Acquisitive Crime Research Articles

Methadone treatment centers and crime

The paper by Boyd et al. explores the association between the location of methadone treatment centers (MTCs) and crime in Baltimore, MD, USA 1. Comparing spatial patterns of total crime counts during the period 1999–2001 in 100 m concentric buffers around MTCs, convenience stores, residential locations and general hospitals, the authors argue that MTCs do not act as a focus of crime compared with convenience stores. Online publication of the article attracted the attention of the Baltimore media and the research was immediately deployed to push back against recent community protests over the clustering of MTCs in a disadvantaged area of the city 2. There are, however, a number of methodological flaws in the research that are not acknowledged in the article and render its conclusions questionable. For reasons of space, I highlight just a few of the problems below. Thirteen MTCs in Baltimore were grouped together without taking into account the huge variation in neither the daily number of patients treated in each facility nor the socio-demographic characteristics of the areas surrounding them. The number of patients treated was not compared with the number of customers visiting convenience stores, to the number of people using the hospitals nor to the number of people (permanent residents or ambient population) in residential areas. The 1999–2001 study period was determined by the availability of crime data. However, the telephone survey of the MTCs was conducted much more recently. It is unclear precisely where the recalled information for the MTCs originated, whether it referred to the 1999–2001 period or whether it was verified independently. The location of convenience stores was identified using www.switchboard.com a decade after the 1999–2001 crime data referring to those locations. It is unclear whether the criteria for inclusion on www.switchboard.com introduced potential bias. There is no description of a validation exercise that shows these stores were, in fact, operational in 1999–2001 or that these sites were even used as convenience stores at that date. As Boyd et al. acknowledge, alcohol sales outlets are also known to be foci of crime, yet we are not told whether any of these, or other potential crime-attracting activities such as open-air drug markets, operated in any of the study areas. There may have been biases in the reporting of crimes. Time-sensitive crime control or law enforcement measures may have been operational in and around any of the study sites. For example, eight of the MTCs were located on, or near, hospital campuses. Medical facilities in Baltimore tend to be heavily policed, particularly around the Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland hospitals. Crimes were not disaggregated by type, even though it is well-known that drug addicts most commonly commit acquisitive crimes to fund their addiction 3. It is unclear, then, precisely how the researchers envisaged the causal relationship between MTCs and ‘total crime’. They are extremely critical of the crude popular misconception about the relationship between criminality and addiction, yet they are willing to use a version of it as their research hypothesis. The connections between space, place and crime are highly complex and were inadequately captured in this model. Studies have shown that drug users do commit less crime when they are in treatment. However, the Baltimore AIDS Linked to the Intravenous Experience (ALIVE) prospective cohort study has demonstrated that it takes 9 years of treatment to achieve long-term cessation in about 40% of injecting drug users 4. For 60% of injectors, then, treatment either takes longer than 9 years to work or it fails altogether, perpetuating, for many, a cycle of substance abuse, treatment and crime. Boyd et al. seem to assume that arbitrarily chosen concentric buffers of 100 m—equaling a radius of fewer than three blocks—captures the spatial impact of MTCs and other urban phenomena. They therefore avoid the point about why local communities protest the location of MTCs; it is not just the successful patients that matter to them, it is the failures. Treatment providers (a group to which Boyd belongs) do not routinely share aggregate anonymized information about their programs, such as long-term treatment outcomes or where successfully and unsuccessfully treated patients decide to live. Until they do, and with the collusion of methodologically-flawed studies such as this, communities who protest about the clustering of MTCs are under-informed through no fault of their own and are exposed to convenient accusations of NIMBYism. None.

Did GIS Start a Crime Wave? SatNav Theft and Its Implications for Geo-Information Engineering*

In-car satellite navigation systems (SatNavs) are among the first products based on geographic information systems to have widespread fashionable appeal. In the United Kingdom, portable versions that are easily installed on the dashboard or front windshield have become a popular vehicle accessory. As prices have fallen, demand has increased over the last few years to the point that SatNavs might soon achieve the ubiquity of in-car entertainment systems. The rise of popularity of SatNavs, however, has also brought with it increased vulnerability to vehicle crime. Our analysis for the London borough of Newham shows a threefold increase in SatNav theft that occurred from 2005–2006 to 2006–2007. This is not limited to SatNavs being on display, but criminals also looking for the telltale signs of suction marks on the windshield indicating that a portable SatNav might be in the glove compartment or trunk of the car. A geographical analysis of these crime data is presented. Whereas the geo-engineering has focused on improving real-time visualization of position and articulation of navigational instructions, the product engineering as a portable accessory has insufficiently addressed the social implications of vulnerability in a high-crime society, the consequence being a focused acquisitive crime wave.

Criminal Behavior in Opioid‐Dependent Patients Before and During Maintenance Therapy: 6‐year Follow‐Up of a Nationally Representative Cohort Sample

Lifetime prevalence of opioid dependence is about 0.4% in western countries. Opioid-dependent patients have high morbidity and mortality and a high risk of criminal behavior. Few studies have addressed the long-term impact of opioid maintenance therapy on convictions and criminal behavior. The PREMOS study is a prospective, longitudinal, naturalistic clinical study of a nationally representative sample of 2694 opioid-dependent patients to investigate convictions and criminal behavior at baseline and after 6 years of maintenance treatment. At follow-up, 2284 patients still were eligible (84.7%). A comprehensive assessment including a patient and doctor questionnaire, and the EuropASI was completed at baseline and follow-up. Data on criminality at follow-up had been received for 1147 (70.6%) patients. A large number (84.5%) of them had been charged or convicted at any time before baseline assessment, most frequently with drug-related offenses (66.8%), acquisitive crime (49.1%), or acts of violence (22.0%). Reported charges and convictions had declined to 17.9% for the last 12 months before follow-up, which was also reflected by a significant decrease in the EuropASI subscore "legal problems" from 1.52 at baseline to 0.98 after 6 years. These data indicate a significant and clinically relevant reduction in criminal behavior in opioid-dependent patients in long-term maintenance treatment. Maintenance therapy is effective in the reduction in both narcotics-related and acquisition crime.

Acquisitive Crime, Sentencing and Detection: An Analysis of England and Wales

We provide the first detailed econometric analysis of the impact of sentencing on various types of acquisitive crime in England and Wales. We examine (a) whether sentencing reduces crime and (b) whether short sentences are more effective than long sentences. Detection is an important explanatory variable whose effect needs to be controlled in order to identify the impact of sentencing. To address the potential endogeneity of detection, we instrument using lagged values of police expenditure and detection. Our results show that detection is significant and negatively affects all crime types while the impact of sentences is negative and significant for all crime except robbery in a linear specification. A quadratic specification shows that the linear term is positive while the square term is negative suggesting short sentences may be counterproductive in reducing robbery. We also control for a number of socio economic variables whose effects significantly affect crime.

I predict a riot – quantifying the characteristics of areas that led to rioting in England in August 2011

PurposeThis paper aims to quantify characteristics of areas that experienced rioting across the UK in August 2011. Through exploring the areas where riots occurred, and those that did not have any problems, variables and factors that may have contributed to a geographical area experiencing rioting can begin to be identified. Through doing so, it is hoped that local authorities can be better prepared to deal with potential similar situations in the future.Design/methodology/approachNational indicator data were collated for all local authority areas across England. After a literature review, and preliminary analysis, a set of indicators that the authors thought could be potential factors were identified. Using these indicators as input variables logistic regression was completed, with the target variable defined as whether or not the local authority had experienced any rioting (target variable was binary categorical – Yes/No).FindingsA logistic regression equation was produced that gave a risk score to each local authority area. Using an ROC Curve an optimum cut off point was created. Anything over this cut off point was deemed to be vulnerable to rioting. The overall accuracy of the model was 88.4 per cent. The positive predictive value was 97.2 per cent and the negative predictive value was 42.9 per cent. Predictor variables included in the model were: existing acquisitive crime rates; unemployment deprivation; and education/level 4 attainment.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the short turnaround time of producing this insight, only limited data are available to build a model on. The paper focuses on characteristics of the geographical areas where rioting occurred, rather than the traits of the culprits themselves. Since completing the paper, more information has become available.Practical implicationsWith key predictor variables identified, it is possible to look at areas that are a potential risk. The false positives and false negatives (local authority areas that did not behave as the model suggested) also pose interesting questions. Why did rioting not occur in certain areas that showed the same characteristics as those that experienced rioting?Social implicationsWhere a riot risk is noted as high, local public services may consider any actions that could be taken to tackle the risk and can use this information to justify continued resources in that area.Originality/valueMany discussions were had in the months that followed the August riots. These discussions tended to focus on the perpetrators and not the areas that are analysed in this paper.

Ongoing cocaine and benzodiazepine use: Effects on acquisitive crime committal rates amongst opiate users in treatment

Aims: Research has shown that treatment for opiate use reduces crime, however the extent to which this is maintained is open to question. The objective of this study was to measure the relationship between crime committal rates and ongoing benzodiazepine and cocaine use by clients in opiate drug treatment programs.Methods: A national, prospective, longitudinal, multi-site drug treatment outcome study was conducted, 404 participants were recruited from inpatient and outpatient settings and 97% were located at 3 years. Drug use and crimes committed were ascertained from the Maudsley Addiction Profile of Marsden et al. [Marsden, J., Gossop, M., Stewart, D., Best, D., Farrell, M., Lehmann, P., … Strang, J. (1998). The Maudsley Addiction Profile (MAP): A brief instrument for assessing treatment outcome. Addiction, 93, 1857–1867].Findings: Analysis revealed that of those who had not committed an acquisitive crime at intake, those who used cocaine regularly at 1-year were 6.5 times more likely and those that used benzodiazepines regularly were eight times more likely to commit an acquisitive crime at 1-year. Of those who had committed an acquisitive crime at intake, those who used heroin regularly at 1-year were nine times more likely to commit acquisitive crime at 1-year than those who did not use heroin regularly at 1 year.Conclusions: Treatment must place greater emphasis on reducing substitute drug use if opiate treatment is to effectively sustain crime reduction.

Partnerships and communities in English drug policy: The challenge of deprivation

Background From the mid-1990s, UK governments developed partnerships to tackle drugs nationally and locally. Over time, increased resources focused on communities and localities in greatest need. This reflected growing awareness of the concentration of problems in deprived areas, with social and spatial segregation being a feature of post-industrial urban areas. Methods A review of English drug policy since the 1990s, drawing on:- analysis of documents; a review of sociological studies; an illustrative case-study of one northern town; interviews with local policy players; statistical analysis of key indicators with some of these data presented using Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping. Results In-depth sociological studies demonstrate interconnections between historical patterns, socio-economic change, cultural complexity, deprivation, limited opportunities and illicit drugs. At local level, there are links between concentrated multiple deprivation, poor health, acquisitive crime and problematic drug use. Partnership policies, encouraged by the provision of ring-fenced funds, have been effective in containing problems. Underlying issues of inequality are however neglected in political debates. The article argues that post-industrial towns and cities are characterised by an increase in problems related to poverty and drugs. Both the real shape and perceptions of what is the problem change over time. In England, the profile of the problem drug user was described in a number of sociological studies conducted from the 1980s onwards. Key features were the concentration of problems in certain social groups (such as the poorly educated or unemployed) and in certain areas (inner cities or outer estates). Responding to rising public concern, national drug strategies developed and the New Labour Government after 1997 prioritised the issue of drugs, directing increased resources to drug treatment with tight control over the use of these new monies through target setting and measurement of performance. The emphasis was on the most dangerous drugs and most disadvantaged areas. Conclusion There is local variation in the pattern of problems and in implementation of national policies. In UK after 1997, New Labour policy aimed to promote a fair and cost-effective distribution of resources and improved availability and quality of treatment services and local policing. Tensions appeared between the drive to meet national targets and local perceptions of need. Ideas of localism, promoting market solutions and flexibility in provision, are now gaining ground in English social policy with the arrival of a Coalition (Conservative/Liberal Democrat) Government. These, together with an emphasis on abstinence and recovery, raise questions about the future adequacy of (a) attention to marginalised problems and stigmatised groups and (b) the distribution of resources in a context of severe fiscal restraint.

재산에 관한 죄에 있어서 피해자 동의

(1) The understanding of acquisitive crime is related with the understanding of a form of action and violation of the benefit and protection of the law. The effective conditions for the understanding related with a form of action are obtained from the documents of the general requirements with the aspect of facts. Therefore, it is unnecessary to be expressed to the outside. Even tough there was a consent by mistake, it shall be valid. In addition, it is not a property owner but the person with a right to cancel the occupation of property who has a right of understanding. However, fraud and extortion require a grant. A person who has a right to dispose the property even though he/she is the possessor can grant the property. For understanding which excludes theft, it is necessary to be able to recognize that an object is free from its own control. Even a child or psycho can be aware of the loss of the control on an object, which can be applied to robbery as well. Fraud and extortion are a transfer of property to the counter party. This kind of grant should also be understood as it is. In case of understanding associated with the violation of the benefit and protection of the law, it is the property owner only who can have the right of understanding. The understanding of the property owner means an understanding on giving up the benefit and protection of the law, not understanding of facts. Therefore, a party of understanding should be well aware of the value of the benefits and protection of the law and the effects of acceptance in order to dispose of them based on a free will. For this, both excellent perception and decision skills on giving up the benefits and protection of the law are required. The understanding on the violation of the benefit and protection of the law requires a public announcement. The property owner`s consent is an understanding on the violation of the benefits and protection of the law. Therefore, general theories can be applied to the investigation on effectiveness. If a mistake is found in relations of the benefits and protection of the law, the content shall be void. In fraud as well, consent shall be unenforceable if there is a mistake associated with the benefits and protection of the law. Because the consent is valid in case of a mistake which is unrelated with the benefits and protection of the law, however, the requirements for fraud can be excluded. The consent by force without a free will shall be void as well. (2) In a property damage crime, it can be interpreted that the requirements are met even though it was committed under a victim`s consent. Therefore, the understanding associated with a form of action is meaningless. However, if a property owner agrees with the violation of the value of his/her property, it can be interpreted that he/she has given up the legal protection on the property. In addition, it is reasonable to conclude that the requirements for the property damage crime are not met. Therefore, a victim`s consent in a property damage crime is related with the violation of the benefits and protection of the law. Hence, a person who can have a right to agree upon the violation of the benefit and protection of the law is the property owner. In a property damage crime in terms of consent ability, a victim`s consent is related with the violation of the benefits and protection of the law. Therefore, it is the same with the property owner`s consent in the acquisitive crime. Unlike an acquisitive crime, however, even though the consent is later canceled, it could not be restored if the property is completely destroyed in a property damage crime. If it is impossible to restore, it is necessary to limit the consent ability more strictly than the acquisitive crime to protect those who have poor judgment such as minors. In addition, minors` consent ability should be judged based on individual case, not by age.

Criminal convictions among dependent heroin users during a 3-year period prior to opioid maintenance treatment: A longitudinal national cohort study

This study investigates frequency and types of criminal convictions among a national sample of heroin users during a 3-year period prior to opioid maintenance treatment (OMT). All heroin users ( N = 3,789) in Norway who applied for and were eligible for OMT (1997–2003) were included. The OMT records were cross-linked to Norwegian crime statistics. During observation, 24,478 convictions were recorded among 60.9% of the sample. Differences of criminal convictions were found within the group; a large proportion (39.1%) had no convictions, whereas 10% of the sample was responsible for 37.8% of all convictions. Convictions for acquisitive crimes and drug crimes were the most common. Variations in the cohort's individual crime sequences were found. The heavy involvement of heroin users with the criminal justice system provides an opportunity to intervene with dependent offenders. Coordination between treatment providers and police or courts can play an important role in improving outcomes through better access to treatment.

Marriage, mortgage, motherhood: What longitudinal studies can tell us about gender, drug ‘careers’ and the normalisation of adult ‘recreational’ drug use

Through a consideration of quantitative and qualitative data obtained from young women aged 18–28 in the later years of the North West England Longitudinal Study, this paper explores how women's drug careers develop, progressing the authors’ normalisation thesis of ‘recreational’ drug use from adolescence into adulthood. Longitudinal studies are here compared with repeated cross-sectional surveys more usually favoured and funded by governments. The authors argue that firstly, in relation to methodology, longitudinal studies provide a unique opportunity to elucidate how drug careers develop across the life course and to chart the various impacts of life events and transitions on these careers and vice versa. Secondly, through this exploration of gender differences in drug careers and life transitions, we develop an age and gender-sensitive understanding of how recreational drug use fits into women's adult lives. The paper concludes that the challenge for policy makers is how to address adult women's ‘normalised’ recreational drug use, in the face of a regime focused on educational provision aimed at adolescent prevention; public health information designed for teenagers; and treatment resources focused on predominantly male and non parenting problem drug users, and the links between addiction and acquisitive crime.

Theft in Price-Volatile Markets: On the Relationship between Copper Price and Copper Theft

Recently, against a backdrop of general reductions in acquisitive crime, increases have been observed in the frequency of metal theft offences. This is generally attributed to increases in metal prices in response to global demand exceeding supply. The main objective of this article was to examine the relationship between the price of copper and levels of copper theft, focusing specifically on copper cable theft from the British railway network. Results indicated a significant positive correlation between lagged increases in copper price and copper cable theft. No support was found for rival hypotheses concerning U.K. unemployment levels and the general popularity of theft as crime type. An ancillary aim was to explore offender modus operandi over time, which is discussed in terms of its implications for preventing copper cable theft. The authors finish with a discussion of theft of other commodities in price-volatile markets.

The association between spending on methamphetamine/amphetamine and cannabis for personal use and earnings from acquisitive crime among police detainees in New Zealand

Few studies have examined the statistical association between methamphetamine/amphetamine use and acquisitive crime. Both methamphetamine/amphetamine and cannabis use have been implicated by New Zealand Police as factors in acquisitive offending among active criminal populations. The aim of our study was to examine the statistical association between spending on methamphetamine/amphetamine and cannabis and earnings from acquisitive crime among police detainees in New Zealand. Four police stations in different regions. A sample of 2125 police detainees were interviewed about their drug use and acquisitive crime. Statistical models were developed to predict involvement in acquisitive crime using spending on methamphetamine/amphetamine and cannabis for personal use, and to examine associations between the level of spending on methamphetamine/amphetamine and cannabis for personal use and level of dollar earnings from acquisitive crime. Self-reported spending on drug use and self-reported earnings from acquisitive crime in the past 30 days. Spending on cannabis and methamphetamine/amphetamine could predict involvement in acquisitive crime. Level of spending on methamphetamine/amphetamine and cannabis was associated positively with the level of earnings from property crime. Level of spending on methamphetamine/amphetamine was also associated positively with level of earnings from drug dealing. There was a largely negative association between level of spending on cannabis and level of earnings from drug dealing. High spending on methamphetamine/amphetamine is associated statistically with higher earnings from acquisitive crime among police detainees. Further research into this association, and in particular the causal nature of the association, is required to obtain clear policy recommendations.

Intelligence‐led and traditional policing approaches to open drug markets ‐ a comparison of offenders

The movement of policing from a traditional reactive approach to a more proactive ‘intelligence‐led’ approach has been a widespread but infrequently evaluated process. This study compares 200 offenders arrested for dealing Class A drugs in public spaces, half of whom have been arrested through ‘intelligence‐led’ police operations and half of whom have been arrested through traditional ‘reactive’ approaches. Analysis shows the offenders arrested through an intelligence‐led approach show a ‘local lifestyle’ profile. They are more likely to be older, be unemployed and live closer to their drug market, are less likely to diversify in relation to the illicit drugs sold, and show a high incidence of prior offending (especially in relation to acquisitive crime). The study argues that taking an intelligence‐led approach to open drug markets identifies prolific offenders who cause the most distress to the local community, as well as highlighting those most in need for treatment services.

Gratuitous violence and the rational offender model

Rational offender models assume that individuals choose whether to offend by weighing the rewards against the chances of apprehension and the penalty if caught. While evidence indicates that rational theory is applicable to acquisitive crimes, the explanatory power for gratuitous non-fatal violent offending has not been evaluated. Lottery-type questions elicited risk attitudes and time preferences from respondents in a street survey. Admitted violent behaviour was predictable on the basis of some of these responses. Consistent with the rational model, less risk averse and more impatient individuals were more liable to violence. Such people were also more likely to be victims of violence. In line with a ‘subjective’ version of the rational model, respondents with lower estimates of average violence conviction chances and of fines were more prone to be violent.

Crime is the Problem: Homicide, Acquisitive Crime, and Economic Conditions

A question that emerges from recent research on the relationship between economic conditions and street crimes committed for monetary gain concerns the effect of changing economic conditions on violent crime. I propose that the economy stimulates violent crime indirectly through its effect on acquisitive crime. This hypothesis is evaluated in fixed-effects panel models of change in acquisitive crime and homicide rates between 1970 and 2006. The analysis indicates that collective perceptions of economic conditions have a significant effect on an index of acquisitive crime and an indirect effect, through acquisitive crime, on homicide. Consistent with this result, the effect of collective economic perceptions is stronger for felony than argument-related homicides. A promising focus for future research is the role of underground markets in the production of both property and violent crime.

Serious further offences: An exploration of risk and typologies

This study examined 94 serious further offences (SFOs) committed by offenders managed by the London Probation Area over a 14-month period between 2004 and 2006. Data was collated on background and criminogenic variables for the sample, as well as retrospectively administering a range of validated actuarial measures of risk prediction. The predictive validity of key variables embedded within the probation OASys tool were also examined, specifically the utility of the DSPD variables and the OGRS and OGRS-2. The SFO offender characteristics — in keeping with previous studies — were wide ranging, as were the risk profiles of the offenders, the majority of whom fell into the medium risk range. The risk assessment and personality-based assessment tools routinely available to the probation service — that is, DSPD and OGRS scores — were found to be at least as accurate as other actuarially based methods of risk prediction. There were no clear identifying features of this sample of offenders which seemed to differentiate them from a much wider sample of the probation caseload, although the research was not designed to provide a comparison study. However, examination of the nature of the SFOs suggested there were some key situational contexts which were associated with serious harm to others (rather than simply likelihood of re-offending). These contexts included pervasive weapon use, unexpected victim responses during acquisitive crimes, and disputes occurring within an anti-social male subculture. Recommendations included a greater emphasis on harm reduction approaches to probation interventions in terms of risky lifestyles and weapon use.

The Effects of Substance Use on Offender Crime Scene Behavior

Substance use has an effect on an individual's propensity to commit acquisitive crime with recent studies showing substance users more likely to leave forensic material at a crime scene. An examination of acquisitive crime solved in Northamptonshire, U.K., during 2006 enabled 70 crime scene behavior characteristics to be analyzed for substance and nonsubstance use offenders. Logistical regression analyses have identified statistically significant crime scene behavior predictors that were found to be either present at or absent from the crime scene when the offender was a substance user. Most significant predictors present were indicative of a lack of preparation by the offender, irrational behavior, and a desire to steal high value, easily disposed of, property. Most significant predictors absent from the crime scene were indicative of more planning, preparation, and execution by the offender. Consideration is given to how this crime scene behavior might be used by police investigators to identify offenders.

Bag theft in bars: An analysis of relative risk, perceived risk and modus operandi

Crime is often found to concentrate in and around bars. Although numerous studies have looked at the relationship between bars and violent crime, research concerned with acquisitive crime in bars is lacking. This study focuses on bag theft in bars and presents analyses of 1023 recorded bag thefts in 2005–2006 from 26 bars of 1 chain in central London. We also report analysis of 317 customer surveys conducted in 14 bars of the same chain. In most crime prevention studies, a denominator is used to allow for a generalizable calculation of risk. Typically that denominator is selected by considering the crime in question and the commensurate population at risk: burglary using households, car theft using cars. For bag theft in bars various denominators exist: the number of seats, the number of customers or the number of bags per bar. This type of information is rarely available, and its impact on understanding crime risk is discussed here. Furthermore, bags might be at differential levels of risk of theft depending upon where they are placed. By comparison with a relevant denominator, here we show that bags are most at risk when placed over a chair or on the floor. Although surveys indicate that the public tend to know this, their bag placement behaviour appears to be at odds with their (accurate) perception of risky bag theft locations. We therefore propose that targeted publicity and greater bag stowage options that enable customers to store bags off the floor are likely to be effective crime prevention measures to reduce bag theft in bars.

Young people in coerced drug treatment: Does the UK Drug Intervention Programme provide a useful and effective service to young offenders?

Although clear relationships have been identified between dependent drug use and crime, the relationship is less evident in young offenders, particularly for less physically dependent users. This study investigated a sample of young drug-using offenders (aged 18–24; n = 36) accessing drug treatment through the criminal justice system in Birmingham, UK, using structured interviews for the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data. It identified high levels of heroin dependence, with frequency of use linked to both acquisitive crime and willingness to engage in treatment. The relationship between crack cocaine use and offending was less clear with more client ambivalence regarding desire to stop using the drug. Whilst most praised their treatment, and their workers, substitute prescribing was less positively endorsed. The study offers some support for diverting young dependent opiate users from criminal justice services into drug treatment, but presents a less positive prognosis for primary stimulant users.

Equasy — An overlooked addiction with implications for the current debate on drug harms

The regulation of illicit drugs in the UK is via the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act [MDAct]. That of legal drugs is via the Medicines Act if they have clinical utility or via trade regulations in the case of tobacco, alcohol, food supplements and vitamins. When a new drug comes along and concerns are expressed about potential harm, its status is reviewed in the UK by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs [ACMD] which has a statutory duty to advise the UK government on the harms and risks so that appropriate policy can be generated. Typically this leads to a decision to classify it or not under the MDAct. In recent years, following a systematic review by the ACMD, ketamine (Nutt and Williams, 2004) has been brought under the act into class C whilst khat (Williams and Nutt, 2005) was considered not to require regulation. Recently benzylpiperazine and related stimulant drugs have been reviewed and recommended for a class C status in agreement with the EMCDDA risk analysis (EMCDDA, 2007). Similarly cannabis classification was reviewed in 2002 (ACMD, 2002) and downgraded to class C, a decision subsequently endorsed by two further reviews (Rawlins, et al., 2005, 2008). Ecstasy is currently in class A, a position challenged by the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology (2006) which has lead to an ongoing review of its status. The UK MDAct classifies drugs into three classes, A, B, C on the basis of their harmfulness: Class A (the most harmful) includes cocaine, diamorphine (heroin), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and methamphetamine. Class B (an intermediate category) includes amphetamine, barbiturates, codeine and methylphenidate. Class C (less harmful) includes benzodiazepines, anabolic steroids, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) and cannabis. This system of classification serves to determine the penalties for the possession and supply of controlled substances. The current maximum penalties are as follows: Class A drugs: for possession – 7-year imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine; for supply – life imprisonment and/or fine; Class B drugs: for possession – 5-year imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine; for supply – 14-year imprisonment and/or fine; Class C drugs: For possession – 2-year imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine; For supply – 14-year imprisonment and/or fine. How best to assess the classification of a drug is an issue that is and has always been problematic. A potential method for exploring harms has been developed that assesses harms across nine domains; three relate to the personal harms of the drug [acute harms e.g., from overdose, chronic harms and harms due to intravenous use], three relate to its propensity to cause dependence [liking, physical dependence and psychological dependence] and three cover social harms [harms from intoxication, (including anti-social behaviour), harms from supply/dealing, associated acquisitive crime and health care costs]. Each can be scored on a 0–3 scale and a value for each drug derived from which a rank order of harm may be produced (Nutt, et al., 2007). In this study, we also assessed alcohol, tobacco and some other misused substances to provide anchor points that would allow non-experts and the general public to better understand the harms of drugs with which they might not have familiarity. This study produced a degree of public debate and considerable media coverage. This taken together with the subsequent coverage of the classification of cannabis (ACMD, 2008) and the ongoing review of ‘ecstasy’/ MDMA has shown that the arguments about relative drug harms are occurring in an arcane manner, at times taking a quasi-religious character reminiscent of medieval debates about angels and the heads of pins! The reasons for this are multiple and complex, but one major element is that the drug debate takes place without reference to other causes of harm in society, which tends to give drugs a different, more worrying, status. In this article, I share experience of another harmful addiction I have called equasy to illustrate an approach that might lead to a more rational and broad-based assessment of relative drug harms. The dangers of equasy were revealed to me as a result of a recent clinical referral of a woman in her early 30’s who had suffered permanent brain damage as a result of equasy-induced brain damage. She had undergone severe personality change that made her more irritable and impulsive, with anxiety and Editorial