Substance or drug abuse is most of the time automatically tied up with a resulting criminal behavior. According to Katy rehab treatment center, if we look at most of the client cases the statistics between substance abuse and crime is very convincing. Most often it’s a simple theft case for those people who have addiction problems to supply their needs but there are also murder cases in which the person involved in the crime had some hallucinations and disoriented beliefs due to drug use.
Drugs are most of the times involved in crime sprees, and the most terrible acts happen when users are out of their mind. Whether it is because of a severely altered mind or just pure hallucination, those using drugs can cause terrible damage and can destroy the lives of their victims forever.
Here are five of the most gruesome drug-related crimes and criminals involved.
- Velma Barfield
Velma Barfield is not a stereotypical serial killer mold. She started taking sedatives, including Valium and Librium after her first husband lost his job due to alcohol abuse. Her husband died after the house burned, and her husband died of smoke inhalation. Velma remarried a wealthy widow and eventually died after they started having issues with Velma’s drug habit.
All of her victims were killed by arsenic that she added to their drink or food. After some crimes, Velma got arrested when a coroner requested for a full autopsy after a man that Velma had been dating died suddenly. She was imprisoned and later executed by lethal injection.
- Dale Nelson
This person killed eight people including five young children and partially ate one victim in 1970. It was September 4, 1970, when Dale Nelson was under the influence of alcohol and the use of LSD drugs, and drove into a relative’s house and murdered a child and a mother using a knife and fire extinguisher. He also partially ate the kid’s organs.
Then, he went to another residence and shot the people inside aside from a child whom he raped and killed after. He was eventually caught two days after which he also admitted all eight crimes and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He later died of throat cancer in 1999.
- Jim Jones
On November 18, 1978, Jim Jones was remembered because of the mass suicide of his nine hundred eighteen followers in Jonestown, Guyana. Jones is a known drug user and possibly addicted to Marijuana and LSD.
He instilled a fear of the CIA and brainwashed all his followers, and even practiced a mass murder with his supporters. By this time, Jones was using numerous drugs, including Quaalude, barbiturates, and stimulants, and commanded a mass suicide of his followers after a devastating visit that left Congressman Leo Ryan dead.
- Archibald McCafferty
Some people are purely evil and born violent, and Archibald McCafferty is surely one of those people. He is known as Australia’s worst criminal, and he was accountable for a series of heinous crimes while under the influence of multiple drugs, including PCP or angel dust.
His murders started when his son died just a few months after he was born, and after McCafferty was released from a psychiatric institution. He went on a killing spree and successfully killed four people before he was caught. McCafferty was given multiple life sentences. Eventually, he was cleansed and now residing in Scotland.
- Ricky Kasso
His name might be familiar to those who lived in New York in 1984. Ricky Kasso is also known as “The Acid King” because he took a variety of drugs including PCP and LSD. After taking either LSD or PCP, Kasso murdered Gary Lauwers, whom he stabbed multiple times and had his eyes gouged out.
The murder was reported to the police on July 1, 1984, however, the decomposing and mutilated body of the victim was found on July 4th. And just two days after Kasso was arrested, he committed suicide by hanging himself inside his cell.
Takeaway
Not everyone who is battling from addiction can be judged of a possibility of committing a crime but it’s better safe than sorry. It’s better to change and live a more fruitful life with the help of Katy rehab treatment center. The use of drugs can negatively impact all aspects of a person’s life, affect their friends, family, and society. Individuals who are using illegal drugs lead them to do criminal activities and mass murders.
About the contributor:
Court Nichols is the program director for detox and addiction rehab treatment facilities. He helps others focus on a lifestyle of sober living with a healthy diet and exercises and many other mental and physical health habits. Check more on Youtube.