If a society wants to combat crime and drug abuse, police forces will never solve the problem. It can help to an extent, but arrests are a reactionary action that come after the fact. To create a safe society, one needs to address the root cause, not crack down on the ailments. But what is the root cause of the majority of crime (such as low-level theft, assault, etc) and drug abuse problems?
Poverty.
Poverty causes hunger, which leads to theft. Poverty causes loneliness, anger or hopelessness, which leads to both crime and drug use. Poverty causes desperation and desperation leads to so many other problems that hurt society at large. Poverty causes so many of modern society's problems, all because it leaves people with many basic needs and desires that are unfulfilled.
It's not random chance that the highest crime or drug use areas are almost always also the lowest income areas. The two statistics are intrinsically linked. But this often gets overlooked because our society has decided that money is a measure of success and those who don't have it are unsuccessful and need to work harder to get better. Our society functions on this principle despite the fact that many studies have shown it to be wrong on almost every level.
If everyone had access to food, housing, and health care, then people would be more content and less stressed. That makes them less likely to lash out or seek out harmful behavior. If people are stressed from working 40, 60, 80+ hours a week just to almost survive (not to speak anything of thriving), then they are more likely to do drugs to cope or commit crimes to get ahead. But if you remove those stressors by giving people a living wage and constant access to food, housing and healthcare, then people are less likely to do commit crimes or turn to drugs.