Drug abuse. Tendencies and ways to overcome it

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The Committee of Experts of the World Health Organization determines the social danger and negative consequences of drug abuse according to the basic factors and divides them into two main groups: the breach of relations among drug consumers and the spread of unfavorable consequences among many people.

Specific Social Problems of Drug Abuse:

WHO experts describe the specific social problems caused by drug abuse as follows: the huge material losses and their consequences in the form of all kinds of damage done to those who immediately surround drug consumers (parents, college roommates and so on) and to the society as a whole; the deterioration of relations with official organizations and institutions, staff at college and at work etc.; drug consumers' inclination to commit crimes motivated by the need to have drugs or the means to buy them, and also the mercenary and violent crimes committed under the influence of drugs; the additional demand for welfare benefits and medical care for persons using drugs other than for medicinal purposes and in connection with this the unnoticed spending both by drug addicts and by society as a whole; the danger arising from drug addicts as potential conduct of drug addiction in their immediate surroundings.

Detailed research however allows for a broader list of specific social aspects. They include: ideological and cultural, law enforcement, medical care and preventative medicine, labor and education, family and leisure time, and material resources. The specific ill effects of narcotics and their unfavorable social consequences can be seen in any of the categories listed above. For example, in the ideological and cultural area they express themselves in the development of a specific drug ideology; in the law enforcement area there is an increase of crime. In Medicare and preventive medicine, there is deterioration in people's health and an increase in the number of handicapped children. In industry and education - a decline in labor efficiency and poor results at schools and other educational centers is evident. One can also point to accidents and to deterioration of relations among staff. In the family relations, a loss of understanding occurs. All this requires setting up special schools, preventive centers, drug departments at medical institutions, rehabilitation centers and new antidrug programs.

To sum up the above-cited social aspects of drug abuse one may state, that it is harmful in physical, moral and proprietary ways. This harm is caused by the proliferation of the narcotic sub-culture as it draws more victims into it; secondly, by drug-related crimes; thirdly, by crimes committed for the purpose of getting means for buying more drugs; fourthly, by crimes committed under the influence of drugs; and, finally, by the spending needed to carry out various programs aimed at eliminating drug abuse.

Legal Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The legal aspect of drug abuse is also a part of the social aspect. Crimes and other law-breaking acts covered by the totality of legal norms involve the illegal cultivation of drug-bearing plants, the preparation, storage, transportation, trafficking, sales, and theft of drugs, the use of drugs without doctor's prescription, and the violation of laws regulating the handling of narcotics. This also covers the situation when suitable conditions are created for taking drugs and those in which more people are persuaded to use drugs or when people have to commit crimes in order to obtain means to buy drugs. Crimes committed under the influence of drugs, as well as crimes that are committed for the purpose of getting money to purchase drugs are included as well.

These crimes should be viewed as part of the notion of drug abuse since they are caused by the desires of drug users to boost drug-inspired activities or their level of intoxication. The legal aspect of drug abuse also includes those relationships regulated by law and arising from the non-medical use of drugs.

Criminological Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The criminological aspect of drug abuse includes a part of this phenomenon that poses an extreme danger to the public, i.e. is linked to the above-cited crimes, their state, level, structure, dynamics, cause-and-effect, criminal's personality, and prevention measures, among others.

Реферат опубликован: 14/12/2009