Drug abuse. Tendencies and ways to overcome it

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On the one hand, this fact gives reason to assume that the actions listed above were taken to obtain narcotics for personal use. On the other, a conclusion can be drawn that the main efforts against the spread of illegal drug trafficking "have actually shifted towards intensifying repressive measures against drug users.

However, illegal activity with drugs and their deliberate sale is much more intensive. But for various reasons, both objective and subjective, these fall under a different legal assessment. A major factor is that it is difficult to prove that there was an intent to sell. This is compounded by subjective views of "intent to sell" in special situations and the absence of a clear-cut stand by the lawmakers. 93% of the polled narcotic officers believe that proving "intent to sell" is difficult especially since this question is of decisive importance in final judicial rulings.

Besides, 63% of the respondents charged with illegal drug operations without the aim of selling drugs, admitted that they not only had such intent but also had been engaged in these operations on a regular basis all the way up until they were arrested.

It is interesting to note that in police seizures, drugs obtained from natural plants have prevailed so far. (Nearly 9/10ths). Today the amount of seized raw materials for making drugs is estimated in tens of tons and has grown more than 5 times in the last few years. This is well above even the over-estimated needs and norms of known addicts.

Specialized studies on the subject underline how difficult it is to investigate and uncover the above-mentioned crimes because of "the ingenuity of methods used to carry them out, attempts to conceal them and also because criminal behavior is multifaceted.

One should also take into account the absence of well-conceived methods, and the shortage of professionally trained personnel to uncover and investigate such crimes, especially, in the present-day conditions when there are political collisions caused by the Soviet Union's disintegration, when there are "transparent" and ill-defined borders between the former sovereign Soviet republics, when the internal affairs agencies are not well equipped technically, and when the customs and border control services are vulnerable.

The Structure of Crime and Latency:

Among the registered crimes there are none related to violations within the system of medical care of the rules of drug-making, drug acquisition, storage, keeping stock of, dispensing, transporting or sending by mail, at pharmaceutical factories or medical and bio industrial enterprises, etc. The absence of information about drug-related crimes, however, does not mean at all that there are no crimes present.

A study of the problem has shown that there is no reason to believe narcotics are safely kept out of reach of addicts. This has been confirmed by more than one-third of the polled officers of internal affairs agencies. Every second drug taker who was forced to undergo treatment, did not deny that he had received drugs from medical personnel. Similar cases of drug acquisition were noted by over 10% of persons charged with drug-related crimes, whereas 17% of people from the same group of drug abusers confessed that they used to steal drugs from hospitals, small medical centers and pharmacies. The share of other crimes in the structure of drug-related crimes total is insignificant, though they play a rather negative role in the spread of narcotics. For example, during one year, the crime of solicitation to use drugs was recorded only once or twice and 3 or 8 times the crimes involving the organization or running dens for addicts or providing premises for that purpose.

All the same just over 98% of the polled people charged with drug abuse and intent to sell drugs said they had persuaded 3 to 7 persons to start using drugs. In more than 70% of such cases, a special effort was made to invite potential "victims" to homes belonging to different persons. These people received remuneration for granting premises especially arranged for this purpose and where conditions were conducive for the use of narcotics. Practically one out of every 4 persons charged with drug abuse but without attempting to push drugs, admitted in talking to officials, that he had persuaded at least 3 or 4 persons to use drugs treating them to narcotics that he had bought or made for his own use.

Реферат опубликован: 14/12/2009