The criminal histories of male non-medical opiate users in the United Kingdom.

Although there is general agreement that there is some association between non-medical opiate use and criminality the nature, extent and significance of the association remains controversial. The most plausible explanation for an association is that crime becomes an economic necessity for the opiate user where there is, as in most countries, a legislative prohibition on licit supplies of the drugs. In the United Kingdom, however, opiate users may be prescribed the drugs and may also qualify for social security benefits. The criminal histories of three series of United Kingdom male non-medical opiate users are described. A somewhat higher proportion of the series had criminal convictions before any admitted drug misuse when compared with that expected from a general population sample. When age and the number of convictions before identification as opiate users were taken into account, there was no consistent evidence that they were more likely than expected to be convicted of further offences during the two-year period following identification. When the proportion found to have been convicted during this period was greater than expectation, it was due to the proportion convicted exclusively of drug offences. The criminal histories showed a decrease in the number of convictions for theft and other offences and an increase in the number of convictions for, and the number of users convicted of, drug offences during the stages of the drug using history, most particularly during the two years following identification as opiate users. The majority of the drug offences during this period involved opiates when most of the users were, or had been, in receipt of prescriptions for these drugs. It was concluded that the pattern of criminality of male non-medical opiate users was related both to the type of national drug control legislation and to their individual criminal histories.