ADDICTED TO THE CRIME DRUG

The conventional wisdom that drugs lead to crime to pay for more drugs
might not be as clear-cut as it seems, write Justine Ferrari in the fourth
part of our week-long series

HE started his criminal career by breaking into cars, quickly advancing to
burglary. By the age of 16, he has followed his mates further down the path
of delinquency and is smoking cannabis heavily.

She is 10, and one the few achievements of her short life so far is a
thriving Heroin addiction, which she supports by shoplifting.

Both are now sitting in a detention centre, but they followed different
pathways into a life of crime.

A common train throughout drug research is that girls have often developed
a serious drug problem before they turn to crime, while many boys are
already dabbling in petty offences before they start using illegal drugs.

Of 166 teenagers in NSW detention centres surveyed by the National Drug and
Alcohol Research Centre in 1995, six in 10 girls had committed the crime to
get money to buy drugs compared with 45 per cent of the boys.

Surprisingly, heroin was used by more adolescent girls, while teenage boys
tended to prefer cannabis.

While only one in 10 boys had used heroin in the previous month, 43 per
cent of the girls had injected heroin. Only one in five boys had ever tried
heroin, compared with almost one in two girls.

Researcher Jan Copeland from the NDARC, one of the authors of the study,
says girls are generally less likely to be involved in crime and are
slightly less likely to use drugs and alcohol.

"So to get a girl in custody means she usually has a significant drug
problem which leads her into crime," Ms Copeland said.

"And the girls are more likely to be led into significant drug problems by
very difficult family backgrounds. They are more likely to report a history
of child sexual assault and violence in the family.

"Boys tend to be more risk-takers in general, both in terms of getting
involved in delinquent activities and in petty crimes which tend to build
up as they move into peer groups that are more involved in crime. As part
of that risk-taking, they start using drugs like alcohol and cannabis."

Dr Copeland says boys tend to have a background of multiple property
crimes, whereas girls are more likely to have been convicted of crimes
involving violence. These are mostly assaults arising from bag-snatching,
but also involve armed robberies from being around older males.

One of the common misconceptions of the connection between drugs and crime
is that crime is caused by drugs. But crime holds an attraction of its own
for young people and is often part of their risk-taking behaviour rather
than the result.

Arnther NDARC study of the sources of income of heroin usersin south-west
Sydney found that about 20 per cent of users were committing crimes before
they started injecting heroin.

Psychology lecturer at Macquarie University John Howard, who treats
adolescents at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital, says the causes of crime
and drug use overlap, but the two must be treated as separate problems.

"Some young people are just naughty and they happen to use drugs," Dr
Howard said.

"Young people experiment, and those involved in crime also experiment with
drugs."

What is often forgotten is that the majority of children experiment with
drugs, from tobacco to alcohol to cannabis or other drugs, but few turn to
crime after trying drugs.

Last month's federally funded survey of drug use in secondary schools,
which tends to underestimate adolescent drug use, found 55 per cent of
17-year-olds have used cannabis and 4 per cent have tried heroin, including
2.5 per cent of 12-year-olds.

"If you include all the kids who could be charged with a crime associated
with drug use or possession of drugs, you cover a majority of adolescents -
because that's how many have tried cannabis," Dr Howard said,

While society tries to blame drug use on being depressed or having been
sexually abused, Dr Howard says many people take drugs simply to feel good.

"They feel okay, but they want to feel better. By and large, drug use is
functional, it's serving a purpose," he said.

While that purpose can be to forget some painful event or just to fall
asleep, drugs are also taken to foster the courage to commit a crime or to
be involved in prostitution, and to numb your feelings about selling
yourself for sex, or to take away hunger pains.

While false assumptions about the association between adolescent drug use
and crime are common, it appears young people involved in crime are more
likely to experiment, are more likely to take risks and are more likely to
try more drugs.

The general pattern among the small group of youngsters who develop serious
criminal behaviour and drug problems usually begins with smoking as eight
to 10-year-olds and drinking as 10 to 12-year-olds, with cannabis smoking
following in the teens.

While heroin is viewed as the big evil on the streets, it is cannabis, the
drug with a more benign image, that is linked with more crime.

A study by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research into young
people in custody and school students found that teenagers who consumed
large quantities of cannabis were more likely to be involved in theft.

Bureau head Don Weatherburn says stealing property is a way of raising
money to buy cannabis, which for some is an expensive commodity, given they
are smoking 30 to 50 cones a day.

"Everyone has a picture of dope smokers as weekend recreational users, but
the kind of kids we are talking about are using cannabis to escape a very
intolerable personal life. They become completely addicted to it, which is
another popular myth - that you can't become addicted to cannabis," he said.

Dr Weatherburn says the typical story starts with young people committing a
few crimes, enough to know they can raise money from stealing. Then they
develop a serious cannabis problem and instead of dabbling, the young
cannabis user begins to make a living from crime.

It can be a lucrative business, which is part of the attraction. A study by
NDARC researcher Lisa Mailer of more than 200 heroin users in south-west
Sydney shows the average user makes about $554 a week from property crime.

While the average age of those surveyed was 21, about a third were aged 15
to 18 years, with the results constant for that age group.

Nine in 10 heroin users surveyed had engaged in some crime other than drug
use in the week preceding the survey, with most, about 70 per cent,
generating their income through theft.

A similar proportion made money through dealing drugs and 9 per cent
through prostitution, while almost six in 10 had a legitimate income,
mainly welfare payments.

Theft accounted for 38 per cent of the total income generated, while 44 per
cent was made from dealing drugs.

The main form of theft pursued was shoplifting, carried out by 40 per cent
in the week preceding the survey.

About 28 per cent had been involved in one or more burglaries in the
preceding week, more commonly those in the younger age groups, while 13 per
cent had carried out a robbery of the person like a mugging.

One in five had been involved in some form of violence in the month prior
to the survey, and 4 per cent in an armed robbery.

Dr Maher says the presence of a heroin market provides a pool of users to
supply the local stolen goods market, which can be the only means in areas
of high unemployment for people to achieve their material needs.

Crime in those areas provided the only economic opportunities for many
people, she said.

"There's this notion that if you are dependent on heroin, you are propelled
into crime by the need to support your habit" Dr Maher said.

While the common perception is that users steal to buy the heroin they
need, in fact the crimes committed depend on the opportunities that arise.
How much heroin the users inject then depends on what those opportunities
reap rather than on a preset quantity of drugs.

The income generated is also limited by individual choice, with some users
drawing the line at stealing from family or friends.

When there is no money to buy heroin, users make do with benzodiazepenes
and sedatives to avoid withdrawal pains until their next hit.

"It's the income that determines the quantity and frequency of heroin use.
Demand for heroin is actually very elastic." Dr Maher said.

Checked-by: derek rea