Substance use and criminality

The connections between substance use and criminality have long been studied.^1,2,3 One retrospective analysis of historical offending records cross-referenced against historical test results for opiate or cocaine use, showed that opiate-positive individuals had higher offending rates.⁴ Indeed, initiating opiate use increased the risk of criminality by 16% among males, and by 100% for females.⁴

References:
[1] Caulkins JP, Chandler S. Long-run trends in incarceration of drug offenders in the United States. Crime Delinq 2006; 52 (4): 619–641.

[2] Cooper HLF. War on drugs policing and police brutality. Subst Use Misuse 2015; 50 (8–9): 1188–1194.

[3] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. UN World Drug Report 2021. Available at: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/wdr2021.html. Accessed August 2022.

[4] Pierce M, Hayhurst K, Bird SM, et al. Insights into the link between drug use and criminality: lifetime offending of criminally-active opiate users. Drug Alcohol Depend 2017; 179: 309–316.