Throughout my time as a criminal justice student, I have been interested about the relationship between drugs and crime. I have also been amazed by the statistics having to do with the amount of prisoners returning to a correctional facility after their time served. The link between drug use and crime is not a new one. For more than twenty years, both the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Justice have funded many studies to try to better understand the connection. One such study was done in Baltimore on heroin users. This study found high rates of criminality among users during periods of active drug use, and much lower rates during periods of nonuse (Ball 119-142). A large number of people who abuse drugs come into contact with the criminal justice system when they are sent to jail or to other correctional facilities. The criminal justice system is flooded with substance abusers. The need for expanding drug abuse treatment for this group of people was recognized in the Crime Act of 1994, which for the first time provided substantial resources for federal and state jurisdictions. In this paper, I will argue that using therapeutic communities in prisons will reduce the return rates among people who have been released from prison. I like to look at the general theory of crime, which is based on self-control, to help rationalize using federal tax dollars to fund these therapeutic communities in prisons. I feel that if prisoners are taught some self-control and alternative lifestyles that we can keep them from reentering the prisons once they get out. I am also going to describe some of today's programs that have proven to be very effective. According to the theory of crime, the criminal act and the criminal offender are separate concepts. The criminal act is perceived as opportunity; illegal activities that people engage in when they think they want to be advantageous. Crimes are committed wh...