Methamphetamine Use Among Offenders

1
Methamphetamine Use Among Offenders

• California Addiction Training and Education
  Series
• David Farabee
• University of California, Los Angeles

2
National Prevalence

• Drug Use Among Male Arrestees (ADAM, 2002)
  (National Medians)

• Any Drug 63.9

• Marijuana 40.5

• Crack/Powder
• Cocaine 30.4

• Heroin 5.9

• Methamphetamine
• 5.3

3
Cities Reporting gt20 Arrestees Using
Methamphetamine
(Hawaii)
4
Primary Substance Reported by California
Inmates(N22,903)
6
11.5
15
17.4
21.5
28.8
5
Profiles of Methamphetamine Users vs. Other
Inmates
6
Profiles of Methamphetamine Users vs. Other
Inmates
7
Risk Behaviors Associated with Methamphetamine Use

• HIV
• Crime Violence

8
HIV
9
Injection-Related HIV Risk

• Injected in the Past 6 Months
• MA Users 37.1
• Non-MA Users 11.1

• Of these--
• 24 used dirty syringes
• 30 shared cookers, rinse water, etc.

10
Sex-Related HIV Risk (Odd Ratios of MA Users vs.
Non-MA Users)
11
Sex-Related HIV Risk (Odd Ratios of MA Users vs.
Non-MA Users)
1.5
2.5
4.8
12
Crime Violence
13
Routes of Influence(Source Goldstein (1985).
Journal of Drug Issues, 15, 493-506 )

• ? Economic-Compulsive
• Intentional crime that results from drug users
  engaging in an economically oriented crime to
  support their own addiction.

? Pharmacological Crimes that occur as a
result of the excitability, paranoia, or poor
impulse control associated with use of certain
drugs.
? Systemic Crimes associated with drug
manufacturing and distribution.
14
Methamphetamine Use and Violence

• Studies testing co-occurrence and/or causation
• About 50 of MA report engaging in violence
• A quarter to two- thirds attributed violence to
  MA use

15
Returned to Custody for Any Reason (Odd Ratios
of MA Users vs. Non-MA Users)

• MA users were about 30 more likely to recidivate
  than Non-MA users.
• This effect held even after controlling for
  involvement in drug trade.

16
Returned to Custody for Violent Crime (Odd
Ratios of MA Users vs. Non-MA Users)

• MA users were about as likely to recidivate than
  Non-MA users for a violent crime.
• However, MA use was associated with days of
  self-reported violent acts.

17
The Influence of Substance Abuse Treatment on
Criminality

18
Drugs Use as a Causal Factor of Crime(Sources
Farabee, 1994 Fredlund et al., 1995 Nurco et
al., 1988)

• Among incarcerated youth
• --41 Economic
• --40 Pharmacological
• --60 Systemic
• 30-50 of prison inmates report that they had
  engaged in other forms of criminality prior to
  experimenting with drugs
• About 20 of criminal substance abusers commit
  high levels of crime, regardless of their
  addiction status

19
Drug Use as an Intensifying Factor of Crime

• Periods of elevated narcotics use are associated
  with commensurate increases in both property
  crime and drug dealing (Anglin Speckart, 1988)
• Crime rates during periods of narcotic addiction
  are more than 7x higher than during periods of
  non-addiction (Schaffer, Nurco, Kinlock, 1984).
• Thus, regardless of the order of onset, it is
  clear that illicit drug use at the very least
  serves to intensify criminal activity among
  offenders.

7
20
Overview of Correctional Interventions and
Recidivism Effect Sizes
CDATE Lipton Pearson, 1998.
21
Summary

• MA use is most prevalent in Western states, but
  expanding
• into the Midwest.

(Hawaii)

• Among substance-abusing inmates in California, MA
  is the most commonly cited primary drug.

• MA-using offenders are more likely than other
  drug users to be IDUs, but no more likely than
  other IDUs to share works.

22
Summary (cont.)

• MA use is associated with a 2-5 fold increase in
  sex-related HIV risk.

• A quarter to two-thirds of MA users attribute
  violent acts to MA use.

• The association between MA use,
• crime, and violence does not
• appear to be an artifact of drug trade
  involvement.

23
Summary (cont.)

• Treatment is more likely to reduce frequency of
  crime than bring about cessation.

• Treatment for CJ-involved MA users should include
  cognitive restructuring approaches that target
  criminal thinking.

24
End