NCJ Number
126734
Date Published
Unknown
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper compares the relationships in Australia between criminal activity and both licit and illicit drugs.
Abstract
The author maintains that health and crime corrolaries to drug use are much more prevalent with respect to licit drugs. Licit drugs (caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, and pharmaceuticals) account for 95 percent of drug-related deaths in Australia. In terms of criminal activity, licit drugs are linked to violent crime and homicide, drunk driving, underage sales, and corruption related to the licensing of licit drugs. Although a connection between crime and illegal drugs is assumed, there is a paucity of evidence to support this connection in Australia. Despite statistics emphasizing the increase in drug use in the country, the increase in arrests, and the common use of heroin in certain areas, the article argues that these figures reflect differing policing resources and policing practices rather than actual drug use realities. Any analysis of the drug use-crime connection must consider that the most common pattern of use is leisure use, which has a tenuous relationship with criminal activity. On the other hand, "deficit" users, those who use drugs to escape and who tend towards addiction, often engage in income-generating property crime as a direct result of their drug consumption. Policy priorities recommended in this paper include increasing attention to the area of licit drugs and considering legalizing currently illicit drugs while also directing resources toward eliminating poverty and inequality. 2 tables, 1 figure, and 8 references