STUDY DISPUTES DRUG LINK TO VIOLENCE

Most Arrested For Violent Crimes Weren't Under The Influence, Researchers Say.

Despite the perceived link between violence and illegal drug use, the
highest percentage of people booked into the Sacramento County jail for
violent crimes were not under the influence, a new study has found.
However, alcohol use may be a factor in violent crimes, the study indicated.

Of more than 3,000 people arrested in 2000 and 2001, those with no
substance abuse were charged with the highest percentage of violent offenses.

"That flies in the face of what we expect to find," said Carole Barnes,
director of the Institute for Social Research at California State
University, Sacramento. "You don't need to be high to be violent."

The institute conducted the analysis in partnership with the federal
Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) project, which is part of the U.S.
Department of Justice.

Sacramento is one of 35 sites nationwide where federal officials are
researching substance abuse by people at the time of their arrest. The
study relies on urine drug tests and self-reported abuse of alcohol.

The highest percentage of domestic violence crimes were committed by people
who admitted to a heavy use of alcohol and who did not test positive for drugs.

"The results of this study call into question the link between illegal drug
use and violent criminal behavior," the analysis concluded. "And they raise
concerns about the legal consumption of alcohol and its contribution to
domestic violence."

Barnes said the analysis will need to be followed up.

For example, she said if illegal drug use is causing people to commit
violent crimes, then somehow those people aren't getting arrested. Or, that
connection may not exist, she said.

"If we assume we need to treat the drug use to stem the violence, we may be
missing other causes and perhaps the real causes of the violence," Barnes said.

Treatment experts who work with battered women and drug users were not
surprised by the findings.

"Substance abuse is not the cause of domestic violence," said Nicolette
Bautista, executive director of Women Escaping A Violent Environment or
WEAVE. "The cause of it is a controlling personality. It's about power and
control."

WEAVE's clients also report a higher use of alcohol than illegal drugs by
their abusers, but it's not a cause, she said. Alcohol can inflame a
situation, and substance abuse is often just used as an excuse for the
physical abuse of a partner, she said.

Trish Stanionis, executive director of a Sacramento drug-treatment center
called The Effort, said most of the substance abusers her program counsels
have not committed violent crimes.

Although methamphetamine can bring about bizarre behavior, Stanionis said,
most users have committed property crimes to support their drug habit.

About half of those who tested positive for only one illegal drug at their
arrest had used marijuana, and about 25 percent had used methamphetamine.

She said her clients are more likely to have prior arrests for burglary,
shoplifting, bank robbery, prostitution and being drunk in public.

That's why the voters passed Proposition 36, which has allowed nonviolent
drug offenders to get treatment instead of face incarceration since July
2001, she said.

The study's analysis also found that people who were arrested for violent
crimes were better educated than those arrested for drug crimes, she said.

Those arrested for drug offenses were the less educated, Barnes said,
speculating that drug abusers with money aren't getting caught and may not
get the help they need to stop using drugs.

Stanionis agreed: "It's not a low-income problem. ... It's just hidden more
(among the affluent). It's denied more."