Drug-related crime

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DEA Operation Mallorca, 2005
Typical collateral damage of drug-related theft

A drug-related crime is a

drug cartels, organised crime and gangs. Some drug-related crime involves crime against the person such as robbery or sexual assaults.[1]

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics

In 2002, in the U.S. about a quarter of convicted property and drug offenders in local jails had committed their crimes to get money for drugs, compared to 5% of violent and public order offenders. Among State prisoners in 2004 the pattern was similar, with property (30%) and drug offenders (26%) more likely to commit their crimes for drug money than violent (10%) and public-order offenders (7%). In Federal prisons property offenders (11%) were less than half as likely as drug offenders (25%) to report drug money as a motive in their offenses.

In 2004, 17% of U.S. State prisoners and 18% of Federal inmates said they committed their current offense to obtain money for drugs. These percentages represent a slight increase for Federal prisoners (16% in 1997) and a slight decrease for State prisoners (19% in 1997).

Drugs and crime

benzodiazepine misuse by criminal detainees has surpassed that of opiates.[2] Patients reporting to two emergency rooms in Canada with violence-related injuries were most often found to be intoxicated with alcohol and were significantly more likely to test positive for benzodiazepines (most commonly temazepam) than other groups of individuals, whereas other drugs were found to be insignificant in relation to violent injuries.[3]

Research carried out on drug-related crime found that drug misuse is associated with various crimes that are in part related to the feelings of invincibility, which can become particularly pronounced with abuse. Problematic crimes associated include

opiates and are second only to cannabis, which is the most frequently detected drug.[5]

Research carried out by the Australian government found that benzodiazepine users are more likely to be violent, more likely to have been in contact with the police, and more likely to have been charged with criminal behavior than those using opiates. Illicit benzodiazepines mostly originate from medical practitioners but leak onto the illicit scene due to diversion and

ram raids, it is most often benzodiazepines, rather than opiates, that are targeted in part because benzodiazepines are not usually locked in vaults and or do not have as strict laws governing prescription and storage of many benzodiazepines. Temazepam accounts for most benzodiazepine sought by forgery of prescriptions and through pharmacy burglary in Australia.[6][7]

Benzodiazepines have been used as a tool of murder by serial killers, and other murderers, such as those with the condition

fugue state induced by the chronic use of the drug.[11][12] When benzodiazepines are used for criminal purposes against a victim they are often mixed with food or drink.[13]

sexual assaults, GHB is another potential date rape drug that has received increased media focus.[17]

Some benzodiazepines are more associated with crime than others especially when abused or taken in combination with alcohol. The potent benzodiazepine

GABAergic effects.[18]

Flunitrazepam has been implicated as the cause of one serial killer's violent rampage, triggering off extreme aggression with anterograde amnesia.[19] A study on forensic psychiatric patients who had abused flunitrazepam at the time of their crimes found that the patients displayed extreme violence, lacked the ability to think clearly, and experienced a loss of empathy for their victims while under the influence of flunitrazepam, and it was found that the abuse of alcohol or other drugs in combination with flunitrazepam compounded the problem. Their behaviour under the influence of flunitrazepam was in contrast to their normal psychological state.[20]

Criticisms

The concept of drug-related crime has been criticized for being too blunt, especially in its failure to distinguish between three types of crime associated with drugs:[21]

  • Use-Related crime: These are crimes that result from or involve individuals who ingest drugs, and who commit crimes as a result of the effect the drug has on their thought processes and behavior.[21]
  • Economic-Related crime: These are crimes where an individual commits a crime to fund a drug habit. These include theft and prostitution.[21]
  • System-Related crime: These are crimes that result from the structure of the drug system. They include production, manufacture, transportation, and sale of drugs, as well as violence related to the production or sale of drugs, such as a turf war.[21]

Drug-related crime may be used as a justification for prohibition, but, in the case of system-related crime, the acts are only crimes because of prohibition.[citation needed] In addition, some consider even user-related and economic-related aspects of crime as symptomatic of a broader problem.[citation needed]

See also

General:

Organized crime:

US specific:

References

  1. S2CID 11093298
    .
  2. S2CID 25817581
    .
  3. PMID 10402149
    .
  4. ^ Australian Government; National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund (2007). "Benzodiazepine and pharmaceutical opioid misuse and their relationship to crime" (PDF). NDLERF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2008.
  5. ^ The Scottish Government Publications (25 July 2000). "Interviewing and Drug Testing of Arrestees in Scotland: A Pilot of the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Methodology (ADAM)". Retrieved 27 December 2008.
  6. ^ "Injecting Temazepam: The facts — Temazepam Injection and Diversion". Victorian Government Health Information. 29 March 2007. Archived from the original on 7 January 2008. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
  7. ^ National Drug Strategy; National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund (2007). "Benzodiazepine and pharmaceutical opioid misuse and their relationship to crime - An examination of illicit prescription drug markets in Melbourne, Hobart and Darwin" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2012. Retrieved 27 December 2008.
  8. PMID 7979864
    .
  9. PMID 9290875
    .
  10. PMID 9399131
    .
  11. PMID 8941203
    .
  12. S2CID 77259419
    .
  13. PMID 16087387
    .
  14. S2CID 34401047
    .
  15. PMID 16139113
    .
  16. PMID 11468961
    .
  17. PMID 16886708
    .
  18. PMID 10093441
    .
  19. ^ Dåderman AM; Strindlund H; Wiklund N; Fredriksen SO; Lidberg L (October 14, 2003). "The importance of a urine sample in persons intoxicated with flunitrazepam--legal issues in a forensic psychiatric case study of a serial murderer". Forensic Science International. 137 (1): 21–7.
    PMID 14550609
    .
  20. PMID 12108561
    .
  21. ^ a b c d "Drug-Related Crime". The National Center for Victims of Crime. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-11-26. Retrieved 2023-06-24.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Drug-related crimes.
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