in it 1) cutting down drug imports, 2) raising the efficiency of law
enforcement, 3) exercising effective deterrence measures and strict control
inside the country, 4) organizing preventive efforts, and improving the
treatment and 5) the rehabilitation of drug addicts.
The government strategy is based on the assumption that all the
problems of narcotics are inter-related. Therefore, parallel measures
against the supply and demand of drugs are necessary. It is intended to
scale down illegal imports of drugs by supporting international efforts
against their manufacture and trade, reinforcing the customs and police
force, toughening control over the legitimate production, and consumption
of drugs for medical purposes, deterring drug dealers by heavy fines and
depriving them of their illegal profits.
The struggle to curtail demand must follow two general lines - keeping
the new addicts from abuse and rendering aid to those whom have developed
addiction.
To ensure proper interaction of all the elements of this strategy, the
British government has set up a working inter-departmental group from among
the ministers and high-ranking executives. The parliamentary deputy home
secretary heads the group. Also participating in its work are officials of
the home office, the ministries of health, social welfare, and finance, the
customs service, the department of overseas territories, the environmental
department, and so on.
The new government-run intelligence service for drugs has replaced the
older drugs central intelligence. Police and customs officers staff the
government-run intelligence. Its duty is to gather, analyze and distribute
information obtained either abroad or at home.
The regional anti-drug departments have special support units. The
customs service has been reinforced by top-class specialists and top-notch
smuggling clampdown equipment. In compliance with the 1986 law on illegal
drug trade, the police and the courts have received broader authority as to
the identification, freezing and confiscation of drug dealers' profits. In
1988 the UK and the USA signed a bilateral agreement on the confiscation of
the discredited bank assets.
The police and the customs service have formed a special financial
division to accumulate on a national scale, survey and pass down for
further investigation the data on financial issues, i.e. reports from the
banks and other financial institutions on monetary deposits of questionable
origin.
The government has outlined the procedure for police operations against
the three categories of drug dealers, big, medium and small.
Great Britain upholds the international community's efforts by
contributing annually Pound Sterling 150,000 to the UN Fund for Drug Abuse
Control. As mentioned before, the UK also runs a program of assistance to
overseas projects.
Regarding the drug abuse situation, a review of the government measures
underlines that the government-sponsored policy works toward a closer
international cooperation, enhances the efforts of the law-enforcement
agencies, helps the younger generation realize the impact of drug addiction
and boosts the effort against this evil.
Mexico:
The drug control programs in Mexico differ from those in other
countries as Mexico is a hotbed of manufacture and export of opium, heroin
and marijuana and a major cocaine trafficking transit point to the United
States. Some Mexican states have traditional plantations of opium poppy,
marijuana and Indian hemp. Economic hardships often force the farmers into
dealing with drug dealers and prompt the growing of illegal crops, which
produce profits higher than the earnings from lawful businesses. The anti-
drug programs, therefore, focus on mass destruction of narcotic crops from
the air or manually and the involvement of army units in such operations,
harsh penal sanctions, intensive investigation of drug cartels and
trafficking channels, and dissemination of information among the public.
Growing cooperation with the USA on the basis of bilateral agreements
and a treaty of juridical assistance is an important element of the anti-
narcotic policy. It facilitates the identification of drug-related money
laundering in the financial and commercial institutions both in Mexico and
the US. The Advance Guard program presupposes operations to detect and
destroy the plantations of drug-bearing crops. Starting from 1986, units of
the Mexican Army and of the US Coastal Guard have been conducting
operations to detain suppliers of drugs in the Mexican territorial waters,
to confiscate their cars and arms, and to control flights in the border
area as part of the American Mexican operation Alliance.
Spain:
The national program against drug abuse in Spain deserves notice as the
Spanish laws permit soft narcotic substances. Despite the expectations and
arguments of the proponents of drug legalization, drug abuse in Spain does
not subside. Neither does the crime rate. The number of violent assaults to
obtain money for drugs is on the rise. The law-enforcement agencies' task
has been set as eradicating drug abuse, opening specialized medical centers
for the addicts who volunteer to undergo treatment, and combating drug
addiction and prostitution as the factors increasing the risk of AIDS
infection.
The main goals of the Spanish program against drug abuse are to halt
the proliferation of the most heinous drugs like heroin and cocaine,
organize prophylactic measures among the young people of 16-to-18,
promulgate popular knowledge about medicine and treatment of drug addicts
by way of educational lectures, and advance public organizations'
activities.
France:
The French national program against narco-business sponsored by the
Ministry of the Interior and Public Safety focuses on curbing the illegal
trade in drugs, and, in particular, the street vending of narcotic
substances. The document provides for the creation of special-task police
units and a national center to coordinate all police operations against
drug abuse. Narco-business-suppression training courses have been
introduced at police schools. Large police commissariats now have
specialized branches to monitor drug abuse. These branches render practical
and financial assistance to various organizations engaged in fighting
against the abuse of narcotic and toxic chemical substances.
The experience of foreign anti-narcotics programs can be adapted to the
requirements of the Russian Federation and help work out a feasible
National Program of Comprehensive Counteraction to Narcotics
Par. 2. Organization of Medical Counteraction to Narcotics
The primary aspect of the entire anti-narcotics effort is a series of
medical treatment measures. They are carried out by different medical
institutions as actions against narcotics is inalienable from the
activities of public health services of all levels, including the medical
service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1975 the former Soviet
medical authorities detached the addictions treatment service from
psychiatry. Thus the treatment of drug and other addicts became a separate
branch of medicine known as narcology.
The efforts of the medical institutions make up a significant part of
the anti-narcotics strategy. Their goal is to bring about a decrease in the
demand for drugs. This is achieved by the treatment and rehabilitation of
abusers and, in the final run, is a positive factor of a general
improvement in the drug abuse situation.
The measures, which the health centers, are obliged to take, can
roughly be divided into two groups. Group One includes the properly medical
efforts in the treatment and rehabilitation of addicts. Group Two embraces
other organizational steps to keep narcotics at bay.
The international community also pays considerable attention to the
treatment of drug addicts. Article 38 of the Uniform Convention on Drugs
states that the signatory countries will take every possible step to
prevent the misuse of narcotic substances, ensure an early identification
of abusers, treat them, restore them to full working capability, re-
socialize, and monitor them after the completion of treatment (Paragraph
1). The countries will train appropriate personnel (Paragraph 2), and will
inform the population about the hazards of drug abuse (Paragraph 3). The
medical treatment of drug addicts is also presupposed by Resolution II of
the UN conference on implementing the Uniform Convention on Drugs.
Reminding of the provisions of Article 38, the conference stressed that
hospital treatment in a drug-free atmosphere is the most efficacious
medical approach to the issue. It recommended that economically potent
countries where drug abuse is a serious problem provide the opportunities
for such treatment.
The Treatment and Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts:
The issues of medical treatment/social rehabilitation of addicts and other
relevant measures are to a greater or lesser degree incorporated in the
public health programs of all nations and have found reflection in certain
regional programs. As a rule, these documents emphasize perfection of the
strategies and organization of drug abuse services on the assumption that
drug abuse is a social disease. The other important aspects are financing
and material/technical support, personnel, informing definite sectors of
society on the hazardous impact of addiction, research in the field of more
effective medicine.
Experts, however, warn against an overly simplified belief that
containing drug addiction boils down to the availability of medicines and
Страницы: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
