NCJ Number
158423
Journal
Journal of Drug Education Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: (1978) Pages: 139-149
Date Published
1978
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This review of research literature on the relationship between drug abuse and crime concludes that, contrary to popular belief, drug use and criminal behavior are not causally related and that the use and abuse of drugs do not necessarily nor inevitably lead to crime.
Abstract
The discussion provides an overview of addition and crime as well as the attempts to linked drug use to the incidence of crime, with emphasis on contrasts between violence and sex crimes and nonviolent crimes. Tentative conclusions are presented regarding several types of drugs, including alcohol, amphetamines, barbiturates, opiates, cocaine, marijuana, hallucinogens, and volatile inhalants. The analysis concludes the current drug laws and drug policies have been ineffective and that alternative methods of preventing, controlling, and treating drug abuse and crime should be explored. In addition, several previously discarded methods should be reexamined. In particular, the approaches used in Great Britain and Europe should be considered. 33 references