Estimate of the Level and Determinants of Illicit Drug Use Among Unauthorized Latino Immigrant Arrestees in California

• NCJ Number: 189523
• Journal: Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: Spring 2001 Pages: 487-516
• Author(s): Enrico A. Marcelli Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2001
• Length: 30 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article describes a study that estimates the relative levels of illicit drug use (IU) among unauthorized Latino immigrant arrestees (ULIAs) in California.

Abstract

Although justifications for a more restrictive United States (U.S.) immigration policy have increasingly relied on linking socially unacceptable behaviors such as welfare participation and illicit drug use with illegal entry, very few immigration impact studies separate respondents by foreign-born legal status. Applying a legal status prediction equation to 1994 to 1996 California Drug Use Forecasting (CALDUF) data, this study investigated how individual-demographic and institutional-structural factors influence IU. Results showed that according to urine analysis, an estimated 109 ULIAs were less likely to have consumed any illicit drug and less likely to have been polydrug users compared to CALDUF arrestees of six other ethno-racial/immigrant legal status groups. These groups include legal Latino immigrant, other foreign-born, and U.S.-born Anglo, Asian, Black, and Latino. Although these results cannot be extrapolated to all unauthorized Latino immigrants residing in California or, even all unauthorized Latino immigrant criminals, the relatively lower illicit drug use among ULIAs is consistent with the estimated negligible labor market and welfare effects of unauthorized Latino immigrants. It is also consistent with the notion that the fear of deportation may dissuade illicit drug consumption by unauthorized immigrants once inside the U.S. border. While legally acquired earnings are found to have been negatively related to arrestee illicit drug consumption, an illicit substance was more likely to have been detected among those arrestees who relied on public assistance or unemployment insurance as their main source of income and the larger the proportion of one’s income illegally obtained. 5 figures, 3 tables, 18 notes, and 58 references.