Law enforcement agencies are faced with the problem of how to reduce crime in the most economical method possible without violating the law. Since drug offenders also engage in a disproportionate amount of non-drug crime, then drug enforcement is considered as an acceptable general crime control method. Unfortuantely, this is an expensive option because incarcerating offenders is both costly and ony a short-term solution to the problem. A review of existing research examining the prior criminal histories of drug offenders compared to their previous involvement in violent and property crime is conducted to evaluate this relationship
