Violent crime and drug abuse have a very long and storied association with one another in American history. Starting with the passing of the Prohibition Act in 1920 – which forbid the use of alcohol – violence related to the demand for and supply of drugs has risen steadily over the decades, culminating in the bloody War on Drugs that the US government has unsuccessfully fought for the last several decades. And while the correlation between violence and substance abuse is apparent, what is less obvious is how much of that violence is related to enforcement of the drug laws, or violence related to drug use itself.
There are three primary ways that drug use and violence are associated with one another:
1.) Enforcement Violence. Clashes between drug users, drug manufacturers and those that transport and sell drugs with police, DEA and other enforcement agencies are a primary source of violence related to drug use. This includes not only domestic battles here on US soil, but also battles on foreign soil as the US seeks to stem the flow of drugs at their source – often South American or Middle Eastern countries.
2.) Drug Trafficking Violence. Traffickers often battle other traffickers and distributors for territory or customers. The same is true of drug manufacturers and those that import drugs from other countries. This violence is often difficult to track and properly categorize because many times even victims of this violence will not act as witnesses or provide information that would allow authorities to correctly associate the violence with drug use or drug sales.
3.) Individual Violence. The final way that drug related violence usually occurs is by individual people who commit crimes in order to obtain more drugs, money or assets to sell to get more drugs.
According to US prison statistics, an astonishing number of inmates incarcerated for violent crimes like robbery admit that they committed their crimes either while high on drugs, in an effort to obtain more drugs, or both. And because drugs are readily available in prisons and jails, people who are convicted on drug and violence related crimes often continue to use while serving their sentence and many of these become involved in violence during their incarceration.
Substance abuse is also closely associated with violent crimes like rape and domestic assault. Many victims of such attacks report that the perpetrator was under the influence of some kind of drug or alcohol at the time of the assault or rape. In fact, criminals are increasingly using drugs in order to commit their crimes, including rapes and assaults that have occurred while a person was rendered unconscious by a criminal intent of doing them harm. Family violence is also associated with drug abuse and is often related to confrontations regarding this problem.
If you or someone you love has a problem with substance abuse, you should know that your likelihood of becoming involved in violence is significantly higher than someone who does not use drugs or associate with people who do. If you need help breaking from the cycle of drug addiction – whether yours or someone else's – you should know that there are experts standing by to offer assistance 24 hours per day.
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A professional editor and writer specializing in addiction and alcoholism, Skip has more than thirty years of direct experience in the field.