title: The War on Drugs: Methamphetamine, Public Health, and Crime.
abstract: In mid-1995, a government effort to reduce the supply of methamphetamine precursors successfully disrupted the methamphetamine market and interrupted a trajectory of increasing usage. The price of methamphetamine tripled and purity declined from 90 percent to 20 percent. Simultaneously, amphetaminerelated hospital and treatment admissions dropped 50 percent and 35 percent, respectively. Methamphetamine use among arrestees declined 55 percent. Although felony methamphetamine arrests fell 50 percent, there is no evidence of substantial reductions in property or violent crime. The impact was largely temporary. The price returned to its original level within four months; purity, hospital admissions, treatment admissions, and arrests approached preintervention levels within eighteen months. (JEL I12, K42).
authors.affiliation: Dobkin: Department of Economics, University of California, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064 ( cdobkin@ucsc.edu ); Nicosia: RAND, 1776 Main St., M5W, PO Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138 ( nicosia@rand.org ).
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dobkin
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nicosia
mesh_terms: D019969:Amphetamine-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003415:Crime / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016527:Drug Costs; D004335:Drug and Narcotic Control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006078:Government Programs; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000600:supply & distribution* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011634:Public Health; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D008694:Methamphetamine