https://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/psycho.txt"Psychoactive Substances and Violence.
by Jeffrey A. Roth
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Issues and Findings
Discussed in the Research in Brief: The current
status of research on the links connecting
violence to alcohol and illegal psychoactive
drugs, and evaluations of interventions to prevent
violence related to these substances.
Key issues: Correlations between violence and
psychoactive substances; the social, economic,
cultural, psycho-social, neurobehavioral, and
other factors that explain the correlations; and
prevention strategies for reducing the violence
associated with these substances.
Key findings:
o Research has uncovered strong correlations
between violence and psycho-active substances,
including alcohol and illegal drugs, but the
underlying relationships differ by type of drug.
o The links between violence and psychoactive
substances involve broad social and economic
forces, the settings in which people obtain and
consume the substances, and biological processes
that underlie all human behavior. These factors
interact in chains of events that may extend back
from an intermediate triggering event such as an
argument to long-term predisposing processes that
begin in childhood.
o Of all psychoactive substances, alcohol is the
only one whose consumption has been shown to
commonly increase aggression. After large doses
of amphetamines, cocaine, LSD, and PCP, certain
individuals may experience violent outbursts,
probably because of preexisting psychosis.
Research is needed on the pharmacological effects
of crack, which enters the brain more directly
than cocaine used in other forms.
o Alcohol drinking and violence are linked through
pharmacological effects on behavior, through
expectations that heavy drinking and violence go
together in certain settings, and through patterns
of binge drinking and fighting that sometimes
develop in adolescence.
o The most promising strategies for reducing
alcohol-related violence are to reduce underage
drinking through substance abuse preventive
education, taxes, law enforcement, and peer
pressure.
o Illegal drugs and violence are linked primarily
through drug marketing: disputes among rival
distributors, arguments and robberies involving
buyers and sellers, property crimes committed to
raise drug money and, more speculatively, social
and economic interactions between the illegal
markets and the surrounding communities.
o The most promising strategy for reducing
violence related to illegal drugs appears to be
reducing the demand that fuels violent illegal
markets. Promising tactics include preventive
education, pretrial monitoring of arrestees
through urinalysis and, for convicted violent
offenders, in-prison therapeutic communities
integrated with postrelease treatment followup.
o In the future, medications may reduce violence
by reducing cocaine craving and by blocking the
aggression-promoting effects of opiate withdrawal
and alcohol consumption.
Target audience: State and local policymakers,
court administrators, law enforcement and juvenile
justice practitioners, and drug treatment program
staff."
