A new generation of drug dealers has emerged in Australia as middle-aged women turn to crime to support their habit.
Women in their 30s and 40s are becoming the new face of traffickers on Australian streets, with experts saying “the stereotypical dodgy-looking guy” is no longer the norm.
Whitehaven Clinic founder Tabitha Corser said the rise in the number of women distributing drugs was “staggering” but they often went unnoticed.
One of those women, who wished to remain anonymous, is now preparing to go to jail after she was caught supplying others with the drug she became addicted to.
The college-educated business owner said she had a loving family but had lived a double life for 10 years when she turned to methamphetamine in her 20s to escape fertility issues, marriage breakdown and undiagnosed ADHD. .
It wasn’t long before she was purchasing larger quantities of the drug for herself and selling it to others while keeping up appearances in the community.
Cocaine is a problem for women over 40 years old
Authorities are seeing more women aged between 30 and 40 caught trafficking drugs in Western Australia.
The woman had a good job, access to money and was trustworthy, so people gave her their money so she could buy larger quantities of drugs.
“When I was a daily user, it started to be a problem how to get it without finding too many dangerous items or being in a place where you could get caught,” he said.
“People like me are very good at covering up their crimes because we don’t want anyone to know; we’re not messy, we’re not fighting in the street, we’re trying to live our lives and find some money.” way to numb our pain.
‘It’s everywhere. You would be very surprised to see people from all professions consuming and marketing it: doctors, ambulance drivers, nurses, mining workers.
An addictions expert who has worked in the prison system for decades said the largest group of drug dealers now consisted of women in their 30s and 40s.
Corser’s Whitehaven Clinic specializes in rehabilitation and offers addiction programs in prisons across Western Australia. Corser said the number of female drug dealers had doubled in the last year from five years ago, when she first noticed a trend.
“When I started doing this job 14 years ago, it was 100 percent male drug dealers,” he said.
‘When someone starts dealing drugs, it is often due to their own drug use. “No one becomes a drug dealer because it is a great career choice.”
Whitehaven Clinic founder Tabitha Corser says a new generation of women in their 30s and 40s are dealing drugs to support their own use and addiction.
The number of female drug dealers has doubled in Western Australia in the last five years.
Corser said women in their 30s and 40s typically experience more crises in life, which could create a slippery slope for people who use recreational drugs.
‘People don’t have strategies to deal with the situation and drug use, which was recreational, is now what numbs the pain. “It’s not about having fun anymore,” he said.
‘People are starting to consume more regularly and that costs money, so how do they finance it? The next natural step is to distribute the medicines themselves.’
Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare showed that methamphetamine, alcohol and cocaine were the biggest problems experienced by women over 40.
“The ones you’d least expect,” Mrs. Corser said.
‘I treat many women between 30 and 40 years old who have started taking drugs to deal with a major life crisis. Then it turned into constant drug use and eventually it became them distributing the drugs themselves.
“The police arrest them, they go to court, they put them under house arrest and they come to me for rehabilitation before passing sentence.
“It’s a slippery slope, because of alcohol and recreational drugs: the number of women in their 40s who use cocaine or methamphetamine on a daily basis is surprising.”
AIHW statistics also reveal that cocaine use in Australia is most prevalent in major cities and high socio-economic areas.
Cocaine use in Australia as a whole is also high, increasing by 13 per cent in the last 20 years.
