How are crime rates affected by crack addiction?
There is a direct relation between the spread of crack cocaine and the rise of crime rates. This is mainly because crack addiction causes users to go to any lengths to fund their habit. During the crack epidemic of the 1980′s (when crack cocaine was first introduced to America), the homicide rate for young black males more than doubled. There was also a sharp increase in other violent and non-violent crimes. In 2001, nearly 40 percent of arrests by the DEA were for cocaine and crack and over 20 percent of drug charges were related to crack.
