Drugs and Young People Understanding Criminology 3 rd March 2009

Lecture Outline Researching Prevalence and Trends Influences, Explanations and Debates Drugs-Crime Links Responses and Interventions

Researching Drug Usage (1) Police Reports – Heavily dependent on policing / customs investigation and recording practice – Increase in warning for cannabis use Drug-Testing of Offenders – Atypical Change in Drugs Offences 2006/07 -> 2007/08 Police Data+18% BCS Self-report (16-24 year olds) -3.3%

Researching Drug Usage (2) Self-report declarations – Accuracy – Honesty – Willingness to declare

Young People’s Self-declared use J Hoare and J Flatley (2008) Drug Misuse Declared: Findings from the 2007/08 BCS Changing Use? /8 (last year usage) IncreaseDecreaseStable CocaineAny Drug Hallucinogens Opiates Cannabis Frequent Use Any Class A Crack Ecstasy Heroin

Gender and Ethnicity: Use of any drug: Ever, Last year, Last month

Lifestyle Correlates BehaviourEffect Any Drug CannabisEcstasy Visiting Nightclub 4+ times a month (v. never) X 2 X 3.5 Going to Pub 9 + times a month (v. never) X 4X 3.9x 6.7 Drank alcohol 3+ times a week (v. never in year) x8X8.4X 13.7

Drugs "Stickiness": %age of "Ever Used" who have used in past month

Global Drugs Trade Hugely profitably criminal activity: annual turnover est. at £7-8 billion Huge prince inflation from production to street price Heroin: 168 fold - Cocaine:159 fold Evidence of ‘specialism’ of heroin and cocaine traders

Influences, Explanations and Debates Why do people take drugs? – Addiction Mainstream and medical Quite specific medical meaning: a much more loosely defined social use Underplays choice, context and the vast majority of drug use – Peer Pressure More social Peer subcultures can offer support for drug use; status; values supportive of drug-use Underplays choice: many teen experimenters are strong individualists – Pharmopsycholgical effects (pleasure!) Links between choice of drug and particular social trends? – Consumer Culture Links to an increasingly diverse consumer culture

Problematic Drug Use – Typical? – Addiction – Purity – Social context, rather than drug use Gateway Theories – Experience of some drugs leading on to others – Some analytical problems – Reasons? Psychological; social; empirical? Influences, Explanations and Debates

The Normalisation Thesis See Howard Parker et al (1998) Illegal Leisure A growth in the use of drugs by young people Deviant acts -> mainstream leisure A weakening of the correlations between drug use and gender, ethnicity, social class A central part of youth culture The policing of drugs requires the identification of ‘problem’ drug users

Counter Arguments Ignores impacts of drug use Research approach: ‘naturalism’ Counter evidence Short-term fluctuations – Drug use esp. adolescent use now in decline Failure to adequately consider different types of drug use – Experimentation v. problematic use, and relation between them – Dominance of certain drugs (cannabis, ecstasy) A conflation of cultural prevalence and use An exaggeration of cultural change

Drug-Crime Links Correlation is not causation! – There is strong evidence that those who commit (other) crime also use drugs Self-report studies – Possible ‘willingness to admit’ bias? Police and Prison Testing – Skewed samples – Causal Direction Crime -> Drugs OR Drugs -> Crime Trevor Bennet and Katy Holloway (2004) ‘Drug use and offending: summary results of the first two years of the NEW-ADAM programme’ Home Office,

Plausible Drug-crime Links Drug Use -> crime Crime -> Drug use 3 rd Factor causes both Drug Use makes you a worse criminal: easy to catch

The Drugs / Acquisitive Crime Link (Hough, M et al (2001) Drugs and Crime: What are the Links?, Drugscope) Economic Necessity (Drug Use  Crime) Facilitating Crime (Crime  Drug Use) – Crime provides the money, contacts for drug use, or a lifestyle that produces a need for drugs A complex combination of the above two Both Drug Use and Crime are caused by a common factor e.g. social exclusion Not incompatible with each other All drug use or problematic drug use?

The Drugs / Violence Link Paul Goldstein, (1985) Psycho-pharmacological Model: drugs make people more violent Economic Compulsion: acquisitive violent crime to feed habit Violent and Drugs Subculture overlap

Arguments for Legalisation / Decriminalisation Economic – Enforcement of drugs laws is immensely costly, and unsuccessful – Legalisation would provide a source of taxation Social – drug laws are counter-productive: do not decrease drug use, and increases social exclusion Harm reduction – Legalisation would allow regulation of trade, purity etc. – Imprisonment is a highly inappropriate response Criminological – Legalisation would cut the drugs / crime link – Organised crime would be deprived of its major source of funds

Drugs (Re-)Classification ? Jan 2009 Harm? Criminal Justice Response? Prevention? Political Expediency?