Crack cocaine in the Dublin region - Health Research Board

etween heroin, cocaine and crime. The fourth model views drug-related crime asresulting from a combination of influences or ‘common causes’.Psycho-pharmacological: The link between drugs and crime arises as a result ofthe psycho-pharmacological properties of the drugs themselves. This model proposesthat the effects of intoxication cause criminal (especially violent) behaviour, or thataggression and crime can be caused by, for example, the effects of withdrawal or sleepdeprivation.Economic-compulsive: The economic model assumes that drug users need togenerate illicit income from crimes such as robbery and burglary, and from consensualcrimes such as prostitution, in order to support their drug habit.Systemic: The systemic model explains drug-related crime as resulting from activitiesassociated with the illegal drug market. Systemic types of crime surrounding drugdistribution include, for example, fights over organisational and territorial issuesand disputes over transactions or debt collection. Associated third-party violence caninclude injuries to bystanders. Also included in this model are drug-related crimes andnuisance and the fears of victimisation which can become associated with local drugmarkets.Common cause: The common cause model holds that drug use and crime do nothave a direct causal link but that they are related because they share common causes.For example, as Hough et al. (2000: 2) suggest, ‘economic deprivation, inconsistentparenting, low educational achievement and limited employment prospects are riskfactors not only for chaotic or dependent drug use but also for heavy involvement incrime’. Drug use can speed up the rate of offending but offending is not necessarilycaused by drugs, as criminal activity often predates drug use (Pudney 2002).Crack use and crimeIn recent years, some US academics have been critical of the supposed strong linkbetween crack use and crime, particularly violent crime. Reinarman and Levine(2004) argue that crack-related crime is a function of illicit market systems indeprived impoverished areas, and not necessarily a direct consequence of the psychopharmacologicalproperties of crack on the human brain. Morgan and Zimmer (1997)suggest that, among people predisposed to behaving violently, crack, like any form ofcocaine, may increase the likelihood of their involvement in violent episodes. Researchalso suggests that when a person is involved in long-term crack cocaine use, theirinvolvement in crime is likely to escalate and they are more likely to be involved inviolent crime (Haropocos et al. 2003; Parker and Bottomley 1996; Brain et al. 1998;Gossop et al. 2002).Crack cocaine in the Dublin region: an evidence base for a crack cocaine strategy69