Rules and Practices: The “British System” in Australia

Abstract

The article discusses the implementation of legislation concerning “dangerous drugs” in Australia from the 1930s. Although these laws and regulations clearly prohibited their consumption for non-medical purposes and their prescription “merely for the purposes of addiction,” a system developed which nevertheless allowed the continued maintenance of addicts under medical supervision and remained in place until the 1960s. Contrasts are drawn between the image of evil drug use, which was addressed by legislation and condemned by politicians, and the reality of addiction in Australia, which was in practice tolerated and treated as an illness rather than as a vice. The existence of this double standard is used to highlight the fact that the reality of drug use and drug enforcement cannot simply be gleaned by interpreting laws: their administration and the social practices with which they must interact often change and modify their effect in a complex manner.