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An Understanding Of The Influence Drugs Have On The Local, State and National Crime Rates
Drugs and crime… these two separate entities generally go hand in hand to become one a good chunk of the time. After all, to have, use, produce or dispense drugs is illegal (a crime) and can often lead to abuse of amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana and/or heroin.
It’s not just using, holding, producing or handing out drugs that is considered a crime. Another way in which drugs and crime go together is through a user’s actions – producing violence and/or other illegal action that’s linked to drug trafficking.
To say that these drug-related crimes – whether they are from lifestyles or offenses – did not affect the U.S. crime problem would be a lie. They are significant contributors to the ongoing problem!
Now, there are three kinds of crime that make the link between crime and drugs:
1 – Crimes that have been defined by law as illegal – using, selling or possessing controlled substances.
2 – Crimes drug users commit to obtain money to purchase drugs or by persons who are under a drug’s influence.
3 – Organized crimes to support drug trade including political corruption and money laundering.
Keep in mind that crimes are not committed by drugs; crimes are committed by people using drugs. A minute percentage of robberies and burglaries involve drugs, and those folks hooked on drugs, committed crimes before they even started using drugs. What does that all mean in terms of crime and drugs? It means that totally getting rid of drug use will have a minimal impact on the percentage of burglaries, robberies and other similar criminal activity.
In 1914, the first significant drug law was passed. Titled the Harrison Act, it mandated that federal government registration was needed for any person dealing with cocaine, heroin, morphine, opium or any derivative of those drugs.
In 1970, Congress passed the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act, which is what many of the federal enforcement efforts are based on today. This law laid out five narcotic drug classifications:
Schedule 1: High Risk Abuse, Lack of Safety, No Medical Use – Marijuana, Heroin, LSD
Schedule 2: High Risk Abuse, High Dependency Risk – Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Opium
Schedule 3: Lower Risk Abuse, Moderate Dependency Risk – Codeine, Valium, Xanax
Schedule 4: Restricted Risk Abuse, Restricted Dependency Risk – Phenobarbital, Meprobamate
Schedule 5: Minor Issues – Preparation of above drugs in small quantities – Cough Syrups
Other drug-related laws passed include:
- Anti-Drug Abuse Act (1988) – It was the Republican leadership answer to fighting drugs by boosting the penalties one would incur when caught.
- Crime Control Act (1990) – This all-encompassing act was Congress’ response to many criminal aspects including but not limited to: kidnapping, money laundering, child abuse, etc. It also dealt with the monetary aspects of crime prevention and laid out penalties for certain crimes.
- Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (1994) – This was Congress’ response to crime and law enforcement. It was a further extension of the Crime Control Act of 1990.
A Look At Alcohol Abuse and How It Relates To Crime
Many folks do not clump alcohol abuse with controlled substance abuse; but, the reality is is that both have serious consequences for the user. Not just in terms of the abuse but also in regards to the legal system.
Generally, alcohol is a contributing factor for a number of crimes including drinking and driving. Alcohol reduces one’s ability to make sound judgments, which often leads to other serious crimes including criminal assaults. On top of that, the criminal justice system is often clogged with loads of alcohol-related crimes.
The Cautious Approach In The Relationship Between Crime and Drugs
It’s difficult to gauge the crime/drug relationship because of two key things:
1 – The majority of crimes are the result of numerous factors: economic, personal, cultural and situational. While drugs may be a cause, they’re just one factor among several.
2 - Drug-related often varies from one study to the next; some studies believe that the presence of drugs has a casual influence; other studies have a narrower relationship.
Offender self-reports regarding drug use are often misleading, as they may embellish or reduce their drug significance. And, drug-use processes, like urinalysis, are restricted.
What Does It All Mean?
There are three things that the evidence bears out:
1 - Drug users are far more likely to be involved in crimes than non-drug users.
2 - People arrested were found to be under the influence of a drug while they committed the criminal act.
3 – Drugs do produce violence.
The only true way to determine the use of drugs and their influence on crime is to have accurate data about the offender and “supposed” offense, with definitions be consistent. When there is problematic evidence, there’s no real way to say just how much drugs have influenced a person to commit a crime.
