'Sly grog' and 'homebrew': a qualitative examination of illicit alcohol and some of its impacts on Indigenous communities with alcohol restrictions in regional and remote Queensland (Australia)
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Author(s)
Fitts, MS
Robertson, J
Towle, S
Doran, CM
McDermott, R
Miller, A
Margolis, S
Ypinazar, V
Clough, AR
Year published
2017
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Background: Indigenous communities in Queensland (Australia) have been subject to Alcohol Management Plans
since 2002/03, with signifcant penalties for breaching restrictions. ‘Sly grog’ and ‘homebrew’ provide access to alcohol
despite restrictions. This paper describes how this alcohol is made available and the risks and impacts involved. In
afected towns and communities across a large area of rural and remote Queensland, interviews and focus groups
documented experiences and views of 255 long-standing community members and service providers. Using an
inductive framework, transcribed interviews were analysed to identify ...
View more >Background: Indigenous communities in Queensland (Australia) have been subject to Alcohol Management Plans since 2002/03, with signifcant penalties for breaching restrictions. ‘Sly grog’ and ‘homebrew’ provide access to alcohol despite restrictions. This paper describes how this alcohol is made available and the risks and impacts involved. In afected towns and communities across a large area of rural and remote Queensland, interviews and focus groups documented experiences and views of 255 long-standing community members and service providers. Using an inductive framework, transcribed interviews were analysed to identify supply mechanisms, community and service provider responses and impacts experienced. Results: ‘Homebrew’ was reportedly manufactured in just a few localities, in locally-specifc forms bringing locallyspecifc harms. However, ‘sly grog’ sourced from licensed premises located long distances from communities, is a widespread concern across the region. ‘Sly grog’ sellers circumvent retailers’ takeaway liquor license conditions, stockpile alcohol outside restricted areas, send hoax messages to divert enforcement and take extraordinary risks to avoid apprehension. Police face signifcant challenges to enforce restrictions. On-selling of ‘sly grog’ appears more common in remote communities with total prohibition. Despite diferent motives for involvement in an illicit trade ‘sly grog’ consumers and sellers receive similar penalties. Conclusions: There is a need for: (a) a more sophisticated regional approach to managing takeaway alcohol sales from licensed suppliers, (b) targeted penalties for ‘sly grog’ sellers that refect its signifcant community impact, (c) strategies to reduce the demand for alcohol and (d) research to assess the efects of these strategies in reducing harms.
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View more >Background: Indigenous communities in Queensland (Australia) have been subject to Alcohol Management Plans since 2002/03, with signifcant penalties for breaching restrictions. ‘Sly grog’ and ‘homebrew’ provide access to alcohol despite restrictions. This paper describes how this alcohol is made available and the risks and impacts involved. In afected towns and communities across a large area of rural and remote Queensland, interviews and focus groups documented experiences and views of 255 long-standing community members and service providers. Using an inductive framework, transcribed interviews were analysed to identify supply mechanisms, community and service provider responses and impacts experienced. Results: ‘Homebrew’ was reportedly manufactured in just a few localities, in locally-specifc forms bringing locallyspecifc harms. However, ‘sly grog’ sourced from licensed premises located long distances from communities, is a widespread concern across the region. ‘Sly grog’ sellers circumvent retailers’ takeaway liquor license conditions, stockpile alcohol outside restricted areas, send hoax messages to divert enforcement and take extraordinary risks to avoid apprehension. Police face signifcant challenges to enforce restrictions. On-selling of ‘sly grog’ appears more common in remote communities with total prohibition. Despite diferent motives for involvement in an illicit trade ‘sly grog’ consumers and sellers receive similar penalties. Conclusions: There is a need for: (a) a more sophisticated regional approach to managing takeaway alcohol sales from licensed suppliers, (b) targeted penalties for ‘sly grog’ sellers that refect its signifcant community impact, (c) strategies to reduce the demand for alcohol and (d) research to assess the efects of these strategies in reducing harms.
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Journal Title
BMC Research Notes
Volume
10
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Subject
Indigenous studies
Other health sciences