AHS Views

According to Police Chief Alan Watson of Talladega, Alabama, about 90% of the crimes in the area are drug-related. From thefts and burglaries to domestic violence or homicides, Chief Watson can pretty much count on some connection to drugs. He says it’s a nationwide problem - and the number of people in jail for drug related crimes can attest to that - and that we need more prisons and more addiction help.

In fact, if we had adequate addiction help services available, we could do away with some of the prisons - every crime has a motive, and drugs provide some of the strongest motivation around. One that motive is removed, a crime-free life usually follows.

How does drug addiction cause crime? First of all, someone on drugs really isn’t themselves. Otherwise wonderful people can get very nasty and irrational, and sometimes violent, when they’re drinking - and the same is true of drugs. However, drugs add some other elements that are often not present with alcohol: Alcohol is cheap, there aren’t too many people trying to figure out how to get $600 a day to support an alcohol problem. Also, unless you’re a died in the wool alcoholic craving another drink with every fiber of your being, you also don’t feel like you’re going to snap unless you get more. Drug addicts get desperate, very desperate and, as is well known, many drug addicts will do anything they have to to get their next hit.

That is not to say that alcohol isn’t dangerous - it is. And there’s a lot of alcohol-related crime as well.

Whatever the addiction, drugs or alcohol, and no matter how serious the crime, if the guy’s going back out onto the street, you’d better make sure he’s also gotten the addiction help services he needs.  Otherwise, there’s a good chance he’ll be right back into drugs and right back into a life of crime to support his habit. And, yes, then we’ll need more prisons.