Drug Abuse in the Inner City: Impact on Hard Drug Users and the Community

• NCJ Number: 126103
• Author(s): B D Johnson; T Williams; K Dei; H Sanabria
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 91 pages
• Grant Number(s): 5 T32 DA07233-05; 1 RO1 DA05126-01A; 1RO1 DA01926-07; 87 IJ-CX-0056; 80-IJ-CX-0049
• Corporate Author: National Development and Research Institute, Inc. (NDRI)
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: To be published in Michael Tonty and Jones Q. Wilson, (eds.), Drugs and the Criminal Justice System, University of Chicago Press, Crime and Justice Series Volume 12.

Annotation

The expansion of use of hard drugs is both a symptom and an important factor in the continued relative decline of inner-city communities.

Abstract

Drug selling and business has expanded dramatically in economic importance, the cocaine economy has become a major factor in the inner-city and is a major employer of otherwise unemployable youths. Drug use and selling has had substantial impact on the economy and subculture of the criminal underclass. The economic importance of the drug trade has increased the systematic use of violence by dealers; drug selling organizations can be found in most inner-city neighborhoods. Family formation, child rearing, and responsible parenting are very difficult if not impossible during daily use of hard drugs. Children of substance abusers are at high risk for similar outcomes as they grow up. 170 references