Alcohol and cocaine use amongst
young people and its impact on
violent behaviour
An analysis of the 2006
Offending Crime and Justice Survey
CARLY LIGHTOWLERS
CRIME SURVEY USER GROUP
DECEMBER 2011
Carly Lightowlers
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Intro
 Concerns about young people’s drinking patterns
 Parallel concern about increasing recreational
cocaine use
 Cocaine second most popular drug used by those
aged 16-24 (after cannabis)
 99% of cocaine users also disclosed that they drank
alcohol (Hoare and Moon, 2010).
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Intro
 Higher rates of alcohol and drug use amongst offending
populations; and
 Higher rates of violence amongst those with drug/alcohol
problems (MacDonald et al., 2008; Chermack and Blow, 2002)
 Heavier users of alcohol and cocaine reporting higher violence
severity (Chermack and Blow, 2002; Denison et al., 1997)
 Combined cocaine and alcohol abusers more likely to have
higher rates of criminal behaviour than those only using
cocaine or those only using alcohol (Denison et al., 1997).
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Intro
 At times when participants were using cocaine they
engaged in more criminal when they were also using
alcohol (Denison et al., 1997).
 At times in their cocaine using careers when participants
were also drinking to excess they were more likely to be
engaged in serious violent offending (Denison et al., 1997).
 Chermack and Blow (2002) were the first to identify a
significant interaction effect of alcohol and cocaine
consumption on recent violent behaviour.
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Data and methods
 OCJS 2006
 Sub-sample (aged 16 to 25; N=3098)
 Logistic regression models

subsample of respondents aged 16 to 25 who are regular
drinkers

i.e. those who drink once a month or more and for whom valid
responses were obtained to the key variables, such as heavy
episodic drinking and cocaine consumption (N=2222)
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Measures
Heavy episodic drinking
Cocaine consumption
Ever had a drink
Whether ever taken cocaine
Frequency of drinking
Whether taken cocaine in the last 12 months
Frequency of heavy episodic drinking Whether taken cocaine in the last 4 weeks
(more than 6/8 units in one day)
Carly Lightowlers
Frequency of taking cocaine
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Findings - alcohol
 Most (94.1%) had drank in the past twelve months
 Over half engage in heavy episodic drinking 1-4 times a
month (56.4%)
 Heavy episodic drinking frequency and violent offending
were significantly associated
 Those engaging in heavy episodic drinking more than five
times a month were more likely to have committed an
assault offence
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Findings - cocaine
 One in eight disclosed having tried powder cocaine (12.5%;
339 cases)
 Of those that had consumed cocaine in the last year


over half (57.6%) classified their use as ‘not frequent’
almost a quarter (23.6%) described their use as frequent (using
cocaine once a month or more)
 Cocaine consumption and violent offending were
significantly associated, albeit weakly
 Nearly all of those who had consumed cocaine in the last
month, also engaged in heavy episodic drinking at least once
a month (96.2%)
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Findings – alcohol and cocaine
 Regular heavy episodic drinkers more likely to have
committed an assault offence
 Recent cocaine use had a significant large additive
effect on the likelihood of a violent outcome (OR= 3.007)
 A multiplicative effect for heavy episodic drinking
and cocaine was not significant
 -> additive risk for both heavy episodic drinking and
cocaine consumption on violent outcomes rather
than multiplicative risk from exerting both
behaviours
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Discussion
 Models highlight that heavy episodic drinkers and males
were significantly more likely to commit assault than
females, as were younger people in the age range 16-25
years.
 However, heavy episodic drinking frequency only became a
significant predictor for females if they did so at the higher
level.
 Recent cocaine use also had a predictive effect on the
likelihood of an individual having committed an assault
offence

the effect of cocaine use was slightly larger for males than for females
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Discussion
 Multiplicative effect for heavy episodic drinking and
cocaine use was not significant.
 No evidence of an effect of the combination of alcohol and
cocaine use on violent behaviour; each behaviour
individually seemingly impacts on the likelihood of violent
offending.
 Cocaine consumption is nonetheless more likely amongst
those that also engage in heavy episodic drinking and
research findings elsewhere have found that use of alcohol
seems to increase the likelihood of cocaine users engaging
in violent behaviour (Denison et al., 1997).
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Conclusions
 Findings suggests alcohol and cocaine consumption
patterns should be addressed as risk factors for violent
behaviour
 Interventions aimed at reducing drinking or cocaine
consumption are likely to have an impact in reducing
offending behaviour
 Caution should be issued in interpreting how combinations
of alcohol and drug use may be operating
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Conclusions
 Other studys to test effects of combined alcohol and cocaine
use are encouraged given association found here between
those using cocaine and regular heavy episodic drinking
 Interventions aimed at reducing alcohol and cocaine use as
well as violent offending in males and females may require
different approaches:



low level alcohol use could be a potential trigger for interventions in
males
whereas high level or escalating alcohol consumption patterns may
provide a useful trigger for interventions in females.
cocaine use ought to trigger interventions amongst both males and
females
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Thank you for listening
Carly Lightowlers
[email protected]
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