Despite increasing interest in the use of human enhancement drugs (HEDs), our understanding of this phenomenon and the regulatory framework used to address it has lagged behind. Encompassing public health, epidemiology, neuroethics, sport science, criminology, and sociology, this book brings together a broad spectrum of scholarly insights and research expertise from leading authorities to examine key international issues in the field of HEDs. As "traditional" and other "new" drug markets have occupied much of the academic attention, there has been a lack of scholarly focus on human enhancement drugs. This book provides readers with a much-needed understanding of the illicit drug market of HEDs. The authors, from a variety of cultural contexts, disciplines and perspectives, include both academics and practitioners. Topics explored in this collection amongst others include: the anti-doping industry and performance and image enhancing drugs, steroids and gender, the use of cognitive enhancing drugs in academia, the use of sunless synthetic tanning products, the (online) trade of HEDs, regulations of the enhancement drugs market. This collection will serve as a reference for students, academics, practitioners, law enforcement and others working in this area to reflect on the current state of research and consider future priorities. This detailed exploration will provide a valuable knowledge base for those interested in human enhancement drugs, while also promoting critical discussion.

Although there exists some ambiguity over the precise constitution of Oceania, given the scattering of islands across the Pacific Ocean, it is broadly accepted that the region comprises Australia and the islands to Australia's immediate north, northeast and east contained within the sub-regions of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The region is often delineated between Near Oceania and Remote Oceania.

This article presents select findings from 'farm crime' victimisation surveys undertaken in the two most populous Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria. We examine the findings in relation to farmer crime victimisation, their willingness to report crime, and their worry about crime, as well as farmer perspectives on policing generally and the policing of farm crime specifically. In both states, there are high levels of victimisation, high levels of worry, low- to mid-levels of confidence in the police, and there remains a gap between experiences of farm crime and reporting. Both states have police tasked specifically with addressing farm crime. The Victoria Police have Farm Crime Liaison Officers that specialise in assisting with farm related crimes, however this is a voluntary role which forms part of an officer's larger workload. By contrast, the New South Wales Police Force Rural Crime Prevention Team is a dedicated team consisting of specialised rural crime investigators and intelligence practitioners focused on proactive and preventative interventions in farm crime. Farmers in both states were surveyed regarding their awareness and engagement with these rural policing teams, and we examined how this may shape victimisation, reporting, worry and the relationships between police and farmers. In New South Wales, awareness and direct contact with rural crime police led to both increased satisfaction with police and crime reporting. Respondents with awareness of this team also express significantly less worry of crime, whilst those with direct contact did not. We conclude the article by discussing and contextualising these findings within rural criminology and considering ways forward for the policing of farm crime.

Has the “dark side” of anabolic-androgenic steroids been overstated? In what follows, we examine this question with the intention of injecting some nuance and much-needed debate into discussions surrounding the non-medical use of steroids. We set out by unpacking what we call here the “narrative of harm” which has tended to dominate discourses around steroids. Next, we introduce an alternative perspective on steroid use which focuses on the user’s voice and understanding, particularly with respect to the capacity of these drugs to provide pleasure. Finally, we explore some of the policy consequences which arise from these outlooks.

There exists scant contemporary empirical consideration of the impacts of illegal hunting or shooting, such as damage to environments; harm to animals (native and livestock); risks of self-harm; harms to people and property; or the role of organized criminal elements. There is, though, a large volume of research related to illegal poaching, particularly poaching of endangered fauna in Africa and East Asia which has attracted transnational criminal elements. A differentiation between poaching and illegal hunting needs to be acknowledged: the former addresses notions of theft for profit; the latter often involves non-economic motivations and, in various instances, can be considered a 'folk crime', a form of political dissent, or resistance to conservation measures (see Pohja-Mykrä, 2016).

The most recent good news is that the South African Government has certified the International Journal of Rural Criminology and all the other journals in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). This means that scholars will earn "publishing points" if published in journals like IJRC, encouraging them to submit to and refer to "free quality content" in open access journals. So, to quote the now famous and often cited song title by the Nobel Prize Winner in Literature and pop/folk song writer, Bob Dylan, "the times they are a-changin".

IJRC too is "a-changin", perhaps "adjustin" is the better word, in two ways. First, on the About page are now warning statements about plagiarism and AI-generated content. Both are not acceptable. We now use Turnitin on all submissions, and the AI checker as well. Second, this is the third issue in volume 8, and it is expected there will be a fourth issue published late in 2024. That will allow us to publish IJRC with each volume corresponding to the calendar year, beginning in 2025.

This research note seeks to generate fruitful pathways to advance a new discourse on intercultural encounters between the police and individuals from multilingual communities in Australia's increasingly diverse rural and regional settings. How might police officers better relate and communicate with groups of migrants whose language practices are complex, unpredictable and eschew the widely used logics of translation and interpretation? How might we encourage hope in our social communities that intercultural understanding between policing agencies and new migrants is key to co-creating peaceful and resilient rural communities? How might police communication protocols that assist in supporting the retention of migrants' linguistic capabilities and funds of knowledges contribute to the wellbeing of regional communities? What would policing rural and regional communities look like if we were to centre sociolinguistic and intercultural imperatives? In this research note, we consider these questions in our search for the next steps in mapping police communication protocols that work for all in Australia's rural and regional settings. The goal is to contribute new conceptual approaches we can use to foster partnerships and trusting relationships between the police and our increasingly diverse rural populations.

Traditionally policymakers have paid little attention to the consumption of steroids and other performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs) in Australia. Yet, in recent times PIEDs have come to occupy an increasing amount of discursive space and, indeed, regulatory action. This newfound interest may be attributed to several broader developments, not least the perception of the involvement of organized crime in distributing PIEDs to the professional sports world and other sectors of this illicit market. This paper seeks to explore the empirical reality of the claim that the production and supply of PIEDs in Australia is the prerogative of organized crime groups. A retrospective content analysis of Australian PIED provider cases was conducted between 2010 and 2016. To widen our search, both media articles describing court cases, obtained from the Factiva database, and public online court records, using the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) database, were searched. Search terms included “steroid*”, “doping” and “testosterone” in combination with the terms “traffic*”, “production”, “supply*” and “import*”. In total, 477 PIED provider cases were identified yet most cases were duplicates, irrelevant or lacked sufficient detail, resulting in a final dataset of 144 cases. A coding schedule was developed based on existing PIED supply literature. Our data shows that most PIED provider cases took place in Queensland (41.7%), followed by New South Wales (25%) and Victoria (13.2%). Regarding the type of providers, the largest group consisted of people active in the gym industry (22%), followed by the healthcare sector (17%), the ‘other’ category (12%) and the security sphere (8%). Of the 144 steroid-provider cases, only 12% of the cases indicated the potential involvement of organized crime groups, with half of those being linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs. In contrast to the claims of authorities, our data suggests that organized crime groups currently play a proportionally small role in the illicit production and supply of steroids and other performance and image enhancing drugs in Australia. Indeed, various actors are involved of which only a small fraction are part of or involved with organized crime groups. Many suppliers are particularly active in the gym industry and healthcare sector. The relative presence of such suppliers has important policy implications, not least with regard to the role of criminal law in addressing the provision of PIEDs.