A pattern is hypothesized: the initiation of alcohol/drug use tends to progress from legal to illicit drugs; the early initiation of drugs increases the current use of drugs; and criminality is affected by the initiation/use patterns. In order to select a large enough proportion of subjects who were involved in or had high potential to be involved in alcohol/drug abuse and criminal activities, the sample was stratified into the following subgroups representing various levels of involvement in alcoholism and alcohol-related behaviors: people in county jails, on probation, in alcoholism treatment centers, and in drinking driver programs. The survey instrument was a self-administered questionnaire. The survey was conducted between August and October 1989. A total of 878 respondents participated in the survey. The factors measured were family alcohol environment, alcohol/drug onset, alcohol/drug use, and crimes. Although the findings generally are consistent with the hypotheses, some inconsistencies were found. Among the four drugs under study, cigarette onset and use did not show a consistent impact pattern in the model. The effect cigarette use has on illicit drug use and other deviant behaviors may be short-termed and less important than the effects of alcohol and other illicit drugs. Teenage cigarette smoking is a type of deviant behavior, and it may increase other types of deviant behaviors, such as the onset of marijuana use; however, in adulthood or young adulthood, cigarette smoking is not as unacceptable as excessive drinking and marijuana/cocaine use. Thus, cigarette onset affects the onset of marijuana but not cocaine onset, because the initiation of marijuana tends to occur in adolescence; whereas, the initiation of cocaine use begins in young adulthood or adulthood. Another major inconsistency in the findings is that the current use of cocaine is not increased by the early onset of cocaine. Criminal behavior is affected mainly by the use of alcohol/drugs. Specifically, only alcohol and cocaine use significantly increases the involvement in criminal activities. 4 tables and 54 references