The major points presented in this paper include: (1) The pharmacological effects of drugs (alcohol excepted) are not major factors accounting for interpersonal violence when demographic and other correlates of violence are controlled. (2) Costly drug use is etiologically important to the occurrence of robbery. (3) Drug distribution system violence is an important contemporary problem in need of systematic attention from researchers. (4) Myths have tended to grow up around the drug problem for political and economic reasons. (5) The tripartite (pharmacological, economic compulsive, systemic) conceptual framework for understanding drugs and violence needs elaboration; and (6) The most appropriate conceptual model for understanding the drug and violence relationship is one that incorporates multiple factors including social, economic, and cultural variables. Figure, references