Illicit Tobacco

The availability of illicit tobacco in Australia has reached plague proportions, with organised crime involving itself in the smuggling and distribution of the product. 

And here’s the strange part – the situation is the result of a public health policy success story!

This episode looks at the nature and scale of the problem as well as examines how policing the so-called heroin drought at the turn of the century might present some lessons for today’s law enforcement agencies.

The three articles are discussed in the episode are:

• ‘Tobacco Wars: An Australian Perspective’, written by Detective Inspector Rohan Best, which can be read at www.apjl.com.au/tobacco-wars/
• ‘Dual-edged benefits of drug policing: A quarter century’s lesson from a heroin drought’ is published in the Journal of Law and Economics, and can be accessed at  It can be accessed at https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/jle/vol69/iss1/4/
• ‘As Australia’s tobacco wars continue, a NSW heroin drought in 2000 might offer lessons’, can be read at https://theconversation.com/as-australias-tobacco-wars-continue-a-nsw-heroin-drought-in-2000-might-offer-lessons-274537

Host: Jason Byrnes

Guests: Sergey Alexeev, Rohan Best and Dr Don Weatherburn 

Visit www.apjl.com.au to learn more and subscribe.