Data from studies in animals represent the primary means to investigate experimentally the proximal and distal causes of aggressive behavior, whereas studies in humans most often attempt to infer causative relationships mainly by correlating the incidence of violent and aggressive behavior with past alcohol intake or abuse of other drugs.
Systematic evidence for alcohol and other drugs of abuse acting on aggression-specific brain mechanisms stems mainly from studies in animals, although a few neuroendocrine and other neurochemical and neurophysiologic measures have been obtained in humans. The recent outbreaks of ''crack" cocaine and "ice" methamphetamine epidemics in the United States provide dramatic examples of serious and complex public health problems that need to be dissected in a careful and comprehensive manner. The persistently overwhelming alcohol-violence link as well as Generalizations about the linkage of alcohol, drugs of abuse, and violence are complicated by the many direct and indirect levels of interaction (e.g., Goldstein 1985) these range from (1) drugs activating aggression-specific brain mechanisms, through (2) drugs acting as licensure for violent and aggressive behavior, as well as (3) drugs as commodities in an illegal distribution system that relies upon violent enforcement tactics, to (4) violent behavior representing one of the means by which a drug habit is maintained. Alcohol, narcotics, hallucinogens, and psychomotor stimulants differ substantially from each other and in the way that they are related to different kinds of violent and aggressive behavior. Narcotic drug dealers, but not alcohol vendors, practice their trade in a violent manner. Individuals with costly heroin or cocaine habits may commit violent crimes in order to secure the resources for further drug purchases. The alcohol-drug abuse-violence nexus presents itself in several distinctly different facets: alcohol and other drugs of abuse may act on brain mechanisms that cause a high-risk individual to engage in aggressive and violent behavior. DeBold, Margaret Haney, Jennifer Tidey, Jeffrey Vivian, Elise M.
Alcohol, Drugs of Abuse, Aggression, and Violence