The use and abuse of illegal drugs is connected to a significant amount of crime around the world. Drug crime is not just a problem of violations of drug control laws and regulations, but is also a significant contributing factor to a large amount of violent and property crime as well as social disorder. While drug laws have been continually evolving, the correlation of drugs and crime is not recent, and attempts to address drug crime have long been a focus of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. What has become clear to many who work to enforce drug laws is that drug crime is not something we can expect to eliminate through arrest and regulation alone.

The extent of drug use while people commit ...