The analysis notes that the economic model of crime does not consider criminal activity to be deviant behavior; instead, it considers it to be a reaction of individuals to prices and incentives. Drug use has a place in this framework because, in addition to a potential pharmaceutical effect, drug use may affect criminal behavior because of the interaction between drug prices, drug consumption, and drug profits. This conceptual framework also suggests that an increase in drug use may actually be negatively related to certain crimes and that a change in the allocation of criminal justice resources would change the relative prices of different types of criminal acts and thereby affect criminal activity. Finally, empirical analysis of crimes involves statistical challenges; therefore, extreme care should be given to statistical procedures to obtain meaningful and correct estimates of the parameters of interest. Notes and 53 references (Author abstract modified)