what percentage of crimes in USA is drug related?

Answer 1

From what I have seen it has to be close to 50%. Theft crimes would be way down if there was no drug abuse. So would crimes of violence, I speak mainly about Meth in that area. If you add alcohol to that mix, it would jump to about 75%.

Answer 2

This is a very difficult question, and the term "drug-related" needs to be defined carefully. It is common to point to statistics about how many suspects test positive for one or another drug, and then claim that these are all "drug-related" crimes. Even though the drugs in question (which include alcohol, which usually accounts for the largest number of positives) may have played no role, or even, in the case of marijuana, not have been used for several weeks before the crime.

As to crimes such as theft to raise money to purchase drugs, one should remember that drug prohibition raises the price of drugs and thus increases the amount of theft committed by addicts to feed their habits.

Answer 3

Data collected from male arrestees in 1998 in 35 cities showed that the percentage testing positive for any drug ranged from 42.5 percent in Anchorage, Alaska, to 78.7 percent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Female arrestees testing positive ranged from 33.3 percent in Laredo, Texas, to 82.1 percent in New York, New York. Male arrestees charged with drug possession or sales were among the most likely to test positive for drug use, while female arrestees charged with prostitution, drug possession, or sales were among the most likely to elicit a positive test result. Males and females arrested for stolen vehicles, robbery, and burglary also had high positive rates. Test results further showed that opiate use demonstrated a positive correlation to polydrug use: of the individuals who tested positive for opiates, three-fourths also tested positive for another drug.

In other words a high percentage of crime is considered drug related, at least by those groups that such a finding would further their stance.

Answer 4

From what I have read previously,we have more people in prison in the good ol' USA than in ANY other country, half of the people in prison are in there for victimless drug offenses and half of them are marijuana charges. The war on drugs is a joke and not working.

Answer 5

depends on how you look at it if you are going to add every ticket that gets handed out over a dime bag its gonna be very high.

its something you will probably have to crunch the numbers on

Answer 6

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/drugs.htm

There's a lot there that explains things in categories. It's not one of those things that they will give you a straight out percentage for.

Answer 7

Since my knowledge is limited to India cannot answer.

Answer 8

A LOT.