In jails, not one of the violent criminals was under the influence of heroin at the time their crime was committed. Twenty-one percent of state inmates incarcerated for violent crime were under the influence of alcohol alone at the time they committed their crime. The number of those under the influence of marijuana alone was too small to be recorded statistically. (National 1998) These facts indicate that it is not the drug users that are committing the crimes, but the people who deal with drugs. If there was no money to be gained from dealing with drugs, these criminals would have to find legitimate jobs and the police would only have to worry about traffic.
The efforts to target youth with drug education in the War on Drugs has fallen far short of its original goals. The ONDCP is budgeting less than 12% of the $100 million it was planning to allocate between 1998 and 2003 for reducing youth drug use. (McCaffrey 1998)
In some cities, such as Syracuse, New York, the proportion of resources dedicated to drug enforcement has been criticized by the city's auditor, who noted in his report to the mayor that drug-related arrests "exceeded arrests for assaults, disturbances, and larcenies combined," and that arrests for marijuana comprised nearly one-third of all drug arrests. In Chicago, similar concerns have been raised by a city police sergeant., Sergeant Thomas Donegan, who noted that the vast majority (over 90%) of marijuana arrests in Chicago were dismissed or dropped, leading him to question why law enforcement agents were dedicating significant resources to pursue marijuana when approximately nine of ten cases will not result in a conviction. Donegan recommended the use of fines rather than arrest for marijuana use, a proposal endorsed by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.
If I Were Chief of Police
The writer believes that the majority of the police efforts in drug enforcement should be focused on education. D.A.R.E., created by former Los Angeles Police Chief, Daryl Gates, is a program employing uniformed police officers to teach drug education to public school children. But even the federal government has found that this program has had very little effect on youth and young adult drug use and that D.A.R.E. students were no less likely to use drugs than students who were not involved with the program. Some have suggested that police departments are not using the best teachers for this kind of education. (Ennett et al. 1994) A uniformed police officer may not be best used as a teacher, when students feel that they are being confronted with the drug issue, rather than being educated. There are other, more effective programs that D.A.R.E. may learn from, as we shall see below. Not only that, but, since studies indicate that, while 50% of all students try an illegal drug before leaving high school, 85% of them try alcohol (Johnston 1996). Perhaps drugs, alcohol and gangs could all be treated in a single education program for the high school student.
One effective educational program that has been used to keep youth from using drugs has been the Big Brother/Big Sister Program. Researchers found that Little Brothers and Little Sisters were 46% less likely to start using illegal...
All too often, the human stories of how and why certain people get involved in such rings are avoided. Tobon looked past this, and has become a valuable person to the Colombian community. The police even call him now, when they find the body of a mule. One way in which to deprive criminals of their unsuspecting dupes is by eliminating backbreaking poverty, by giving individuals a chance to
Drug Trafficking In The United States drug trafficking in the united states "Drag trafficking is an activity that involves the importation, manufacturing, cultivation, distribution, and/or sale of illicit drags. In this hierarchical system, narcotics are moved from smugglers, growers, or manufacturers to wholesalers who pass the product down through the chain of distribution to retailers and eventually to the consumer or drug user" (Desroches, 2007, ¶ 1). Despite the problems inherent in drug abuse promoted by
Economists are concerned with the impact that the sale of drugs has on both individual and economic freedoms and frame their argument from this perspective. Others argue that reliance on the criminal justice system has not produced significant results and that it is time to reframe the argument to focus on the education, prevention, and treatment of drugs. From the economic perspective, there are apparent differences between government prohibition and
(Fletcher; Inciardi; Tims, 1993) This may be the reason that there is today a new concept in the treatment of drug abuse, and this is the creation of 'Mobile Health Services'. In Maryland, for example, this mobile clinic has successfully treated about 30,000 to 40,000 drug abusers, about 25,000 abusers of cocaine, and more than 70,000 users of alcohol. If this idea of serving the community by the deployment of
Drug Addiction: A Social Problem DRUG ADDICTION The drug addiction has radically increased throughout the world over the past few years. This research study aims at analyzing the problem of drug addiction, its individual and social implications and the experts' opinion about this life-threatening practice. The paper has also discussed the current prevention measures launched at the private and public forefront along with examining their effectiveness in the practical arena. The alternatives
Drug trafficking provides people with money and power. A lot of crimes are connected to drug trafficking. That is because the activity is often run by criminal organizations that make large profits from the selling of drugs and people. When criminals traffic drugs that frequently traffic humans as well. These people are often trafficked for sex, slave labor, and organs. When drug trafficking mixes with these kinds of crimes, national
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