Stealing and dealing: cocaine and property crimes

A common thread in all studies of this nature is the level of use of cocaine and/or the concomitant use of other drugs, suggesting that economic necessity plays a role in the decision to commit crimes to help defray the costs of use. While a truly causal link between use and crime activity in marginal income populations is apparent. Whether that association is driven primarily by economics or lifestyle considerations is not answered by simple examination of the numbers. Statistically, the use of cocaine is related to criminal activity as a function of the income level and prior criminal experience of the user. This relationship is better defined by looking at the threshold effect in marginal income groups, where use that goes beyond what the pocket can bear produces a significantly greater chance that illegal sources will be found. However, many occasional users or even regular users with resources are able to fund their use through routine sources and never resort to criminal activity or to unconventional financial resources. A large number of cocaine users probably fall into this middle ground: they are neither the "high rollers" that often make the media nor the traditional heroin/cocaine addicts. For them, criminal activity may surface when use exceeds funds or not at all. For still others, cocaine is part of a criminal lifestyle rather than a motivation for it. Statistically, all these cocaine users look the same, though the relationship between their use and their crime may be quite varied. The descriptions of three cases discussed in an earlier paper (Hunt et al. 1985) clarify this point. The first case was a 32-year-old white male former heroin addict and former drug dealer who reported cocaine use intravenously three to four times a month, smoked marijuana weekly, and used no other drugs. He was married, working, and had a small child. He also reported dealing in stolen merchandise and clothing that he got from someone else to sell. This pattern had been his custom for several years, observed at close hand by the author, and he had not been arrested for many years, though he had a prior history of arrests dating back more than 15 years. This individual did not link his selling stolen merchandise with his cocaine use. He linked it with the need for supplementary funds and was as likely to deal goods for Christmas money as for cocaine.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)