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Results for amphetamines

7 results found

Author: Bradford, Deborah

Title: An Analysis of Alcohol and Psycho-Stimulant Use from the 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey

Summary: The aim of this paper is to examine what proportion of current alcohol consumers are also current consumers of psycho-stimulants in the Australian population. Using population survey data obtained from the 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, this brief considers the proportion of alcohol drinkers who report recent consumption of amphetamines and cocaine. Among the sample of survey respondents 18 years and over results showed that the level of psychostimulant use was low among the population of alcohol consumers. This finding was evident even among those drinkers who reported drinking most frequently and in the most risky manner. For those respondents estimated to be at the highest risk for alcohol-related harm, only 12.9 per cent reported use of amphetamines and 8.6 per cent reported use of cocaine in the 12 months prior to the survey. These findings suggest that in the general population, concurrent use of alcohol and psycho-stimulants is likely to be low.

Details: Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2010. 3p.

Source: Internet Resource: Bureau Brief: Issue Paper No. 53: Accessed April 4, 2011 at: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/bb53.pdf/$file/bb53.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: Australia

URL: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/bb53.pdf/$file/bb53.pdf

Shelf Number: 121222

Keywords:
Alcohol Abuse (Australia)
Amphetamines
Cocaine
Drug Abuse

Author: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

Title: Problem Amphetamine and Methamphetamine Use in Europe

Summary: Amphetamine and methamphetamine are two closely related synthetic substances that act as stimulants of the central nervous system. They can be ingested, snorted or injected, and methamphetamine, particularly in its crystalline form, can be smoked. The two substances can be so similar in their effects and appearance that often the user cannot tell them apart. Their effects include elevated mood; a sense of well-being; increased energy, wakefulness, concentration, alertness, and motor and speech activities; improved performance in physical and mental tasks; and reduced fatigue. Among other effects viewed by users as positive and rewarding are decreased social or sexual inhibitions, and the desire to lengthen social interactions or to socialise with others using the drug. This broad range of effects might explain why the use of amphetamines has been reported among many different population groups including soldiers, workers (e.g. truck or taxi drivers, hospital staff), students, sex workers, clubbers or problem heroin users. Of the main illicit drugs, the patterns and geography of amphetamines (1) use in Europe are among the most difficult to describe. There are several reasons for this. First, the prevalence of amphetamines use varies greatly between countries. The diversity of user groups is possibly one of the largest of all illicit substances found in Europe. In addition, a small number of countries have problem amphetamines use at the heart of their drug problem and, when this is the case, it has very specific socio-historical and epidemiological characteristics. The stimulant market in Europe also appears to be changing frequently, particularly in nightlife settings, with shifts in popularity between substances such as amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy, piperazines or new stimulant drugs such as mephedrone. Finally, Europe is an important producer of amphetamines with several countries reporting illicit production facilities on their territory. The provision of care for those with amphetamines problems is another area in which differences exist between countries. In general, treatment services are more attuned to the needs of amphetamines users in the countries where problematic use of these substances is longer established, while elsewhere services are targeted to the needs of the largest group of problem drug users, mostly opioid users. Organised in two parts, this Selected issue aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the history, health effects, supply and use of amphetamines in Europe, as well as describing their problematic use and the responses to them in the European countries that are most heavily affected. The first part begins with a short history of the use of these drugs and a presentation of the laws that are used to control them. This is followed by an analysis of drug supply information, mainly from police and customs services. The next section gives an overview of the prevalence of amphetamines use in the Europe population. The last section of Part I covers the mental and physical health effects of amphetamines use, including a review of the information on infectious diseases and deaths related to these drugs. In Part 2, countries are grouped in four geographical regions and sub-regions according to their amphetamines problems, with particular attention given to those with significant levels of problem amphetamines use. Treatment responses to amphetamines problems are also described for the different countries or groups of countries.

Details: Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2010. 40p.

Source: Internet Resource: Selected Issue 2010: Accessed August 16, 2011 at: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/attachements.cfm/att_120112_EN_EMCDDA_SI10_Amphetamines.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: Europe

URL: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/attachements.cfm/att_120112_EN_EMCDDA_SI10_Amphetamines.pdf

Shelf Number: 122402

Keywords:
Amphetamines
Drug Abuse and Addiction
Drug Abuse Treatment
Methamphetamines
Substance Use and Abuse (Europe)

Author: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Laboratory and Scientific Section

Title: Amphetamines and Ecstasy: 2011 Global ATS Assessment

Summary: Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) are firmly established on global illicit drug markets and their use continues to exceed that of opiates or cocaine. While the number of people who have used ATS at least once in the last 12 months has stabilized at the global level, increases have occurred in parts of the world that previously had only very small ATS-related problems. The widespread use of ATS is a result of their attractiveness to users: they seem to appeal to the needs of today’s societies and have become part of what is perceived to be a modern and dynamic lifestyle; in some segments of society, they continue to be used frequently for occupational purposes. It is also a result of a market potential with continuously high profits and low risks that maintain their attractiveness to criminal groups around the world. Since the last global ATS assessment was published in 2008,1 there have been several new developments. The report provides evidence for these developments since 2008, with a special focus on subregional patterns and trends, and highlights the challenges ahead.

Details: Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011. 124p.

Source: Internet Resource: Global SMART Programme: Accessed September 11, 2011 at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/ATS/ATS_Global_Assessment_2011.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: International

URL: http://www.unodc.org/documents/ATS/ATS_Global_Assessment_2011.pdf

Shelf Number: 122738

Keywords:
Amphetamines
Drug Abuse and Addiction
Drug Markets
Ecstasy
Illegal Drugs

Author: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction

Title: Amphetamine: A European Union perspective in the global context

Summary: This report is the third in a series of European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)–Europol joint publications dedicated to prevalent illicit drugs. It focuses on amphetamine, a substance belonging to the family often referred to as amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), which covers two main groups of substances: the ‘amphetamines’, which includes amphetamine, methamphetamine and related substances, and the ‘ecstasy-type’ drugs, which includes methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and its close relatives methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA).This study focuses on amphetamine production and markets in Europe, set in a global context. The first two EMCDDA–Europol joint publications were dedicated to methamphetamine and cocaine, while ecstasy-type substances, heroin and cannabis will be addressed in future publications. The current patterns of amphetamine use in Europe are influenced by both historical and more recent factors. The use of amphetamine has evolved over the years since it was first synthesised, in 1887. Originally an experimental substance used as a medicine to treat narcolepsy, amphetamine was used as a stimulant and performance enhancer by soldiers in the Second World War. In the late 1940s, it became a product of mass consumption, and it remained a widely prescribed medication well into the 1960s. Since the early 1970s, amphetamine has been an illicitly used and produced drug, and since the 1990s it has experienced renewed popularity in many parts of Europe, especially northern Europe. Although, worldwide, methamphetamine is probably the most widely used synthetic stimulant, in Europe it is amphetamine, mostly in the form of the sulphate salt, that has historically been, and remains, the most produced, trafficked and used synthetic stimulant. Amphetamine, therefore, may be neatly viewed as a ‘European drug’. Paradoxically, amphetamine has attracted much less attention in the European and global media, in policy circles and in academia than other drugs such as cannabis, cocaine or heroin. Even the closely related methamphetamine often seems to get more attention, although, compared with amphetamine, its production and use are much less prevalent in Europe. As a result, comparatively less information and analysis is available on amphetamine than on many other substances. Even so, EMCDDA and Europol data and analysis, as well as the literature reviewed for this report, strongly suggest that the demand and supply of amphetamine in Europe are not secondary issues but warrant careful attention. Overall, amphetamine has stabilised as the second most widely used stimulant drug in Europe today, after cocaine. And in many countries, especially in the north and east of Europe, it is the most consumed stimulant, far ahead of cocaine. In fact, in many of those countries, amphetamine is the second most widely used illicit drug after cannabis. Broadly speaking, the European amphetamine market can be characterised by two main patterns of use. The biggest group of users are generally episodic or occasional users of the drug, most of whom will be relatively well integrated socially, especially in terms of housing and employment status. Patterns of use among this group will vary from occasional experimental use (only once or twice) to regular episodic but intensive periods of use. The typical mode of administration will be nasal insufflation (snorting) or oral ingestion (swallowing). A second, more chronic, pattern of use can also be found in some countries, notably Norway, Latvia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This pattern of use is characterised by the chronic (i.e. long-term) injection of often high-dose amphetamine. Users tend to be more socially marginalised and have more chronic health problems. In some countries, amphetamine therefore makes up a significant part of the national drug problem, with the concomitant health and social consequences, and the attendant costs to European societies, that this entails. Other consequences derive from the fact that the European amphetamine markets — 2 million Europeans are estimated to have used the drug in the last year — represent highly profitable ‘business opportunities’ for organised crime. Although some amphetamine is produced in ‘kitchen-type’ laboratories set up by chemistry students to supply a group of local friends, it is likely that the vast majority is manufactured in middling to large, sometimes ‘industrial size’, facilities. And, in this case, production and wholesale trafficking are in the hands of criminal organisations, some of which are able to operate throughout Europe, and even beyond, and which reap the corresponding profits. The decrease in the number of amphetamine production facilities dismantled in Europe in recent years does not necessarily make for comforting news, as forensic intelligence suggests that there is an increase in the production capacity of the facilities seized in key producer countries. The information available suggests that Europe is the world’s number one producer of amphetamine, with much of the production consumed within European borders. However, Europe also produces amphetamine that is usually exported to the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula, where it is sold under the name ‘captagon’ (see p. 12). For conceptual clarity, the production and use of amphetamine in Europe needs to be distinguished from the production and export of amphetamine sold as captagon outside the European Union (EU). Patterns of use, including dose and route of administration, also are likely to differ considerably between these products. All this emphasises the need for careful monitoring of the production, trafficking and use of amphetamine in Europe today and is one of the reasons why the EMCDDA and Europol have joined efforts to publish the present report. Based on the latest statistical data, intelligence reports and original analysis, this joint publication hopes to enhance the understanding of amphetamine, an often overlooked but nevertheless key component on the European scene for stimulant drugs. -- See earlier report in DMG Gray Literature Database at #115669 --

Details: Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2011. 50p.

Source: EMCDDA-Europol Joint Publications No. 3: Internet Resource: Accessed February 21, 2012 at https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/emcdda-europol_joint_publications._amphetamine_a_european_union_perspective_in_the_global_context.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: Europe

URL: https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/publications/emcdda-europol_joint_publications._amphetamine_a_european_union_perspective_in_the_global_context.pdf

Shelf Number: 123592

Keywords:
Amphetamines
Drug Abuse and Addiction
Methamphetamines
Narcotics Production

Author: Gately, Natalie

Title: Amphetamine Users and Crime in Western Australia, 1999–2009

Summary: Statistics consistently highlight a higher prevalence of the use of amphetamines in Western Australia compared with other Australian drug markets. It is the third most commonly used drug in Western Australia behind cannabis and ecstasy. Using data collected by Drugs Use Monitoring Australia (DUMA) program at the East Perth watch-house, researchers from Edith Cowan University explore the relationship between amphetamine use and the crimes committed by detainees who have used this drug. Findings include that amphetamine users are more likely to commit property, robbery and weapons offences than users of other drugs. However, users are no more prone to violent offences, which supports other studies of amphetamine users and their criminal behaviours. It is also concluded that the failure to reduce the use of amphetamines has a cumulative social and health cost to the community.

Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 6p.

Source: Internet Resource: Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice No. 437: Accessed July 7, 2012 at: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/421-440/tandi437.aspx

Year: 2012

Country: Australia

URL: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/421-440/tandi437.aspx

Shelf Number: 125491

Keywords:
Amphetamines
Drug Abuse and Addiction Drug Offenders
Drug Abuse and Crime (Australia)

Author: Ritter, Alison

Title: Evaluating Drug Law Enforcement Interventions Directed Towards Methamphetamine in Australia

Summary: Methamphetamine belongs in the class of stimulant drugs referred to as Amphetamine Type Stimulants (ATS). The category of ATS includes ecstasy, amphetamine and methamphetamine. This research project concerned itself with the amphetamine and methamphetamine class and excluded ecstasy (and henceforth we use the generic term methamphetamine). In Australia, methamphetamine is available in three forms—powder, base and crystal. Methamphetamine is associated with significant harms and is an important drug policy priority. The National Amphetamine-Type Stimulants Strategy (2008–2011) (Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, 2008) articulates the following priority areas in relation to methamphetamine: • improve community awareness and understanding of amphetamine-type stimulant use and related problems; • reduce the supply of amphetamine-type stimulants; • develop specific strategies to prevent and reduce amphetamine type stimulant use; and • develop organisational and system capacity to prevent and respond to amphetamine-type stimulant problems This research concerns the second priority area—reducing the supply of methamphetamine. The specific aims of the research were twofold: • to provide a rich description of the Australian methamphetamine supply chains in order to inform drug law enforcement interventions; and • to conduct an initial economic evaluation comparing law enforcement interventions directed at the methamphetamine market. The work focused on the methamphetamine market(s) and supply chains in Australia above the retail level. Previous research (eg McKetin, McLaren, & Kelly, 2005) has examined retail methamphetamine markets in Australia. Governments and policymakers are interested in determining which interventions are more or less effective than others, such that the scarce funding resources can be allocated in the most efficient manner possible. There is scant research available to law enforcement to guide such decisions. The main impediments to such research are the fundamental methodological challenges inherent in such an undertaking. This project is an attempt to conduct a preliminary analysis comparing the costs and impacts of different types of law enforcement. It is a ground-breaking study as this has not been previously attempted and it should be seen as the initial development of a methodological approach that can be improved upon with subsequent research. The project aimed to determine the relative cost-to-impact ratios of different law enforcement strategies aimed at reducing methamphetamine production and distribution. In an environment focused on efficiency in resource allocation, it is hoped that this research will provide the impetus for further research on the effectiveness of drug law enforcement. As the results of such research accumulate, it is hoped that policymakers will be able to use the information to improve decision making on law enforcement investment. As with all research, this study has limitations, which we hope will be addressed in future research. The economic results should be read with these limitations in mind. • This study assessed the difference between four drug law enforcement interventions in terms of the impact (value of seized drugs) against expenditure (government costs). It is not a cost-effectiveness or a cost– benefit study. The results are reported in terms of the ranking of the interventions against each other. This study does not allow one to draw conclusions about the overall efficiency or value for money represented by drug law enforcement. Future research, which builds on this work, could include a cost-effectiveness analysis, between drug law enforcement interventions and across drug law enforcement and other interventions which reduce methamphetamine use (such as drug treatment). • In this evaluation, the measure of policing impact was the monetary value of seized methamphetamine (or precursor). This is an imperfect impact measure. Drug law enforcement that results in seized product can also impact on the overall capacity of a criminal network. • This study used the value of seized drugs as the measure to compare law enforcement interventions. However, drug law enforcement may change other financial aspects for drug criminals, such as increase the costs of manufacture and distribution (by seizing assets), increase the risks of arrest and imprisonment (opportunity costs) and increase the operational costs of running a business (costs of new avoidance strategies adopted against drug law enforcement). The aggregate costs are the losses to illicit drug enterprises due to drug law enforcement activities. A comprehensive analysis would include each of these aspects and calculate ‘total loss’ due to drug law enforcement. However, in this preliminary work, we were not able to cost each of these components and hence used only replacement costs (seizures) to represent the loss. • There are other important impacts of drug law enforcement interventions—deterrence, public safety and public amenity, and disruptions on other crimes that criminal networks are engaged in that have not been included in this study; future research could adopt the broader, taxpayer (societal) perspective, rather than policing agency perspective. • In this study, we evaluate the relative impact of discrete law enforcement interventions. However, in reality, law enforcement interventions are likely to exert synergistic effects such that the combined impact of a suite of interventions is likely to be greater than the sum of the impact of individual interventions. Thus, an important caveat to our results relates to the cumulative impact of law enforcement interventions. The current project did not examine the impact of cumulative or multi-pronged interventions. • There is a substantial lack of data across many areas of illicit drug markets. We had difficulty obtaining methamphetamine price data, information about market structure, police agency budgets and detailed seizure data. Some of these data, such as information about markets, involves ethnographic research. For quantitative data, consideration should be given to the development of data collection systems which would facilitate illicit drug market and law enforcement effectiveness research (eg collection of data which connects price and purity of seizures). • Our study did not include the relative impact of precursor regulations and the enforcement of these regulations, nor did it include source country interventions conducted by Australian law enforcement. There is currently very little empirical evidence to guide policy decisions about drug enforcement interventions directed to methamphetamine. In fact, the paucity of research on the effectiveness of law enforcement across all illicit drugs ‘continues to pose a major barrier to applying these policies effectively’ (Babor, et al., 2010 p. 258.) Decisions about which methamphetamine supply control policy to fund, which policies should receive increased funding, or how to derive the most effective balance of priorities, are currently uninformed by the results of research. There is a clear and pressing need for further research that examines the effectiveness of law enforcement interventions directed at methamphetamine. The current study aims to begin to fill this gap.

Details: Canberra: National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund, 2012. 133p.

Source: Internet Resource: Monograph Series No. 44: Accessed November 24, 2012 at: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_44.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: Australia

URL: http://www.ndlerf.gov.au/pub/Monograph_44.pdf

Shelf Number: 126990

Keywords:
Amphetamines
Drug Abuse and Crime
Drug Enforcement
Drug Markets
Drug Offenders
Drug Treatment
Illegal Drugs
Methamphetamine (Australia)

Author: Arbid, Jeremy

Title: Captured by Captagon? Lebanon's evolving illicit drug economy

Summary: Lebanon has a long history of drug cultivation and trafficking, which predated the civil war, and has long been attributed with resourcing conflict protagonists thereby prolonging it. By the end of the war in 1990, Lebanon was home to a multi-billion drug economy which was firmly entrenched both into local and central politics and power. The Bekaa valley, which assumed prominence as a drug producing hotspot during the conflict, has retained its reputation as a source of opium and hashish production. Estimating the exact size of the country's current drug trade is difficult given the paucity of reliable figures, although its assumed to have reduced since the war. There is however a worrying new trend: the growth of the illicit economy around the drug Captagon - a global illicit industry worth an estimated US $ 1 billion a year. Captagon is an amphetamine and popular party pill widely used throughout the Gulf countries. Profit margins of Captagon are astonishingly high: a single pill can be produced for a few cents with easy to access precursor chemicals, but currently retails at up to US$20 in the Gulf. Evidence presented in an earlier Global Initiative report, "The Nexus of Drug Trafficking and Conflict in Syria and the Wider Region" suggests that the trade in Captagon is burgeoning, with much of the production in Syria and its neighbouring countries. and profits from the drug trade once again fuelling conflict actors. This paper explores the evolution of Lebanon's drug trade, and in particular the production and trafficking of Captagon. Major seizures were made in Lebanon in 2014 in particular, but the subsequent steady decline in seizures suggests, that smuggling groups have adapted to law enforcement interventions rather than increased efficacy of enforcement. Given the litany of other challenges faced by the Lebanese government, curbing the illegal trade in drugs is not a priority. Lebanon's military is focussed on more significant cross-border threats and terrorist violence, and the police force is understaffed, underfunded and under equipped. A central directorate for drug control within the Ministry of Interior exists only on paper. Lebanon's own Finance Minister has suggested that weeding out corrupt personnel at Beirut's airport is a more urgent need to combat smuggling than to reinforce capacity or introduce new technologies aimed at curbing these illicit practices. Legal and institutional frameworks are inadequate and international support in the area of organised crime and drug trafficking is small. Tracking the money flow is next to impossible, but various patterns for laundering money in Lebanon are clearly apparent: from Halawa cash transfer networks, to smuggled telephones, to a real estate sector where cash-based transactions are still common. Drug use, addiction prevalence and rehabilitation statistics in Lebanon are nearly non-existent, as is the amount the state dedicates to the war on drugs that officials involved insist they are waging. Lacking reliable data, drawing detailed recommendations is difficult, but what is clear is that Lebanon needs more of everything (funding, manpower, strategy, rehabilitation facilities) if it ever wants to genuinely address its growing drug problem. A lack of resources continues to bedevil attempts at border control and law enforcement. The international community and the Lebanese themselves may rue this lack of attention in future.

Details: Geneva, SWIT: Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, 2017. 48p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 16, 2017 at: http://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/lebanon-drug-report_24.05.17_low.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: Lebanon

URL: http://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/lebanon-drug-report_24.05.17_low.pdf

Shelf Number: 147632

Keywords:
Amphetamines
Drug Cultivation
Drug Trafficking
Illegal Drugs
Illicit Drugs
Organized Crime