Drug abuse damages the social fabric by undermining family cohesion and affecting the lives of children and young people. The financial costs are also staggering, in lost productivity, medical care, drug rehabilitation, social welfare programs, and the additional costs of crime through the judicial system, law enforcement, and prison populations. Drug abuse also leads to anti-social behavior and disrespect for the law. In fact, there is a clear relationship of drugs to crime and violence. A disproportionate amount of crime is committed by individuals under the influence of drugs.
Research shows that as drug use increases, so does the number of crimes a person commits.
Drug use and drug markets can attract other serious crime to a neighborhood and be devastating to communities. A survey by the U.S. National Institute of Justice in 1996 showed that in 20 of 23 cities surveyed, more than 60 percent of adult males arrested for crimes tested positive for at least one drug. Moreover, about 60 percent of federal prisoners are imprisoned for drug-related crimes. The United States is fully committed to addressing its drug abuse problem, to devoting the financial resources both domestically and internationally to address the threat of drugs to our society, and to working with partners internationally to stop the flow of drugs. One thing we can all agree t here is that the costs of drug abuse, crime, and violence are too high and we must do all we can to counteract their impact for the sake of our societies, communities, and especially our youth.