NCJ Number
175999
Date Published
1998
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This report presents findings from a 1998 survey of a representative sample of 801 adults in the District of Columbia (DC), which explored residents' attitudes about the current situation in the city and in their neighborhoods, with emphasis on their attitudes about drug abuse and drug policy in DC.
Abstract
Only 25 percent of the respondents were "very" or "fairly" satisfied with the trends in DC. One-third were thinking about moving out of DC within the next 5 years. Only one-third of the city's population believed that the District's image was positive elsewhere in the Nation, and 61 percent believed it was negative. Fifty-five percent had seen or heard about drugs being sold in their neighborhood, and 36 percent had changed the way their family lives because of drug sellers and users. Residents believed that getting drug abuse and drug dealing under control would do more to improve the District than any other action. By three-and-a-half to one, the public would devote more attention and funds to education, prevention, and treatment rather than to law enforcement. By two to one, the public favored medical treatment over arrest and prosecution to deal with people who use illegal drugs. Sixty-eight percent believed that publicly funded, court-supervised drug treatment programs would be effective in helping to curb drug abuse and related problems. Extensive figures and tables and a copy of the questionnaire