Frequency of Cocaine Use and Violence: A Comparison Between Men and Women (From Epidemiology of Cocaine Use and Abuse, 1991, P 113-138, Susan Schober and Charles Schade, eds. -- See NCJ-135854)

• NCJ Number: 135857
• Author(s): P J Goldstein; P A Bellucci; B J Spunt; T Miller
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 26 pages
• Grant Number(s): DA-03182; DA-04017
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Sale Source: Superintendent of Documents, GPO; National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A sample of drug users and distributors from New York City was used to examine the role played by cocaine in the violent events reported by the subjects; male and female data are compared. This article analyzes the data in the context of three models of the cocaine-violence relationship: psychopharmacological, economic-compulsive, and systemic.

Abstract

The findings corroborate a strong relationship between drug use and distribution and violence in general. While regular cocaine users reported volumes of violence similar to those reported by nonusers and moderate cocaine users, they attributed their violence to cocaine consumption more often. Regular cocaine use among males was more strongly associated with the perpetration of violence; regular use among females with violent victimization. Regular cocaine use was also associated with prostitution which often provided a social context in which violence was likely to occur. While alcohol was the substance most often associated with violence, cocaine-related violence was second, and heroin-related violence third. Alcohol was almost always associated with psychopharmacological violence, while cocaine and heroin were related to both systemic and psychopharmacological violence; economic-compulsive violence was relatively unusual. 11 tables and 10 references