NCJ Number
86382
Date Published
1981
Length
65 pages
Annotation
Review of all 574 narcotics abuse cases known to police in Kopparbergs County, Sweden in 1977-79 indicates that less than half (233) of involved persons are heavy users. Many of the abusers have previous criminal records for such crimes as theft and fraud.
Abstract
Frequency of offending for drug abusers appears to be higher than that for non-drug-abusing offenders. The largest number of heavy users were using injection drugs. The largest number of nonheavy abusers were cannabis smokers. Most of the offenders were male, between 20 and 29 years of age, and had been identified by police as drug abusers. Most users were concentrated in heavily populated areas of the county. The most likely crime other than drug law offenses to appear on the subject's criminal records was fraud, followed by theft, although the variety of offenses committed by the subjects was broad. Heavy users were the most intense offenders in other areas other than drug use. Comparison of data with that of a cross-section of Stockholm's drug abusers indicate that the Stockholm users of injection drugs were much more intense offenders, with the likelihood of at least one theft offense on their records being as high as 93 percent. Study data and results in tabular and chart form are included, as well as 13 references.