1. Drugs

2. Illicit Drug Issues  History and “Drug Panics”  Current Use / Trends  Relationship Between Drug use and Crime  Drug Control Strategy  The Legalization Debate  Theories of Drug Use

3. What is a “drug?”  A “psychoactive drug” is one that alters mood, emotion, perception, or other mental states  By that definition: alcohol, caffeine and nicotine count  Also included are Prozac, Ritalin, Vicodin  Throw in the “illicit” drugs…  Americans are some fairly serious druggies

4. A Long History of Substance Use  The use of chemical substances to “get high” dates back to ancient times  Mesopotamian writings (4,000 years ago) identify opium as the “plant of joy”  Primitive people during the stone age drank alcohol  South American Indians chewed coca leaves since before the time of the Incas  Until recently, most drugs legal  Winston Churchill (1912) used a “cocaine solution”; common “cure all” drugs were opium- based

5. Criminalization of Drugs  Late 1800s in U.S.  “Moral Crusaders,” especially religious  Medical field began to suggest morphine and opiates were “habit- forming” and constituted a “disease”  The “temperance movement”  Drug Laws  1906 Pure Food and Drug Act  1914 Harrison Narcotics Act  1937 Marijuana Taxation Act

6. Drug Panics/Scares  Often precede new criminalization or heightened penalties  Worst-case scenario  “typical”  Meth-mouth, crack babies…  Tie to “dangerous class”  Opium—Chinese railroad workers, Crack— inner city blacks, Meth—redneck cocaine  Media sensationalism and hyperbole  Epidemic, most addictive drug ever, causes other bad things…

7. Media Portrayals…now and then  Harry Anslinger and the Reefer Madness era  PBS Frontline: The Meth Epidemic  Who are the “dangerous” folks using?  Any exaggeration/hyperbole?  “Facts” about the drug, damage it causes, addictiveness…

8. Drug Use / Trends  Sources:  National Survey on Drug Use and Health  Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration  Nationally representative household based (12+ yrs)  Monitoring the Future Survey  High School based (8-12 th grade)  Limitations of sources?

9. SAMHSA DATA Lifetime (2009) Past Year (2009) Past Month (2009) Marijuana and Hashish 41.511.36.6 Cocaine 14.51.90.7 Crack 3.30.40.2 Heroin 1.50.20.1 Hallucinogens 14.81.80.5 LSD 9.40.30.1 Ecstasy 5.71.10.3 Pain Relievers 13.94.92.1 Methamphetamine 5.10.50.2

11. Illicit Drug use and other Crime  Strong correlation (.5-.7) between regular drug use and crime  Offenders with substance abuse problems commit a high percent of some crimes  75% of robberies in one study  Two-thirds of those jailed test positive for illicit drugs

12. Relationships Between Drugs and Crime  Drug-defined offenses  Possession and Sales  Drug-related offenses  Drug induced rage  assault  Robbery to feed drug habit  Drug-using lifestyle  Crimes relevant to “lifestyle”  Not cause-effect

13. The “Gateway” issue  Is weed a “gateway” drug for harder drugs?  Is cigarette smoking a gateway to weed?  Gateway implies causality  The use of some drug (nicotine, weed) causes use of harder drugs independent of other factors such as peer group, low self-control, lifestyle…  Is it really the weed that causes people to try crack cocaine or heroin?  Danger of “DARE” sorts of messages

14. Drug Control Strategies  “War on Drugs” = $600 Billion over past 25 years  Source Control  Interdiction  Punishment (Deterrence)  Drug Testing Different Approaches  Drug Education (non-D.A.R.E.)  Drug Treatment (California’s Prop 36)  Public Health-Harm Reduction Models

15. Drug Legalization?  Pro?  Reduce crime by eliminating “drug-defined crimes”  Reduce Prison Costs  Reduce violence generated by black market  Reduce police corruption (?)  Con?  Increased drug use and social costs  Moral costs  Practical Problems with Legalization  Which drugs? Who sells? Minors?

16. Drug Treatment  As with criminal rehabilitation programs, cognitive behavioral programs have a track record of success  Cognitive = skill and restructuring  The effect of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous is largely unkown  Very resistant to academic research

17. Drug Courts  Started in 1989 in Dade County Florida as a reaction to crowded jails/court dockets  Spread like wildfire thereafter  Key ingredients  Team approach  Judicial involvement in supervision (court reviews)  Strong treatment component  Quick processing

18. Drug Court II  Most research has been favorable  Reductions in drug use and other criminal activity  South St. Louis County (Duluth) MN drug court  Reviewed by one of the best bow hunting criminologists in the country  Significant reductions in felony offending vs. a comparison group of people arrested for drug felonies prior to the existence of drug court

19. Theories of Drug Use?  Most theories of crime can also explain drug use  social learning, social control, strain, developmental…

20. UMD: Percent Reporting Nonmedical Drug Use, by Type of Drug, Past 12 Months

21. Predicting Stimulant Use Variable D.V.: Stimulant Use, Past 12 Months b SE Odds Ratio Low self-control.044*.0181.045 Deviant peers.032.0261.032 Moral beliefs -.069*.028.933 Typical offending.001.0401.001 School attachment.003.0361.003 Grade point average -.584*.241.558 Involvement in co-curricular activities.081.0711.085 Importance of academic work.375 †.2041.455 Racial and/or ethnic minority -.485.389.616 Male -.134.243.874 21 years or older -.120.233.886 Binge drinking: 1-2 times †† 1.326**.4053.767 Binge drinking: 3-5 times †† 1.609***.4054.999 Binge drinking: 6+ times †† 1.881***.4566.560 Constant -2.3381.965.097 *** p <.001; ** p <.01; * p <.05; † p <.10; †† Reference category for this variable is “none”

22. Logistic Regression Results (across Models) Independent Variable Dependent Variable Prescription Stimulants b (SE) [Odds Ratio] Marijuana b (SE) [Odds Ratio] Other Prescription Drugs b (SE) [Odds Ratio] Other Illicit Drugs b (SE) [Odds Ratio] Low self-control.044** (.018) [1.045].043*** (.016) [1.044].056*** (.019) [1.058] Moral beliefs -.069** (.028) [.933] -.089*** (.027) [.915] -.105*** (.036) [.901] Deviant Peers.049* (.028) [1.051] Grade point average -.584** (.241).558] -.471** (.222).[625] Importance of academic work.375* (.204) [1.455] *** p <.01; ** p <.05; * p <.10