Impact of Drug Abuse in Indigenous People in Australia - Report Example

Student Name: Tutor: Title: Literature Review Course: Impact of drug abuse in indigenous people in Australia Introduction Drug misuse impacts significantly on communities and families and is major challenge in Australia. The consumption of licit drugs like tobacco and alcohol continues to have the most noticeable impacts, but the use of illicit drugs is a contributing factor in violence, ill-health, criminal behavior, disruption of family, community as well as workplace problems. The higher degree of substance misuse within the Indigenous population is a mirror of the oppression and dispossession of indigenous people; their deeply embedded economic and social marginalization requires well-funded and holistic strategies to look into the underlying social determinants of ill-health among the indigenous people. Substance abuse is one of the many negative social challenges of the avalanche of changes that the indigenous people experienced since the coming of the first settler in Australia (Nagel et al, 2008). Since the colonial days Indigenous Australians have gone through high levels of grief, loss, cultural alienation, disempowerment, and loss of their identity. This is as a result of a three-layer colonization that involved structural institution violence instigated by the state, physical violence of the frontier as well as psychosocial dominance of a foreign culture. The related physical health decline together with mental health identifies the Indigenous Australians’ health condition as being below the Australian average. Indigenous people are disadvantaged when assessed against the rest of the Australian population in regard to other social pointers like poverty, standards of housing, mortality rates, average rates of pay, and educational outcomes. The challenge of drug abuse among the indigenous people compounds these problems and paints a picture of a desperate lot that is marginalized, forgotten and sidelined. The influence on children by parents stemming from illicit drug use was discussed in a West Australian survey that established that children of parents who abused other drugs apart from tobacco or alcohol were more than twice likely to consume marijuana as compared to children whose parents had not used illicit drugs, they were more likely to smoke marijuana and more likely to drink alcohol in excess as compared to children whose parents who did not consumed illicit drugs (Saggers, 2001). Children from families whose parents use drugs in the indigenous communities are more likely to have a troubled beginning than other children in the Australian society. Statistics show that one out of five Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal people aged fifteen and above reported to having recently used illicit substance. 39% were registered as having tried at least one of the substances in the lifetime. From 2002 and 2008 there was no substantial change in the proportion of Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal people living in areas that are remote who had recently reported to have used illicit drugs. Marijuana was the prevalently illicit drug used by Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people in 2008. Men were the most vulnerable group. Consumption of illicit drug also plays an important role in the involvement of the Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system (Krieg, 2006). In the year 2008, Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people aged above fifteen years who had used substances in the past twelve months were twice as likely to be victims of threatened or physical violence as compared to the previous year (40% against 19%) and were thrice likely to have been arrested (32% against 10%) or incarcerated (7% against 2%) in the past five years (Nagel et al, 2008). Drug abuse has taken toll on the indigenous population in Australia and many households are grappling with challenges that are related to substance abuse. It is upon this background that this research seeks to establish the impact of drug abuse among the indigenous people in Australia. Literature review Use of alcohol among the Aboriginal community transformed substantially after white settlers invaded Australia. Just within weeks of their arrival, the first pubs opened, and this would later change the way Australian society adapted over the next few decades. Many Aboriginal laborers had their wages paid in tobacco or alcohol (if their wages were not swindled). In the 1800s a popular spectator sport of white people in Sydney was to ply men from Aboriginal communities with alcohol and then encourage them to fight each other until even death. White settlers also offered alcohol to people from Aboriginal communities as payment for sex. Prostitution that was alcohol-induced had a harmful effect on child rearing and enhanced the birth rate of mixed races children who were often rejected by their white fathers. The ideal reason why problematic substance use persists in the indigenous population is a complex mix of current and historic, political and social factors. Alcohol rations were historically distributed to Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people as payment for labour (Preuss & Brown, 2006). In the history of colonization of Australia indigenous people endured traumatic events like land dispossession, violence, severe discrimination and forcibly being separated from families. Unemployment and absence of appropriate educational and medical facilities further entrenches problematic substance use in indigenous people. The Department of Health and Ageing shows a high relation between alcohol use and domestic violence among the indigenous communities in Australia. 90 to 70 percent of incidents happen when the individuals involved are under of alcohol or any other substance among them. Owing to factors like substance abuse and violence, indigenous communities are over-represented in prisons by a factor of 14, and moreover, over-represented in police customer posting a factor of 26. In Western Australia about 44% of children in foster care are of indigenous origin despite the fact that Indigenous communities represent 2.5% of the population (Brady, 2007). This data also show big difference between the health and wellbeing of non-indigenous and indigenous Australians. Despite the fact that there are proportionately more indigenous people as compared to non-indigenous people who abstain from drinking, indigenous people who engage in drinking are more likely to do so at high-risks levels. Binge drinking as well as episodic heavy drinking are common among drinkers from indigenous communities. Consequently indigenous Australians are more likely to experience the adverse effects of alcohol as compared to non-indigenous Australians (Preuss & Brown, 2006). More alcoholic related deaths happen within the indigenous Australians as opposed to other non-indigenous Australians. Use of illicit drugs within the indigenous community needs to be seen in the context of illicit drug within in Australia. Use of illicit drugs is responsible for substantial mortality and morbidity. There were about 8,389 hospital separations in the year 2005-2006 for which the principal cause was in connection to four major illicit types of drugs namely cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines, and opioids. There a total number of 410 deaths in the year 2005 and the named drug types were responsible for inducing the deaths. The use of illicit drugs does not happen in isolation and is usually connected with accompanied health-risk factors. Data concerning the indigenous people age when they first use drugs is founded mostly on small surveys. It shows that the mean age of first attempt for illicit drug use is up to six years younger as compared the national average. Cannabis use by indigenous people in remote communities in Arnhem Land has increased dramatically for the last twenty years (Clough et al, 2004). A study conducted in over three hundred indigenous people in South Australia who used drugs pointed out that most people were multiple drug users, using close to four different types of drugs within a period of six months. The most common types were cannabis, heroin, tobacco, and alcohol. The drugs that were mostly used in the previous six months were heroin (97 percent), speed (68 percent), alcohol (66 percent), cannabis (63percent), tobacco (55 percent), benzodiazepines (34 percent) and methadone (34 percent). The economic and health cost of drug use in Australia is enormous. Collins and Lapsley (2008) approximated the total cost of drug use in Australia in the period 2004-5 to be about $56.1 billion out of which $8.1billion was traced to illicit drug use. This fifteen percent of the total cost of drugs is referred to as the burden of the disease. In the period 2002-03 close to $3.2 billion was spent by government with regard to illicit drugs; measures related to law enforcement represented 75 percent of the spending, and treatment, prevention, and harm reduction represented 7%, 10%, and 1% in that order. Proactive spending was 42% (%1.3billion) of government expenditure; measures related to law enforcement accounted to above 56% of proactive spending, while harm reduction, treatment and prevention accounted for 43% combined. The problems associated with volatile substance use (VSU) among the indigenous people are not just confined to the users themselves; the problems extend to their families, the local community and the entire society as a whole. There are devastating effects of petrol-sniffing in adolescent males where the Central Australia remote areas being reported to be a source of distress and shame for many indigenous communities (MacLean & D'abbs, 2006). Volatile Substance Use brings about a number of challenges for police services since volatile substances are easily available and their subsequent inhalation is not illegal; users are normal young and from marginalized indigenous backgrounds; volatile substances are not abused as often as other drugs and their use is often sporadic; and there is limited evidence to guide practice. Volatile substances comprise of gases, volatile solvents, nitrites, and aerosols. Poly-substance abuse is common among the indigenous communities (Berry & Crow, 2009). Clients having co-existing disorders tend to have more grave psychiatric symptoms, poorer social functioning, decreased compliance with treatment, higher rates of self-harm and suicide, poorer treatment outcomes, higher treatment costs including hospitalization and criminal justice involvement in case of mental problems (Nagel et al, 2008). Low rates of work or study engagement for indigenous people compared with other non-indigenous population can be compared with the higher rate of use of drugs in the previous twelve months among indigenous people aged 15 years or over against non-indigenous people aged fourteen years and over (28% against 13%) (Measey, Li, Parker, Wang, 2006). Drug abuse has brought multiples challenges that indigenous people can hardly deal with without the intervention of the state and federal government. Conclusion Drug abuse among the indigenous people in Australia is a menace to the socioeconomic tranquility, societal peace, institutional stability, and family harmony that these communities enjoyed prior to the settlement of white settlers. Violence and a clash with the criminal justice system are some of the direct result arising from the use of drug abuse. The cost burden of the drug is enormous and calls for clear strategies to be set by the government to deal with the challenges experienced by indigenous communities with regard to drug abuse. Drug abuse has destabilized the indigenous communities and escalated changes of people engaging in criminal or threatening behavior. The literature review has sought to elaborate the impact of drug abuse among the indigenous Australians by exploring the small to the grave consequences of engaging in substance abuse such as deaths, suicide, mental problems, disunity in families and the socioeconomic burden that ways down heavily on the society. Engagement in drug abuse has a close correlation with crime rate among the indigenous people. The population of indigenous people in correctional facilities has gone up when compared against the non-indigenous Australians. The ratio of indigenous people against non-indigenous people in incarceration has continued to grow over time. The introduction of alcohol among the indigenous people by the white settlers was a commencement of social challenges that would weigh heavily on families and requires specific strategies to arrest the problem. The impact of drug abuse on families is significant. Family breakdown has been attributed to the use of illicit drugs. Close relationship have been interrupted as people betray each other’s trust and engage in dangerous drug abuse activities. Relationships suffer heavily, and a persistent tension relates to soliciting for money for substance use. Family violence is a recurring challenge of community members from remote areas. Volatile Substance Use and use of cannabis has increased violence among the indigenous communities. Use of volatile substance is not easily detected since it is not illegal in Australia and there are no guidelines to arrest the culprits and contain the problem. Empirical studies done on the impact of drug abuse among the indigenous population concur on the extent of the problem among the indigenous community owing to poor health and education facilities. Poor living and economic standards makes the problem drug abuse among the indigenous communities to be more felt as compared to non-indigenous population. Economic empowerment, sensitization and quick access to health facilities can assist in creating an enabling environment towards rescuing the indigenous communities from the bondage of drug abuse. Indigenous people in remote areas have expressed concern in regard to child neglect as well as sexual exploitation of young people with regard to drug abuse. These worries have been supported by police who related cannabis use with disruption of schooling together with children trading sexual favors either for drugs or money. The impact of drug abuse among the indigenous community has great influence on the entire society at large. References Berry, S & Crow, TP, 2009, A review of engagement of Indigenous Australians within mental health and substance abuse services, e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health, 8 (1): 1-12. Brady M. 2007, Equality and difference: persisting historical themes in health and alcohol policies affecting Indigenous Australians. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 61(9):759-763. Clough A, d'Abbs P, Cairney S, Gray D, Maruff P, Parker R, & O'reilly B., 2004, Emerging patterns of cannabis and other substance use in Aboriginal communities in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory: a study of two communities, Drug and Alcohol Review; 23(4): 381-390 Collins DJ, & Lapsley, HM, 2008, The costs of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug abuse to Australian society in 2004/05: summary version. Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing. Krieg, A.S., 2006, Aboriginal incarceration: health and social impact, Medical Journal of Australia 184 (10): 534-536. MacLean S, & D'abbs PH., 2006, Will modifying inhalants reduce volatile substance misuse? A review. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy; 13(5): 423-439. Measey ML, Li SQ, Parker R, Wang Z (2006) Suicide in the Northern Territory, 1981-2002. Medical Journal of Australia; 185(6): 315-319 Nagel T, Robinson G, Condon J, and Trauer T. 2008, An approach to management of psychotic and depressive illness in indigenous communities, Australian Journal of Primary Health Care 14(1):17-21. Preuss K, & Brown JN., 2006, Stopping petrol sniffing in remote Aboriginal Australia: key elements of the Mt Theo program, Drug and Alcohol Review; 25(3): 189-193. Saggers S., 2001, Theorizing Indigenous health: a political economy of health and substance misuse, Health Sociology Review, 10 (2):21-33. Read More