 1980 et certains dealers se sont mis à revendre des drogues injectables pour maximiser leurs profits. Beaucoup d'entre eux pensent que les drogues injectables ont été proposées aux usagers de cannabis, en particulier aux plus jeunes, et que les prix des amphétamines et du cannabis ont incité les usagers à devenir dépendant à l'un ou l'autre de ces produits pour le même prix. L'auteur suggère que la dépénalisation du cannabis, pourrait dans ce contexte, participer à une politique de réduction des risques.
ENGLISH :
The reduction of blood-borne viral infections (BBVI), particularly hepatitis C, among injecting drug users (IDUs) is a central concern, and one way to do this is to encourage drug users not to inject or, if already injecting, to switch to other routes of administration. The initiation and maintenance of injecting might be discouraged by non-injectable drugs such as cannabis being cheaper and more readily available than injectable drugs. This, however, requires an understanding of the illicit drug market. A qualitative investigation of the Western Australian (WA) illicit drug market was undertaken by interviewing 33 convicted drug dealers and four members of the WA police drug squad. It was found that most dealers had experienced cannabis 'droughts' and believed that these largely resulted from effective law enforcement. There was general agreement that cannabis in Perth had double or tripled in price since the mid-1980s, and that some cannabis dealers turned to selling powder drugs during this period in order to maximise their profits. Many of the dealers believed that injectable drugs were offered to customers who were seeking cannabis, particularly younger users, and that the price structure for amphetamine and cannabis allowed novice drug users to become intoxicated on either for around the same price. These results are discussed in the light of the current debate about cannabis decriminalisation, and it is suggested that decriminalising cannabis may be one way to prevent BBVI. The practice of conducting ongoing illicit drug market analysis moreover, may assist in under (Author' s abstract)