Aiming to encourage greater exploration and research into the socioeconomic factors and their linkages to regional crime, this paper addresses the lack of research which looks at licit and illicit drugs and these linkages, arguing that these gaps in knowledge are restricting evidence based policy development and the clear identification of linkages between drug usage and other social and criminal issues such as domestic violence. Reference is made to a paper, Drugs and Alcohol in Rural Australia, prepared by the National Rural Health Alliance, and to the Drug Use Monitoring Australia projects.