Drug abuse: Tendencies and ways to overcome it

Drug abuse: Tendencies and ways to overcome it

A study of the problem has shown that there is no reason to believe

narcotics are safely kept out of reach of addicts. This has been confirmed

by more than one-third of the polled officers of internal affairs agencies.

Every second drug taker who was forced to undergo treatment, did not deny

that he had received drugs from medical personnel. Similar cases of drug

acquisition were noted by over 10% of persons charged with drug-related

crimes, whereas 17% of people from the same group of drug abusers confessed

that they used to steal drugs from hospitals, small medical centers and

pharmacies. The share of other crimes in the structure of drug-related

crimes total is insignificant, though they play a rather negative role in

the spread of narcotics. For example, during one year, the crime of

solicitation to use drugs was recorded only once or twice and 3 or 8 times

the crimes involving the organization or running dens for addicts or

providing premises for that purpose.

All the same just over 98% of the polled people charged with drug abuse

and intent to sell drugs said they had persuaded 3 to 7 persons to start

using drugs. In more than 70% of such cases, a special effort was made to

invite potential "victims" to homes belonging to different persons. These

people received remuneration for granting premises especially arranged for

this purpose and where conditions were conducive for the use of narcotics.

Practically one out of every 4 persons charged with drug abuse but without

attempting to push drugs, admitted in talking to officials, that he had

persuaded at least 3 or 4 persons to use drugs treating them to narcotics

that he had bought or made for his own use.

What is more, 37% of the examined complaints and statements by citizens

addressed to various agencies, especially, those made directly to the local

police officers have remained unread, though they specifically mentioned

people who had turned their homes into drug pads.

Negative Tendencies:

All these facts highlight: 1) an increase of the degree in danger posed

to the public by drug-related crimes; 2) the appearance of new narcotics,

giving way to diversity of drugs; 3) increase in the number of people

involved in the use of narcotics through persuasion; 4) the rising level of

organization of such crimes; 5) the expanding boundaries of illegal drug

trafficking on the world- wide scale; 6) an increase in the number of

illegal labs used to make drugs; 7) the perfection of methods used for

selling drugs and an increase in the establishment of illegal and semi-

legal shops intended for selling drugs; 8) the rising number of cases of

illegal acquisition, including theft of narcotics from medical

institutions; 9) the increase in numbers of corrupt officials involved in

illegal drug trafficking; 10) the greater degree of masked laundering of

money; 12) and a higher degree of latency of drug-related crimes.

The danger to the public from drug-related crimes is manifested by an

increase of crimes committed for the sake of selling drugs, and, second, by

the total quantity of narcotics in circulation.

The appearance new drug substances and the corresponding rise in

variety of drugs is reflected in the constant growth of the List of

Narcotics (narcotic substances and drug medicines both synthetic and

natural) produced by the UN International Drug Control Committee.

The spreading of the cultivation of drug-bearing plants in places,

which are, difficult to physically access is confirmed by the discovery of

plantations sown with such plants in various regions of the world. These

discoveries have been made with the help of space and aerial photography.

The fact that the ever-larger number of people use narcotics is

manifested in the rising figure of medical patients using drugs and

recreational drug users. The growing number of drug patients is registered

by statistics and the rise in numbers of recreational drug users is evident

from opinion polls among experts (medics at outpatient clinics for addicts

and law enforcement officers who specialize in combating drug-related

crimes).

The greater degree of organization in drug-related crimes is manifested

by the growth of criminal groups and associations, in the setting up of

syndicates and cartels, in the toughening of discipline within syndicates

and cartels and in the rising cohesion of their members and the

coordination of their actions. Tougher methods of pressure are exerted on

members violating the rules of conduct within groups. Criminal groups,

associations, syndicates, and cartels are also placed under control along

with the people who commit drug related crimes on their own.

The expanding boundaries of illegal drug trafficking on the

international scale are evident in the fact that drugs are smuggled into

practically all the countries of the world. This smuggling includes

attempts to carry drug consignments through the customs and across national

borders of a number of countries by various means and by different kinds of

transportation. This has been established by controlling deliveries of

narcotics and by polling experts (law-enforcement and customs officers).

Law-enforcement agencies in various countries discovered the rise in

the number of drug-making labs and new methods of selling and circulating

drugs. Shops that were camouflaged as book or perfume stores have been

seized.

Corruption – as a Way to Protect Drug Dealers:

Growing number of corrupt officials, aspiring for higher posts tend to

improve methods to protect persons taking part in illegal drug trafficking.

Polled experts and narcotic squad police officers, admitted that over the

last few years, there was a rise in the number of requests to them by high

ranking officials suggesting that criminal responsibility be lifted from

persons involved in drug deals and against whom suits had been filed.

Ever more sophisticated methods to legalize the money from drug

trafficking is manifested by laundering such money which makes it

difficult, impossible at times, to trace its primary source. At present one

can speak of the three major methods. First, cash is put into financial

institutions or into retail trade and is immediately converted into foreign

currencies or transferred abroad. Second, there is a stratification of the

money, i.e. increasing the number of transactions that are often carried

out in several countries to obscure the source of the illegally earned

money. And, third, illegal earnings are integrated into investments in

economic operations with the aim of making the money look legal.

The polled experts, and the narcotic police squad officers explained

the increased latency of drug-related crimes by the following examples.

There is mutual interest in keeping crimes a secret both among drug-pushers

and addicts; none of them have any desire to cooperate with the law-

enforcement agencies. There are special mutually beneficial and inter-

dependent relations between users and suppliers of narcotics. This kind of

relationship requires thorough secrecy due to the fear of criminal

punishment for both users and suppliers. Small wonder that the addicts

taken to hospitals, often in critical conditions, dangerous to their life

and health, do not reveal, as a rule, the source of getting drugs. And this

silence is due not to some sort of moral principles, honor, duty or

solidarity but rather, in most cases, to the fear of losing the already

established drug source or to the fear of being victimized for revealing

the source. Also much is yet to be done to develop proper legal, personnel,

tactical, material and technical programs that are effective in combating

drug trade. There is the obvious need to find a way to expose latent drug-

related crimes. For without realizing the actual state of affairs with drug-

related crimes, adequate measures of combating them will remain

insufficient.

Chapter II. System and Classification of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse

Par. 1. System of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is a socially dangerous and complicated phenomenon. Narco-

crime, particularly, should be countered by a rigid system of measures.

These combine numerous and diversified steps having social, legal,

criminological, economic, ecological, organizational and international

aspects. The word system is understood as "a whole consisting of parts, a

combination; ...a great number of elements bearing a relation to each

other, connected with each other, forming a sort of integrity or unity.

The system of measures for overcoming drug abuse is comprised of many

steps bearing relation to each other.

System of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

The diversity of such measures, their relationships and contacts can be

illustrated by law practices, law-making and law enforcement, as well as by

the crime prevention theories both on domestic and international scales.

For example, a comprehensive inter-disciplinary action program to prevent

the spread of drug addiction submitted for discussion at the international

antidrug conference in Vienna in July 1987 contained more than 400 articles

and recommendations to governments and organizations as to how this

negative phenomenon should be overcome.

The UN international program for combating drugs for the years 1994 and

1995, 1995 and 1996 comprises 298 projects featuring various aspects,

directions and measures for checking the spread of drugs. 216 out of them

were carried through in 1994 and 1995 and the implementation of the

remaining 82 projects is underway. The total dollar amount of resources

mobilized for the fulfillment of these projects is estimated at US$

484,397,800. The sum was allocated by the UN International Antidrug

Program's Fund.

The Concept of the Russian Federation government's policy on drug

control, endorsed by decision No 5494 of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian

Federation on July 22nd 1993, incorporates quite a few antidrug measures

from those developed by the world community and registered by international

conventions and in other documents. This Concept emphasizes the measures

that have been tested and are successfully utilized.

Since the system of measures against drug abuse is too complicated the

discussion of its contents is related, firstly, to the general

characterization of its components and, secondly, to the classification of

these measures in their relation to each other.

Basic Aspects of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

The measures against drug abuse have some social, legal,

criminological, medical, biological, political, economic, ecological,

organizational and international aspects. Although these aspects have

different spheres of application, they still remain interrelated. For

example, measures for curing drug addicts have medical, social and legal

aspects to them; measures for combating drug-related crimes have legal,

criminological, social and other aspects; measures for combating money

laundering have legal, social, economic, international and other aspects

and so on. So, each particular aspect can be discussed only in abstract

terms. This approach to the definition and description of aspects makes it

possible to give a full characterization of the system of measures against

drug abuse.

Social Dimension:

The social dimension is the cornerstone of all other aspects. All the

antidrug measures are permeated with it. There is a correlation between the

social aspect and each of the other aspects. It is either a general element

in relation to something specific such as medical measures, or the whole of

something, which represents a part such as criminological measures. It can

also be a content when the other represents a form, as in legal measures.

In short, the social aspect can be regarded as a common for all antidrug

measures. Additionally there are legal measures for making those involved

in drug-related crimes answerable for their actions and for intensifying

the customs' control over the shipment of drugs across borders.

Legal Dimension:

The legal aspect of the measures under consideration can be seen as a

totality of legal norms including international conventions against drugs

and determining the degree of a judicial responsibility for them, mainly,

criminal and administrative; secondly, regulating various legal

relationships arising from drug use, thirdly, ensuring a compulsory

treatment for drug addicts who try to avoid it and, fourthly, referring to

these or other substances as narcotics.

Criminological Dimension:

The criminological aspect comprises measures aiming to overcome narco-

crime, as a totality of drug-related crimes. These measures aim to study,

analyze and sum up the structure and dynamics of these crimes and their

latency. In addition, they aim to establish the causal complex of the given

crime and determine the content, nature and direction of actions aimed at

removing or neutralizing the causes conducive to the commitment of drug-

related crimes. Thirdly, they aim to disclose and fix typical features,

traits and qualities of an individual guilty of committing this or that

crime. Lastly, they aim to develop methods for preventing drug-related

crimes.

Medical Dimension:

The medical (biological) aspect involves the improvement of

narcological aid and methods for curing drug addicts, the need to increase

the level of professional medical training for those engaged in treating

addicts and persons taking drugs without a doctor's prescription and the

development of new medicines and medical equipment for treating addicts.

Political Dimension:

The political aspect involves combating narco-business, which tries to

undermine the foundations of state power, weaken the entire machinery of

state and diminish the nation's trust in the government.

Some juridical works make it a point that organized crime opposes legal

actions of top government bodies not only by committing crimes but also by

bending administration officials to the will of criminal associations so

that they could protect criminal activities.

The resistance of narco-business to government lawful actions can

result in attempts to undermine the foundations of state and in the re-

orientation and distortion of any country's policy. So, central to the

political aspect of measures against narco-business is blocking the

influence of drug dealers on the national policy by barring nomination of

corrupt officials to key posts in the government.

Economic Dimension:

There are two facets- retrospective and perspective of the economic

aspect of measures against drug abuse. The retrospective facet, on the one

hand, involves direct expenses of the state to combat narcotics, and, on

the other, the lost benefits to citizens as a result of the spread of drug

addiction.

Direct expenses include sizeable resources taken out from the state

budget to set up and maintain various medical and educational centers for

handicapped children, including those who inherited health problems from

their parents suffering from drug addiction. In addition this includes

expenses to support internal affairs agencies, customs officers engaged in

combating the proliferation of drugs, production of special equipment for

identifying drugs, as well as production of medicines for drug users.

Finally, the direct expenses are used to promote international cooperation

in joint antidrug actions with the United Nations Organization, Interpol

and other international agencies and carry out research in the field of

medicine, psychiatry, psychology and law, and to conduct an antidrug

education.

The cost to society is revealed in an increase in the number of

physically handicapped and mentally retarded people, victims of narcotics.

In the long run this leads to a curtailment of society's physical and

intellectual potential as a whole, such as lower standards in education and

labor productivity. This, in turn, causes a reduction in the amount of

material and other benefits produced by society and of resources for

various government-run programs. There is also an increase in the number of

cases of accidents in industry and, as a consequence the increasing failure

to meet the output targets.

It is therefore essential to develop economic levers to oppose narco-

business, including the money laundering. This has been poorly done so far,

as no economic measures for combating narcotics have been developed and

applied in practice. These tasks require an independent study by economists

and lawyers.

Ecological Dimension:

The ecological dimension of measures against drug abuse is linked to

the legal regulation that puts restrictions on the preservation and

dissemination of drug-bearing plants. This amounts to a ban on their

cultivation and destruction of the fields without any damage to the

environment. The cultivation of such plants is expected to be limited to

specially allotted areas where drug-bearing plants can be sown for medical

purposes only.

International Dimention:

The international dimention of measures against drug abuse is

manifested in various legislative, and law enforcement measures at the

international level.

In sum, this system of measures covers a totality of numerous, diverse,

complementary and carefully outlined programs that have social, legal,

criminological, medical, economic, ecological, organizational and

international dimensions.

Par. 2. Classification of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse

The essence of the system of measures to overcome drug abuse can be

understood by their classification in view of the diversity of these

measures. By establishing their different categories and distributing them

into various groups, this classification would make it possible to give

each measure its own niche, to define its boundaries and its relationship

to other measures. This classification makes it possible to determine the

degree of each measure's significance and its priority in terms of its

practical implementation.

It is important to group them by contents, form, level, subject of

application, and type. As for legal measures, they should be grouped in

accordance with different branches of law.

The Content of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

The measures to overcome drug abuse carried out by the UN Commission on

Drugs of the UN Economic and Social Council, by the UN International

Committee on Drug Control and by other international agencies can be

grouped into the following categories: analytical, organizational, training

and educational, research, technical, medical, economic, financial,

international law, preventive, monitoring, legislative, and criminal.

Analytical component is needed in order to be able to make use of a

complex system of collecting and assessing data about drug abuse, to

evaluate the extent of the illegal use of drugs in different countries

worldwide, and to make data available on the seizure of large quantities of

narcotics to interested parties.

Organizational component of measures is aimed at setting up

international agencies to control drugs and to combat drug trade; assisting

countries in developing national policies on such control; supporting

projects, promoting national law enforcement agencies; defining direction

of programs and ensuring the organizational backing of such programs;

estimating the amount of illegal cultivation of drug-bearing plants in

areas difficult and dangerous to access. Governmental measures should

include adoption and fulfillment of national programs to overcome drug

abuse by forming special law-enforcement, medical and other institutions,

as well as special services and squads to combat drug trade; taking stock

of lands used to cultivate drug-bearing plants; arranging control over the

production, storage, consumption, an shipments of drugs, especially across

national borders, as well as over the actions for pharmaceutical and

medical centers.

The training and educational component includes educating specialists

in law-enforcement agencies, mass media, narcological centers, and social

services.

The research component aims to define and analyze data on drug abuse,

to work out recommendations for overcoming it, to set up and run special

research labs, and to find new ways of ending drug addiction.

The technical component includes identifying drugs, designing equipment

for special labs, developing remote control devices to spot fields of drug-

bearing crops.

The medical component of measures is: to promote a system of

rehabilitative treatment for drug users; to choose appropriate curative

programs; and work on methods to reduce the spread of infectious diseases

among drug users.

The economic component consists chiefly in funding various programs and

projects, combating drug abuse, supporting programs reducing demand for

drugs and their supply, encouraging and supporting populations which had

switched to cultivating farm crops on territories where drug-bearing plants

had been grown previously.

The financial component involves measures against money laundering.

Financial operations by drug moguls aimed at making their earnings legal

are the most vulnerable part for the criminals. In view of this, the

Committee for Banking Rules and Banking Supervision issued a statement on

December 12th, 1988 that calls for preventing criminal uses of the banking

system for laundering cash obtained from drug trafficking. It requires that

the international banking community use extreme discretion while

identifying clients. The statement also calls for more cooperation with

judicial systems and police institutions in halting the legalization of

cash from drug trafficking. Many countries have accepted that the

principles contained in this statement are applicable to the operation of

their own financial systems. In keeping with a decision of the G Seven

countries and of the European Commission Chairman at the 15th economic

summit in Paris in July 1989, a special operational group on financial

issues was started. It produced 40 recommendations made public in February

1990. It also analyzed world financial flows, banking and financial systems

and methods for laundering cash. The group found some weak spots and

undertook a number of other steps. All the countries, who are members of

this group and (in keeping with its recommendations) some other countries

declared that they viewed participation in laundering cash as a criminal

act and started special services to investigate leads on shady deals

reported by subunits of the financial system. At the recommendation of the

special operational group on finances, the UN International Committee on

Drug Control called on all governments to pass and effectively use

appropriate legislative acts to stop money laundering, to confiscate the

property of drug dealers, and to consider a possibility of lifting the

burden of proving the legitimacy of supposed incomes or of other property

subject to confiscation under par. 7 of Article 5 of the 1988 Convention

even if this may require legal or constitutional amendments.

Among the international law components of measures are those calling

for reciprocal legal support of countries working to combat drug

trafficking. It is essential to make extradition easier, to strengthen

international cooperation against illegal drug trafficking, as well as to

promote the international system of control over medicinal drugs and

psychotropes.

The preventive measures are comprised of destroying illegal plantations

of drug-bearing crops; preventing a transfer of drugs and of their

components from the legal sphere to the illegal one; curbing illegal drug

trafficking; reducing the demand for drugs; preventing the use of

narcotics, particularly, in places of employment, eliminating the addicts'

pads, illegal labs where narcotics are made and stores which sell them;

promoting social rehabilitation of drug addicts and encouraging education

campaigns against drugs.

The control component of measures envisages supervision over the

following areas: the growing of drug-bearing plants, to rule out a

"leakage" of the legitimately grown plants: illegal sowing and raising;

production of narcotics, their acquisition, storage, stocking and

dispensing; commercial trade turnover in special equipment used for

producing drugs, as well as in raw materials; semi-finished products,

chemicals and narcotic analogies; international parcel post deliveries as a

vehicle for sending narcotics; ships sailing on the high seas and planes

flying in international space; transit through customs' ports; approaches

to land, sea and air borders; and deliveries of drugs for treatments at

hospitals.

The most important law-making measure is that of bringing national

legislation in line with international conventions on narco-business.

The common criminal measures are those applied in every country, as

criminal responsibility for illegal drug trafficking, sowing and raising

drug-bearing plants as well as for other socially dangerous actions related

to drugs. These measures cover both punishments for the above-listed crimes

and also confiscation of tools and of income earned from the illegal drug

trafficking.

Other measures include improving judiciary and legal systems such as

law-enforcement bodies, courts of law, penitentiary and post penitentiary

programs, customs and education.

Forms of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

The classification of measures to overcome drug abuse can be subdivided

into two groups: those having legal form and those that do not, i.e. those

which are regulated and unregulated by the law accordingly.

Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse Regulated by the Law:

The legal measures against drug abuse include compulsory educational;

compulsory medical; preventive- repressive; repressive; those ensuring

active participation of citizens in combating crimes, in preventing and

curbing them; as well as procedural and organizational managerial. The

compulsory medical, preventive repressive and repressive measures are those

aimed at suppressing drug abuse and the compulsory educational-at

preventing it.

Organizational managerial measures on the basis of administrative legal

norms, determine in general terms, the status of curative educational and

curative labor centers providing treatments to drug addicts, and the

competence of law-enforcement agencies and of the court regarding the

compulsory placing of drug addicts for treatment. In addition, there are

also measures, containing the following provisions: to build up, on the

national scale, a network of bodies and institutions whose functions will

amount to combating drug-related crimes; to record the number of addicts

and provide treatments to them; to promote departmental cooperation in the

work of combating narcotics; many organizational managerial measures are

specified by international law, registered in conventions, agreements,

treaties and other documents.

Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse Unregulated by the Law:

The second group of measures to overcome drug abuse are those which are

not regulated by the law. They are informational, analytical,

organizational, educational, scientific, technological, medical and

preventive, as well as other measures that bear no relation to compulsion.

It is the group of legal measures, which can be subdivided into law

branches. Such norms, as suggested above, can be found in the civil,

family, labor, administrative, and criminal codes.

The Level of Measures to Combat Drug Abuse:

Measures to combat drug abuse can be divided into the following four

levels: international, social, special and individual.

Measures at the international level are applied by various countries

throughout the world. They are particularly binding in the countries, which

have joined international treaties by ratifying them. This category of

measures may include any of the previously listed such as informational,

analytical, research, technical, medical, economical, financial,

preventive, control, and law-making.

Social measures are those used on a national scale and meant to

influence society as a whole. They include preventive, law-making, criminal

and other legal measures, as well as the ones embracing the entire society

such as informational, analytical, organizational, managerial, medical,

economical, and others.

Special measures aim to overcome drug abuse and influence, on the one

hand, certain kinds of harmful activities linked to drugs, and on the

other, restrain persons inclined to carry out such activities or drug

addicts. Measures aimed against certain kinds of activities include, for

example, actions to destroy illegally sown crops or wild drug-bearing

plants, may include measures in regard to specific individuals, attempts to

cure drug addicts; to reveal and record the names of people inclined to

commit drug-related crimes, or persons already convicted for such crimes;

to prevent such people from committing more crimes; and to help persons

from high risk groups avoid situations which may induce drug use.

Measures in regard to individuals cover steps taken in relation to

those persons who use drugs or those who have committed or tend to commit

crimes or other law-breaking acts involving drugs. They include steps

providing drug addicts with an opportunity to undergo treatment or making

them, if necessary, to undergo treatment, instituting criminal proceedings

or using administrative measures against persons who have committed crimes,

as well as preventing or warding off potentially socially dangerous actions

involving drugs, etc. Medical, preventive, administrative, legal, criminal,

criminal procedural and criminal executive measures can also be seen as

measures in regard to individuals.

The Subjects of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

The measures to overcome drug abuse can be grouped by institutions

implementing them. There are international agencies and organizations,

medical institutions, law-making bodies, law-enforcement agencies,

executive government branches, specially created agencies, groups and other

organizations.

The Commission on Narcotics of the UN Economic and Social Council and

the UN International Committee on Drug Control are permanently functioning

international agencies. Various conferences and symposia on actions against

drug abuse discussed and worked out conventions, programs, decisions,

projects, and recommendations. These can be referred to as temporarily

operating organizations. Conferences of member-states, i.e. of their

official representatives, have the right to approve conventions and other

normative documents subsequently ranked as international law acts. After

their ratification, legal norms contained in them become part of national

legislation. International bodies exercise all the above-listed measures to

combat drug abuse, except for criminal measures and a few others.

Medical institutions have the authority to carry out curative and

curative preventive measures.

By their nature, the measures to overcome drug addiction can be divided

into suppressive and preventive.

This classification makes it possible to determine the importance of

each particular group. It can also serve as the basis for building a system

of measures to be used for the preparation and subsequent development of

the national program of action to combat drug addiction.

Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

By evaluating the measures to overcome drug abuse from the study of the

experience, it is possible to single out the following groups of measures:

1) control preventive; 2) research, training and educational; 3) medical;

4) legal; 5) economic and financial, and 6) organizational.

The control and preventive; research, training and educational;

economic and financial measures are grouped together because they are

closely intertwined. Legal measures in this national program should include

law enforcement and law-making measures and organizational measures-

informational, analytical, and technical measures.

Without referring to the contents once again it would be important,

from the standpoint of their expression and place in this program, to draw

attention to some points concerning certain groups of the proposed

measures.

A method should be defined in this anti-drug program of applying

control measures. It would need to be a legislative regulation of drug

movements from the sowing of drug-bearing plants and their cultivation, to

the consumption of drugs. Presently, conflicting rules regulating the

production, acquisition, storage, stock taking, dispensing, transportation

and the sending of narcotics by parcel post are in force. These rules were

enacted by executive branch agencies rather than by lawmakers. For example,

the rules concerning the production, storage, stock-taking, and dispensing

of drugs were established by the orders issued by the Ministry of Health,

and the Ministry of the Medical and Micro- biological Industry of the

former USSR. Transportation rules can be found in orders issued by the

Ministry of the Medical Industry and coordinated with the Ministry of

Internal Affairs of the former USSR. Rules for sending and shipping drugs

by rail or any other kind of transport were determined by normative acts of

various agencies. On the other hand, even if this is the prerogative of law-

makers, the rules are scattered within various and quite numerous

normative acts making it difficult to control violations of these rules by

law-enforcement agencies. So, if a full and effective control over the

circulation of narcotics is to be ensured, uniform rules for handling drugs

should be worked out on the basis of the existing rules and should be made

into law. These rules should envisage the procedures for the sowing,

raising, producing, storing, stock-taking, dispensing and selling of drugs

and for the acquiring, sending by parcel post, and carrying of drugs and

their analogies, as well as raw materials, semi-finished products,

chemicals and special equipment used in making drugs across national

borders.

To implement research, training and educational measures in a national

program it is essential to set up a single research and study center

consisting of facilities capable to perform specific tasks of dealing with

drug addiction. These tasks should be defined in the national program

without overstepping their limits, so as not to squander means and

resources on meeting other goals. For example, the tasks of the research

facility should be to identify drugs, establish new types of drugs and

study the most pressing problems of efforts aimed at stopping drug

addiction. There is a need to establish how money obtained from the

narcotics trade is laundered and determine methods for halting this

process; a need to develop methods for examining controlled deliveries,

documenting them and obtaining evidence which could determine guilt of the

involved parties. The research center could work out methods for carrying

out searches and other actions to uncover illegal drug operations and

actions of those guilty, including sponsors, leaders and members of

organized crime groups. The research center could summarize international

experience in combating drug addiction, including school and out-of-school

psycho preventive education for minors, preventive measures among

population groups considered to be at a risk, and educational and

preventive activity by means of mass media.

Special attention should be paid to law-making measures devoted to

combating drug addiction. It is expedient to include in the national

program provisions regulating legal drug turnover, regulations for the

treatment, and rehabilitation of drug addicts. It is necessary to develop

and pass the law on the responsibility for laundering drug money ensure and

to treatment of drug patients grown drug-bearing plants for personal use at

therapy centers or narcological hospitals, who have made, bought or kept

drugs or have sown without selling them, rather than making them face

criminal responsibility.

Economic and financial measures in the national program should provide

for funding to actually put this program into effect. It should also ensure

the functioning of the law-enforcement agencies engaged in the anti-drug

programs, of narcological institutions and drug control services, as well

as support for persons who use fields where drug-bearing crops had been

cultivated earlier but later destroyed. Also the program should develop

provisions about the application of financial measures against the

laundering of drug money.

When it comes to organizational measures, it would be expedient to

single out purely organizational and also informational, analytical, and

material- technical ones.

It seems that priorities of the program should be to strengthen

subunits of the law enforcement agencies, and of narcological centers,

specializing in programs against drug abuse; to set up drug control

agencies, encourage anti-drug programs by the greatest number of agencies,

organizations, and mass media. The priority is promoting cooperation

between all agencies and organizations engaged in combating drug abuse; in

establishing a research center for studying problems of combating drug

addiction, in training and up-grading the qualifications of specialists,

expected to work in their field; and in setting up a data bank on drug

addiction.

All of the above listed informational, analytical and technical

measures should be included in the national program to combat drug

addiction in the Russian Federation. A special fund needs to be started to

support such projects as building medical institutions, a study center, and

the law enforcement agencies furnished with the most modern equipment.

This system of measures to combat drug abuse examined here with the

ranking of these measures, will make it possible to set specific deadlines

for putting stipulated provisions into practice and will define the

responsibility for their implementation, if this system becomes a part of

the national program. The time frame for the implementation of this

extensive program should be no less than 3 years with annual reports from

all those involved. This will help ensure a more effective realization of

all its provisions.

This system and the classification of measures against drug abuse

indicate how difficult and complicated the job of combating drugs is. It

calls for much effort, constant improvement and a considerable resources.

Chapter III. Drug Abuse in the International Law

Par. 1. International Fora and Legal Acts on Drugs

Legal measures figure prominently in the system of actions aiming to

combat drugs. It is precisely the legal acts that determine the object, the

subject of narco-crime and influence the shaping of measures of preventive-

educational and curative interference, as well as the range of drug-related

actions, considered dangerous to the public.

Measures against drug abuse rest, first and foremost, on a number of

international law acts ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the former USSR.

These acts have different names: treaty, pact, convention, agreement,

protocol, declaration and so on. From the juridical point of view, the

difference in names is of no principal importance. No clear-cut criterion

for the use of these names has been worked out in international practice.

In each particular case, this question is resolved by the parties

(countries) to negotiations, who agree on the definition of relations

between them in this or another special field.

Actions against drug abuse are regulated by international law because

they involve international relations, as they touch upon the interests of

not one but, sometimes, of many countries. As for narco-crimes, they

encroach upon the international cooperation, violate human rights, and

state interests.

All crimes bearing international nature and coming under the norms of

international criminal law, can be divided into two groups by the degree of

their danger to the public, and the forms of manifestation: crimes of

international character.

International crimes are those posing the biggest threat to the

development of peaceful relations and cooperation between nations

regardless of their social, political and government systems. They include

heinous crimes against peace and security of the mankind, such as

aggression, genocide, biocide, ecocide or apartheid.

Crimes of International Character:

Crimes of international character are defined as those covered by the

international law but not belonging to the category of crimes against peace

and security of mankind, rather those infringing upon normal relations

between countries and damaging their peaceful cooperation in various

fields, as well as infringing upon relations between organizations and

citizens. These crimes are much less dangerous and are hard to compare to

crimes against the peace and security of mankind. They are punishable "in

accordance with the norms covered by the international agreements

(conventions), ratified in the proper order, or by the national criminal

codes which conform to these agreements."

Various areas of inter-state relations are the objects of crimes of

international character. This factor makes it possible to divide these

crimes into four rather relative sub-divisions:

1) Crimes that infringe upon the peaceful cooperation and normal

conduct of international relations (terrorism, hijacking and other crimes);

2) Crimes that damage in a variety of norms international economic,

social and cultural development, such as smuggling, illegal emigration,

counterfeiting and dissemination of narcotics through illegal trade;

3) Crimes that against property, moral values, and rights of

individuals, such as trafficking, piracy, pornography and other crimes

covered by international conventions and agreements;

4) Other crimes of international character, such as crimes committed on

board of aircraft, damage to underwater cables, collision of ships and the

failure to provide help at sea etc.

This classification rules out an identical approach to crimes that are

crimes against humanity, and crimes that are of international character.

This classification allows to examine them in conformity with the set of

laws they infringe upon and in conformity with the extent of harm they do

to international relations. Moreover, this classification largely helps

prevent any broader interpretation of the notion of international crimes.

The categories - listed above of these are not something permanent, as

these crimes are of the changeable and dynamic nature. The extent of danger

they pose can move them from one category to another. At present any crimes

encroaching upon the vital interests of all nations and countries can be

considered as international crime or crime of international character.

Virtually all countries recognize the need to combat international

crimes and crimes of international character, including the illegal

dissemination of and trade with narcotics. The binding nature of this

effort stems from the universally recognized principles of international

law, including the international duty of all countries to maintain peace

and promote security of all nations, as well as to hold persons guilty of

committing crimes against the peace and security of mankind and other

crimes of international character accountable for their actions.

All international legal acts against drug abuse can be divided into

general and specific. General acts regulate various types of international

relations, particularly, those formed in connection with actions against

international crimes and crimes of international character, including the

dissemination of and trade with drugs. Specific acts of international law

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