Frank Warburton, contributor of these pages, is a leading consultant on drugs and crime in the UK who works with www.alcohol-drugs.co.uk.

He is former Head of Service Development at DrugScope and Head of Crime and Social Policy at Nacro.

The ways in which drugs, alcohol and crime can interact pose a number a number of challenges for the field. The precise relationship between drug misuse and offending is not fully understood. There are a number of tensions for those working in the drugs, alcohol or prevention fields where they are expected to serve several social policy agendas at the same time. Health and crime priorities can be in conflict or at best insufficiently clear. Services are increasingly expected to be delivered within a holistic framework where partnership working and shared information is emphasised.  All areas are currently experiencing successive periods of rapid organisational change.

In other words the major challenges for the field are:

• Developing a clear understanding of the chemistry of drug and alcohol use and offending
• Implementing evidence-led approaches which link treatment to crime reduction
• Understanding and making the most of new and developing planning and delivery mechanisms
• Leadership and partnership development – negotiating, encouraging and supporting a range of services to contribute to a partnership delivering holistic approaches

• Management of data
  • Needs– understanding the link between drugs and crime
  • Service mapping
  • Management data
  • Impact
• Organisational change to ensure that targets and shifting priorities can be met whilst not diminishing the quality of what is provided.

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Drug, alcohol and crime links – a summary

• Of the 11 million people who admit to having used an illicit drug the 250 – 300 thousand estimated problem drug users are those most likely to commit crimes in order to pay for drug use
• A number of offences are committed due to the influence of alcohol. Nearly half of violent crimes are in this category
• According to the National Treatment Agency 17% of those entering treatment in 2003/4 were offenders entering treatment via the criminal justice system
• Of the 7801 offenders initially identified by the Prolific and other Priority Offender Programme 61% are understood to have problems with drug misuse
• Risk factors for drug misuse strongly overlap with those for delinquency
• Drug and Alcohol Action Teams (DAATs) and Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) are expected to have joined up'

Increasingly both drugs and crime are being planned and delivered within a broader strategic framework which incorporates, environmental, regeneration and children’s issues 

Apart from the fact that some drugs are illegal and dealing them or possessing them is a crime, drugs, alcohol and crime link up in many other ways. A major part of the government drugs strategy is to encourage offenders with drug misuse problems into treatment. Concern about violence fuelled by excessive alcohol consumption is frequently a hot topic in current, public debate. At a practical level the local planning and delivery mechanisms for national drugs and alcohol strategies (the DAATs) and national crime reduction strategies (CDRPs) are being merged.

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Drug driven crime

Problematic drug use linked to crime represents a small proportion of illicit drug use. According to the British Crime Survey:

‘It is estimated that almost 11 million people aged 16 to 59 in England and Wales

have at some point used illicit drugs and approximately three and a half million have used drugs in the previous year.  It is also estimated that just under four million people aged 16 to 59 have used Class A drugs in their lifetime with just over 1 million having used them in the past year.’[i]

The current estimate for problematic drug misusers (PDUs) is 250-300 thousand.

The government priority given to tackling crime committed by problem drug users is underpinned by dramatic figures demonstrating the drug crime link. According to the Home Office website:

‘The links between drug use and crime are clearly established. In fact, around three-quarters of crack and heroin users claim they commit crime to feed their habit. It is our priority to break this damaging chain.’[ii]

However these figures are extrapolated from a limited number of research studies and other studies suggest that the link between drug misuse and crime is less strong and not necessarily a causal relationship. According to international studies comparing the UK and a number of other countries the proportion of those testing positive for drugs in 1998/9 was 29% for opiates and 20% for cocaine. [iii]

Home Office research into the onset of drug use and criminality suggests that that crime tends to precede drug use rather than vice versa ’[iv] Overall the picture is less one where acquisitive crime is an inevitable consequence of drug misuse but more one where both drug misuse and crime are risk behaviours which can be influenced by a range of social and environmental factors.

Despite these issues the cost benefits of drug treatment are clear and are spelt out in the progress report on the Drug Strategy – Tackling Drugs -  Changing Lives 

‘There is a particular focus on problematic drug users because they are responsible for 99% of the costs to society of drug misuse (estimated between £10-£18 billion), 88% of which is drug-related crime’

‘We know that effective treatment works and is highly cost-effective. For every £1 spent on treatment at least £9.50 is saved in crime and health costs’[v]

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Alcohol fuelled crime

Alcohol abuse is linked most strongly to crimes of violence.

Home Office figures also show that alcohol is implicated in 44% of cases of domestic violence.[vii] 

• ‘in nearly half (48%) of all violent incidents, victims believed offenders to be under the influence of alcohol this figure rose to 60% in cases of 'stranger violence'
• the offender was least likely to be perceived to be under the influence of alcohol in the case of muggings (17%)’ [vi]

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