Impacts of welfare participation, school dropouts, and police force on illegal drug arrests

Examines the determinants of illegal drug arrests based on the 1991 data for 48 states in the USA. Major findings indicate that illegal drug arrests have a positive relation with welfare (AFDC) recipients, high school dropout rates, field police force and other types of crime, and a negative relation with the unemployment rate. Policy implications of this study are that to reduce illegal drug crime, the government and parents need to emphasize family values and work ethics, provide quality education and proper counselling, increase field police size or make police more productive, and reduce other types of crime.