CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This article has examined what the evidence is telling us about the relationship between substance abuse and crime. Available research indicates that drug or alcohol use does not seem to directly cause criminal behavior in an individual, although it may intensify criminal behavior that has already started. A likely hypothesis for the strong correlation of substance use and/or dependency to criminal behavior is that they both arise from similar factors, such as a lack of bonds to supportive and pro-social family. The literature finds the strongest connection of drugs to crime occurs in the illegal drug trade where, besides the crime of trafficking, other, more violent crimes are committed as part of the operation of the black market in prohibited substances. However, offenders involved in high-level trafficking also tend to have the lowest substance dependency rates. The second question that was put forward in this article is: Are we using and developing policy that is evidence based? This article has identified ways that our drug and corrections policies appear to be based on unverified assumptions. It also demonstrated that the evidence points out that these policies are not effective in lowering crime rates and may, in fact, be contributing to an increase in crime.

So, the question remains: How can we use the evidence to develop drug policies that are more effective in creating safer communities? Based on this research, the first recommendation is to reconsider our beliefs about the link between substance use and crime. We could begin by separating them as two distinct ‘concerns’ and examine what the research is saying about the most effective ways to reduce the harms caused by them. The main distinction between the two is that the harm caused by substance use is mostly to the individual who chooses to use, while the harm caused by crime is mostly to people other than he individual who chooses to engage in this behavior. This separation very clearly points to significantly different policy perspectives. Substance use, dependency and abuse are first and foremost health concerns and, therefore, should not be treated as a criminal justice issues.

The second recommendation is that we become attentive to our policy makers use of evidence when creating policy. In this case, I believe that it is important that we ask the questions: What are the reasons for prohibiting certain substances and making it a crime to possess and use them? Were these policies created in an attempt, at least in part, to reduce crime? If so, these policies need to be re-examined because they do not appear to be effective in producing their intended outcomes.