Work Group Reports on
Demand Reduction --
Summary of Overview,
Discussion, and
Recommendations
Violence and Drug-Related Problems
Facilitators:
- Mr. Aurelio Montemayor, USA
- Senior Education Associate,
Professional Development Division,
Intercultural Development Research Association
- Dr. Luciana Ramos, Mexico
- Researcher, Division of Social and Epidemiological Research,
Mexican Institute Psychiatry,
Ministry of Health
Presenters:
- Dr. Albert Mata, Jr., USA
- Associate Professor, Division of Human Relations,
University of Oklahoma
- Dr. Walter Beller, Mexico
- General Director of Crime Prevention
and Community Services
Attorney General's Office
Overview:
Dr. Mata's initial point was that the border cities are not simply narcotic trafficking centers, although they are highly affected by drug abuse and related violence. His second point was that drug-related violence needs to be approached not only from a criminal justice perspective but from a public health point of view. He noted that each year in the United States, 50,000 to 60,000 people die as a result of interpersonal violence, which is as many as were killed during the entire 10-year period of the Vietnam War. Moreover, he claimed that both Mexico and the U.S. have what is often referred to as a subculture of violence.
Dr. Mata emphasized the need to study drug- and alcohol-related domestic violence, which often leads to violence in the workplace. He cited Paul Goldstein's tripartite model, which emphasizes three possible factors promoting drug-related violence: the direct pharmacological action of abused drugs; the high cost of a drug habit; and societal conditions such as racism, poverty, lack of motivation, poor education, and so forth. Perhaps 30 to 40 percent of violence is related to crime committed to support the cost of using drugs, Dr. Mata noted. For different drugs, he pointed out that the time required to become addicted and thus to obtain large amounts of money to support a drug habit varies. For example, developing dependence on heroin may take longer than becoming dependent on crack cocaine. He also noted that a less obvious but socially important aspect of drug-related violence is that which leads to domestic violence within the family directed at children. As he explained, we have comparatively little data dealing with this issue, especially its impact on children's development.
Perhaps 30 to 40 percent of violence is related to crime committed to support the cost of using drugs.
Dr. Mata stressed the need to examine better the costs of drug-related violence and to earmark some of the drug forfeiture money resulting from law enforcement for research, prevention, and treatment. Although the results of programs aimed at anger control, conflict mediation, and other non-violent alternatives have not yet been adequately documented, he suggested that this type of public health approach needs to be encouraged. In his view, outcomes and cost-effectiveness must also be carefully studied if public acceptance for prevention programs is to be achieved.
Dr. Beller began by explaining that the literature regarding this matter foresees three possible causal connections between drug abuse and crime: (a) drug use causes delinquency; (b) delinquency leads to drug use and; (c) no causal relationship exists between drugs and delinquency. Each hypothesis holds some truth, he claimed, and none is essentially disposable. However, when causal links between drugs and crime are suggested, they create a complex problematic that demands an equally complex methodology in order to be understood.
As Dr. Beller concluded, given that the drug-crime connection issue is a social one, and all social issues involve an interlocking system of systems, partial or sectorial policies designed to reduce illegal use or to eradicate illicit drug trafficking are condemned to failure. Only a policy that integrates: (a) repression and prevention; (b) efforts to combat drug trafficking and encourage demand reduction and; (c) national and international directives may be successful.
In all these efforts he mentioned that the support and cooperation of all citizens, civil organizations, private companies, and mass media are irreplaceable. No one isolated action, well-intended though it might be, will be able to fulfill the objective of attaining a safe, harmonious, and integrated drug-free society.
