SUSTAINED ABSTINENCE AND THE DRUG CRIME CONNECTION

This article examines the impact of violence on individuals and communities pursuant to drug use and sales activities. It presents case study material from individuals that engaged in the opioid recovery process, and importantly, were able to desist from criminal activities, many of them potentially violent in nature. The article begins with a discussion of Victimology, within the contexts of drug use leading to violence or contributing in some way to the plight of the victim. It reflects on various self reported issues and concerns as expressed by four study participants. If one is to examine violence in its various forms, one needs to consider the victim. After all, violence and violent acts, in essence, require that there be a protagonist of some sort, but also a victim. All too often, the victim's role in these activities is overlooked or given perfunctory consideration. In many cases, the players in these episodes sometimes don't even realize they are also victims within a structural framework, that is, "they fall victim to the only opportunities at their disposal…" One of the study's goals was to see how abstaining from drug use affected desistance and engagement in violent activities and the data suggest that indeed, the heroin crime connection also occurs in reverse. In this light, this article portrays a snapshot of some of the tools that enable ex-offenders re-entering various communities to experience successful prolonged abstinence, and avoid further involvement with the criminal justice system, as well as the danger and violence present within the drug dealing hierarchies.