CRIME, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, TREATMENT METHODS

• Jurisdiction: Australia

Drug dependence and drug-related crime.................................................... [64.900]

Responsibility for addiction: legal drugs and pharmaceuticals..................... [64.920]

Treatment of drug dependence .................................................................... [64.940]

[64.900] Drug dependence and drug-related crime

Dependence on drugs is associated with criminal activity. Drug-related crime is of four main types: crime may be committed simply through supply or use of drugs, in obtaining money to purchase drugs, in the establishment and protection of businesses for supply of illegal drugs and as a result of drug-induced intoxication. While the expert psychopharmacology witness may give evidence in cases concerned with several of these, the majority of cases in which expert psychopharmacology evidence will be useful will be concerned with crimes committed by persons under the influence of a drug (intoxication).

There is a range of statistics showing the strong relationship between drug use and crime. The impact can be gauged by the relative costs to society of such crime. Such analyses show that the greatest cost is attributable to the effects of alcohol, with illicit drugs having less impact: Miller et al (2006). Figures of around 60% of offenders drinking...