nervous systems, their state of mind, and bring about their social
degradation.
Since drug addiction is a disease, there is a need to find a cure for
it. Hence, the need to have qualified medical personnel, special drug
rehabilitation centers and branches offices, effective medicines and
curative methods.
Ecological Aspect of Drug Abuse:
The ecological aspect of narcotics is associated, on the one hand, with
the natural existence of drug-bearing plants, and on the other, with their
man-made cultivation. These plants are a source of obtaining and preparing
narcotic substances. From the ecological point of view there is a need,
first, to do away with the spread of wild drug-bearing plants, and second,
to ban their man-made cultivation. The economic, biological and ecological
aspects are subjects for research by experts.
Drug-related Crimes:
It is possible to define drug abuse as a negative social phenomenon
touching upon the social, legal, criminological, economic, biological and
ecological areas accordingly. One part of the phenomenon is drug addiction,
as a disease, and other, embraces all the law-breaking actions related to
drugs: those carried out to secure means for purchasing drugs or those
committed under the influence of drugs. Such law-breaking actions cover the
use, preparation, purchase, storage, transportation, parcel mail, sale and
theft of narcotic substances; attempts to force other people to use drugs
and the creation of conditions conducive to such use; attempts to sow and
grow drug-bearing plants; attempts to violate the established rules
regulating the production, purchase, storage, control, sale, transportation
or parcel mail of narcotic substances; and, drug smuggling. The law-
breaking actions also cover various mercenary crimes (violent crime) that
are not drug-related but are committed in order to buy drugs subsequently
(theft, robbery, plunder, fraud, blackmail and others) and also violent
crimes committed under the influence of drugs (e.g., hooliganism against
individuals). This notion reflects the essence and the confines of the drug
use and serves as a guideline for determining its scale and developing
strategies against it. Yet the true scale of this phenomenon is obscured by
a high degree of latent drug-induced diseases and law-breaking drug-related
actions.
Narcotics and Crime:
The above-listed law-breaking actions are crimes proving an
interrelation between drug abuse and crime. Drugs and crime are not only
closely interrelated, but actually blend fully, and in fact, becomes what
is known, as narco-crime. But to merely establish this fact is not enough.
The danger drug-related crimes pose to the public surpasses the danger
coming from other crimes. Drug-related crime is largely interrelated with
various other kinds of crime and even merges with one of its most dangerous
varieties such as organized crime. This becomes clear studying the dynamics
of drug-related crimes. Central here are the drug users who represent a
consumer of narcotics, and the ultimate target of drug trafficking - the
sale of drugs. When people become dependent on drugs they concentrate all
their efforts on getting drugs at any cost. They engage in criminal
activities ranging from the cultivation of drug-bearing plants and the
preparation of "stuff", to its sale.
Tendencies of Development:
The number of drug users grows in direct proportion to the rise in
crimes committed under the influence of narcotics and, in the long run, to
the profits earned by the drug dealers. Hence, drug dealers seek to 1)
expand the drug sales; 2) increase the output of drugs or receive more of
them from medical and pharmaceutical centers; and, 3) further promote
criminal activities connected to drugs. The latter seems to ensure the
realization of the former. A high degree of organization paves the way for
expanding drug sales, increasing the output and boosting drug trafficking.
Expanding Drug Sales:
The expansion of drug sales is achieved by persuading more people to
take drugs. Drug dealers set up drug pads and stores where narcotics are
available. They try to advertise them in indirect ways. They make sure that
more powerful drugs are continuously being developed.
In order to increase drug output drug-bearing plants are grown on
remote plantations in regions with difficult access. Illegal shops and
laboratories for developing new types of narcotics are set up there. Funds
for increasing drug output are raised by blackmailing or bribing public
officials. Drug-dealers practice violence, make threats against officials
and encourage theft of large amounts of drugs.
Boosting the Level of Organization of the Illegal Drug Trafficking
Business Methods to improve the level of organization include mergers of
criminal groups and associations, severe disciplinary measures within
criminal organizations, greater degree of cohesion among group members,
conspiratorial rules, and tougher actions against those who violate the
rules in such groups. Other methods are: increasing attempts to draw
government officials into criminal groups, taking control of persons
engaged in drug-related crimes on their own, centralizing finances and
monopolizing drug prices.
According to various studies there are quite a few syndicates and
cartels in the world that have divided drug trafficking regions among
themselves. Activities of these groups are guided by a clear-cut system of
criminal actions, such as promoting the sowing and cultivation of drug-
bearing plants, the production of narcotics, their wholesale purchase, and
the transportation and sales of drugs to consumers. Drug syndicates and
cartels, for whom drug trafficking is the main source of income, act under
the guise of legitimate companies, trying to come across as legal as
possible. They have airplanes, modern weapons and the newest technology in
their possession. Leaders of the criminal drug associations do their utmost
to oppose the actions of law enforcement agencies. With this purpose in
mind, they not only try to check police actions but make attempts,
successful at times, to infiltrate police ranks. Professional criminals
deploy defense measures that may prove to be so effective in challenging
the worthiness of surveillance of suspects and the bugging of their phones.
United into cartels and syndicates and organizationally divided into groups
and associations, drug- criminals are usually aware that they remain under
constant surveillance. To ensure their personal safety they resort, as a
rule, to various counter-surveillance measures, thus putting well-trained
police officers in a difficult position. Experience shows that criminal
groups usually keep the approaches to places where narcotics are turned
over under their own close watch.
Ways to Legalize Drug Profits:
Drug dealers seek not only to build up profits from drug trafficking
but to legalize them as well. To that end they engage in criminal
activities where by legal and illegal operations are inextricably
intertwined. The money earned from the trade in narcotics is invested into
legitimate businesses or in real estate. It may also be laundered in
financial transactions, such as, the purchase of shares and securities or
other newly invented and constantly perfected operations. The income thus
obtained allows drug dealers not only to pour more money into drug
trafficking or finance more drug-related crimes but also provides for a
legal coverage of drug trade, or for the participation in legal activities.
Speakers at the international seminar on combating organized crime in the
Russian city of Suzdal in 1992 held in accord with the resolution of the
45th session of the UN General Assembly, pointed out that "in the majority
of countries, organized crime developed along two directions: participating
in prohibited activities (property crimes, money laundering, illegal drug
trafficking, violation of hard currency transaction rules, intimidation,
prostitution, gambling, trade in weapons and antiques) and joining legal
business (directly or using such parasitical means as extortion. This
participation in legal economic activities is always bent for the use of
illegal competition methods and may have a greater economic impact compared
to the involvement in totally illegal kinds of activity). In short,
criminal methods are used in both cases leading to the situation in which
criminal elements form the majority of organized criminal formations.
Organized Narco-crime:
Typically, drug cartels and syndicates are highly organized. Present in
the organizations are: strict and precise distribution of functions; very
rigid hierarchies; internal discipline maintained by interest, authority
and force; stringent conspiracy; ramified networks of groups bound by firm
organizational ties; branches existing and functioning in various
countries; contacts with other criminal groups (counterfeiters, smugglers,
murderers etc.); the use of professional criminals; the
internationalization of group members; and, the use of violence to meet the
desired ends. To protect their huge profits and spheres of interest, the
subjects of narco-criminals stop at nothing and employ violent means, such
as the contract murders of their rivals and of law enforcement agents. The
money brought by the trade in drugs is often used to finance dangerous
crimes and acts of terrorism. It becomes a source, which finances
subversive activities of all kinds. Profits obtained from the drug trade
make it possible to finance large-scale armed operations against government
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