Romney 1

Sam Romney Criminal Justice Mrs. Breidinger Final Paper 3/10/2012 Drugs, Addiction, and Crime

In the United States more than half the people arrested test positive for an illegal drug(National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, 2007). If we were to go off of this single statistic, there would be no reason for debate to legalize any form of drugs. However, what percentage of those people have a prior disposition to violence? How many of those crimes are considered violent? Would the offender have committed the crime had they not been under the influence? There are a lot of factors that a single statistic doesnt cover, and these shocking statistic are often used in the argument to continue banning certain drugs. They are often used for shock value more than anything, as a scare tactic. Why would the Government want to ban these in the first place? This same statistic wouldnt be valid only a few hundred years ago when the profile of a drug user was completely different. To say something is a drug related crime is an extremely vague term. A drug related crime includes crimes that have to do with the people who manufacture the drugs, sell them, people who purchase them, and then the people who ultimately use them, or are in possession of them. A homicide carried out by a drug dealer could be considered a drug related crime, even if drugs wasnt the motivation (even though that is usually the case) it would still be categorized as a drug related crime if no other motive could found, based solely on the fact that the perpetrator has been associated with drugs in the past.

Romney 2 The profile of a drug user today is typically someone with a lower income, who has had a rough life. This fits the stereotypical view society has today of drug users, and easily associates them with crime. This wasnt always the case, however. In 1885 Coca-Cola introduced a Soda that had extracts of cocaine, Sears commonly marketed hypodermic kits specifically for morphine users. ( Inciardi).They were marketed towards the average person, because these drugs were thought of as recreational drugs, much in the same way alcohol is viewed today. Troy Duster, a sociology professor at UC Berkeley stated that In 1900 most drug addicts were middle-aged and middle class white women, while in 1969 most were lower-and working-class young black males. This can be compared and contrasted to whats going on today. In the 1900s it wasnt middle-aged middle-class white women that were committing crimes, it was the gangsters and thugs. The reason certain drugs have been banned is because of they are often associated with violence and irresponsibility. Cocaine is thought to make people violent, and commit violent crimes. This is partially true in the fact that cocaine can push a person harboring violent thoughts over the edge, because it lowers inhibitions and several interrupts the chemical messages in the brain that include norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine (Web Md).These can several effect the mood of the user and ultimately cause them to have poor impulse control, and act on thoughts they could normally control before they took the cocaine. Cocaine sends the central nervous system, and brain into chaos, making the user feel the high of the drug. The result of the high is unpredictable, some of the major side effects are depression, anxiety, paranoia, and sleeplessness, which are all factors that could drive a person to commit a crime (Williams).

Romney 3 Cocaine is often thought of as an aphrodisiac, which could drive some user to commit sex crimes. Users who take cocaine for this reason usually dont realize that in the long run cocaine can impair sexual performance(WebMd). Users of cocaine arent always the perpetrators, but sometimes the victims themselves. In New York between 1990 and 1991 31% of the people murdered had cocaine in their system. This is thought to be because they acted violent, or paranoid towards other hostile aggressive people, often dealing and handling drugs themselves (NIDA). This shows that not only is a user of cocaine endangering those lives around them, but their own lives as well. When a user takes a drug the effect of it on them is completely up to their brain chemistry, so everyone that takes the same drug isnt going to experience the same effects. This means some users of cocaine could be hostile and aggressive, committing crimes. On the other hand, a different user might feel depressed, withdraw from people, and keep to themselves, and the chances of them committing a crime are very low. This is because if a person doesnt have those feelings of hostility or anger that they have been controlling previous to taking the cocaine, theres nothing for the drug to bring out in them. It doesnt matter how far gone a persons inhibitions are, if its not in their chemistry to be violent then they wont act that way. The reaction to the drug is based on a few factors including the users physical, psychological and genetic makeup, the current physical and psychological state of a user, the source, quality, quantity, and strength of the drug taken, and the method use(Ceida, Drugs and Parenting).

Romney 4 Not every drug would make a user act violent and cause them to commit a crime. Marijuana is thought of mostly as a depressant and a hallucinogen. The user is often relaxed and its rare that they would be ambitious enough to commit a crime. According to Dr Kent Berridge, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of Michigan, one reason drugs is commonly related to crimes and violence isnt because of the highs or the feelings felt immediately after taking the drug. Its the fact that the withdraw symptoms are usually so severe that the user will do whatever it takes to get their hands on some more of the drug. Addiction to drugs is where the crime comes into play. When a user takes drugs over a period of time, it severely alters the chemistry in the brain. Because its targeting receptors and blocking certain messages from getting through, it can change how much of the chemical is made. This is how addiction begins, mainly because the pleasure center isnt activity when a heavy user goes off of a drug. Drug abusers will often commit a crime just to find a way to get more of the drug they are addicted to. When a drug user is addicted, their entire live revolves around the drug, and ways to get their fill of it (Berridge). On August 16th, South Wales there were four men that were armed with knives who broke into one of their friends house to steal his stash of cannabis. They were close friends, they had smoked the weed together on different occasions. Because of their addiction, they decided to threaten their good friends life and ruined their own in the process. Two of the men were found guilty and the other two escaped, and were never tried( South Wales Echo). Most people have heard stories of users who steal from their parents, siblings, grandmother, or any other closed loved one that has left some cash laying around. This shows that the drug has completely

Romney 5 consumed the drug abusers life, and it comes before everything else that used to take priority in their life. Addiction, doesnt just relate to drugs. People can be addicted to anything. Addiction is a universal term, that can be associated with sex, food, porn, shopping, hoarding, and any other activities a human can indulge in. Addictions to food can be just as deadly as addictions to crack, they can also tear families apart and ruin the addicts life. The worlds former largest man, Paul Mason, of the UK, spent nearly $30,000 a year on food. When Mason couldnt find a way to come up with the money on his own, he stole from his elder mother, whose health was failing. She went into debt and had to sell the house her deceased husband had built himself, dying a few years later. Masons siblings, upon hearing this, disowned him and havent spoken to him for over a decade.( www.dailymail.co.uk) It goes to show that common sense, and impulse control can relate to anything, and to target drugs and babysit those who use them is absurd because that would mean everything else could be scrutinized and illegalized. Its like banning sex because there are people who get addicted to it, and cant control their impulses. Most people can have sex responsibly, and to take that away from them isnt right. Certain drugs, like sex, can be used and enjoyed safely, without any adverse effects when they are used with some common sense and responsibility. In conclusion, drugs dont commit crimes, people do. While there are drugs (like cocaine) that can accelerate and utilize the users feelings of contempt and violence, it still has to draw from somewhere. Rehabilitation for drug users who express their violent feelings when on drugs is key to preventing it in the future. To rid the drug user of their violent and criminal thoughts

Romney 6 they are harboring would be the best to prevent problems in the future, instead of jailing them and punishing them. When a first time offender is jailed for doing drugs, and committing a crime of any nature, and then released, nothing has changed. The thoughts are still the same, if not more volatile because they have had their freedom taken away, and they have just become societys problem who just wants to sweep it under the rug. They will be back in jail in no time, because when they take drugs again its just going to bring back the same exact thoughts they had the last time they used. They will commit a crime, and be taken back to prison, its a vicious cycle, in most cases that phrase can be taken literally. The government needs to focus their funds on fixing the perpetrator and getting them help so that the crime rate can eventually go down, this in turn would make prevention and rehabilitation the best investment we could make.

Works Cited

Auerhahn, Kathleen, and Robert Nash Parker. "Alcohol, drugs, and violence." Annual Review of Sociology 24.1 (1998): 291+. Gale Power Search. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. Berridge, Kent C., and Terry E. Robinson. "Addiction." Annual Review of Psychology (2003): 25+. General OneFile. Web. 6 Mar. 2012. Brownstein, Henry H. "Legend of the Drug-Crazed Killer." The Social Reality of Violence and Violent Crime. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000. Print. "Cocaine Use - New York Murder Victims." Web. 06 Mar. 2012. "Drugs: Drugs and Violence." Violence in America. Ed. Ronald Gottesman and Richard Maxwell Brown. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. Gale Power Search. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. "Drugs & Parenting." Ceida.net.au: Talking to Your Kids about Drugs & Alcohol. Web. 8 Mar. 2012. "Former World's Fattest Man Begs for NHS Operation to Remove Folds of Skin after Losing 40 STONE." Mail Online. Web. 02 Mar. 2012. Hoaken, Peter N.S., and Sherry H. Stewart. "Drugs of abuse and the elicitation of human aggressive behavior." Addictive Behaviors28.9 (2003): 1533-1554. Gale Power Search. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. "Knifemen raided home to steal drugs, court told." South Wales Echo [Cardiff, Wales] 16 Aug. 2011: 3. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 6 Mar. 2012. "The Three Main Categories of Drugs." Ceida.net.au: Talking to Your Kids about Drugs & Alcohol. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. Walton, Reggie B. "Decriminalizing drugs won't end the violence." New Jersey Law Journal 28 Mar. 1991: 9. Gale Power Search. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. "WebMD - Better Information. Better Health." WebMD. WebMD. Web. 10 Mar. 2012.

Williams, Sarah. "Cocaine's harmful effects." Science 248.4952 (1990): 166. General OneFile. Web. 6 Mar. 2012.