Risky business: understanding Vietnamese women's pathways into Australia's illicit drug trade

Drawing on in-depth interviews with 35 Vietnamese women imprisoned for drug crimes in Melbourne, Australia, this thesis explored questions concerning why and how individuals become involved in drug trafficking in the first place. It was found that more than half of the women interviewed started drug trafficking to resolve gambling debts incurred through Melbourne's casino. Other motives identified in this study included economic gain, non-gambling debt resolution, romantic love and drug dependency. Challenging traditional stereotypes that portray drug traffickers as evil and morally depraved beings, this thesis revealed that the women in this study were in fact 'ordinary' individuals, who were driven into the illicit drug trade to resolve, or change the difficult circumstances in their own lives.