In Chapters 5 and 6 of Law, Justice and Society entitled, "Crime and Criminal Law," and "Criminal Procedures," we find out what actually constitutes a crime and how criminal procedures are handled. Both of these chapters are relevant in the case of drug abuse. According to Chapter 5, there are five elements of criminal liability that make up a crime and must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The first is the criminal act itself and in the case of drug abuse, this would be the actual use of illegal drugs. The second is criminal intent meaning that the abuser intended to use the drugs. The third is concurrence which is the combination of the criminal act and criminal intent. The fourth is causation which factual and legal and the fifth liability is harm which can be to the person or to someone else.
Chapter 6 of the textbook deals with how criminal procedures are conducted. Certain issues such as the search warrant are discussed. This is extremely important in dealing with drug abuse cases because there can be no arrest made if no drugs are found. Generally, a search warrant is needed in order to perform the act, but there are certain instances where this is not the case. If the individual consents to the search, then no warrant...
Also, a vehicle may be searched if probable cause is found.
Both of these chapters are relevant to the issue of drug abuse. But drugs have been around for a long time and in particular with the urban communities. It wasn't until it began to infiltrate the middle class neighborhoods that the
government began to see it as a problem. Although the readings on the Ford Administration do not address this, many in urban communities know that this is the case. As long as drug pushers and drug abuse remained in the poor communities, nothing was done about it. But, the government must realize that the people in the poor communities selling the drugs to poison their own people are not the ones bringing the drugs into the country. They do not own the planes and boats used to carry the drugs from one country to another.
The issue that the Ford Administration should have attacked aggressively was how the drugs were being brought into this country in the first
place. Setting up drug treatment centers and imposing harsh penalties on abusers is equivalent to putting a bandage on the wound to cover it up without actually cleaning and treating it first. Drug abusers should be dealt with, but those bringing the drugs into the country are the ones that should be dealt with first and foremost. By doing so, the drug issue in American would be reduced tremendously.
Bibliography
Hemmens, C., & Walsh, A. (2010). Crime and Criminal Law and
Criminal Procedure. Law, Justice, and Society: A Sociolegal Introduction (2 ed., pp. 107-155). New York: Oxford University Press, USA.
Musto, D.F. (2002). The Ford Administration: The White Papers on Drugs. The Quest for Drug Control: Politics and Federal Policy in a Period of Increasing Substance Abuse, 1963-1981 (pp. 140-184). unknown: Unknown.
