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Trends in drug use and criminal charges of 44,223 consecutive admissions to the District of Columbia Superior Court lock-up between December 1971 and April 1975 were analyzed. While the number of persons arrested and admitted to the lock-up remained relatively constant during this time, drug use as measured by positive urinalysis declined substantially in 1973 and remained at a lower level through 1975. Heroin use showed a decline similar to the overall trends in 1973, but began to increase in mid-1974. Arrestees who were drug positive were generally less likely to be charged with major crimes of violence than those who were drug negative. Exceptions to this pattern as well as trends in drug use and crime in the arrested population are discussed.

ForewordDrug abuse is the product of an extraordinarily complex interaction between man (the host), his community (the environment), and a variety of psychoactive chemicals (the agents). Epidemiology, the discipline devoted to studying the rates and patterns of disease in the community, is well suited to the analysis of this type of problem. Although many people equate epidemiology with the study of acute communicable disease, in fact the latter is but one specific application of epidemiologic techniques. These techniques-which run the gamut from straightforward demographic characterizations of populations affected by particular problems to complex, prospective cohort studies designed to elucidate the rates and etiologies of particular problems-are applicable to phenomena as diverse as cancer, occupational disease, nutrition, and family planning. Drug abuse is yet another problem to which this methodology can be applied. Although the application of epidemiology to the study of drug abuse is a recent development, epidemiology has a long and distinguished tradition of grappling with serious health problems and producing a clearer understanding of their nature.Because of the social impact of drug abusing behavior and the fear and misunderstanding drug abuse engenders in the public, objective analysis of drug abuse has been hampered by man's preconceived notions, such as "once a heroin addict, always a heroin addict," "drug abuse causes crime," "college campuses are the main focus of drug abuse activity," "heroin users are violent, uncontrollable dope fiends," "the pusher is responsible for enticing innocent victims into using drugs," and "using marijuana