Ethnoeconomical Approach to the Relationship Between Crime and Drug Use: Preliminary Findings (From Problems of Drug Dependence, P 156-162, 1979)

• NCJ Number: 156643
• Author(s): P J Goldstein
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC. National Institute of Drug Abuse Monograph 27.

Annotation

This study used an ethnographic approach to study the relationship between drug use and criminal activity.

Abstract

Indigenous field workers conducted Life History Interviews with eight subjects, who were then monitored on a daily basis over the course of 30 days in order to record details of their economic activities. Subjects had addiction histories that included alcohol, methadone, barbiturates, cocaine, and heroin; two were employed full-time. The findings showed that 40 percent of the subjects' income was derived from criminal activity; only one subject reported no involvement in income-generating criminal activity. The subjects also derived much of their support from the payments they received for participating in this study. Only one subject received public assistance. Half of the group earned more than 40 percent of their income through legitimate part-time employment. For seven of the subjects, more than 50 percent of their income was spent on purchasing drugs; six of the subjects spent less than $1 per day on food, obtaining their main meal from girlfriends, family, or other free sources. Heroin was the principal drug used by six of the respondents; fluctuations in heroin consumption were more pronounced in some subjects than in others. The data indicate that the subjects' average daily heroin consumption was approximately $23 per day. 4 tables and 1 reference