NCJ Number
163045
Journal
Penal Issues Issue: 7 Dated: (March 1996) Pages: 10-12
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Based on an analysis of police documents of 1,000 arrestees, this French study examines the percentage of those who used drugs and committed other offenses.
Abstract
For the purposes of this study, a "drug abuser" was any suspect who had been identified by a police agency as the consumer of a prohibited substance, irrespective of the nature of the substance. The study found that out of the 1,000 suspects, 394 were drug users. Of the 394, 266 were charged with a crime in addition to drug use. Of these 266, 155 had been charged with a crime unrelated to drug use or trafficking, 90 committed both drug offenses and other crimes, and 21 were involved only in drug-use and drug-trafficking offenses. Of the 394 drug users, 265 used soft drugs (marijuana and hashish), and of these 149 were suspected of offenses other than drug use. Of the 394 drug users, 129 had used hard drugs (heroin and cocaine); 117 of these were suspected of crimes other than drug use. Of those suspected of committing petty and moderately serious crimes, 13 percent were hard drug users. 2 figures