In modern societies it is easy to recognize that consuming drugs is an every day reality. It is not only taking heroin or marijuana, but also smoking, taking painkillers, having a coffee, a tea or excessive intake of alcohol on Saturday as a required "Saturday night" obligation. The illegal drug market remains a major income of the international and also national organized crime. Obviously, the same could be said about the market of the so-called legal drugs which involve the main pharmaceutical firms, or the powerful manufacturers of tobacco, alcohol. My study focuses mainly on the impact of the usage of illegal drugs. Transporting, producing, dealing, consuming any kind of illegal substances is only a part of the offenses drugs can induce. Entering the web of drug abuse can lead to different sorts of violent, sometimes desperate behaviors like assault or prostitution to fund the demanding habit. Throughout the twentieth century, the states have progressively become concerned with the frightening spread of the illegal drug addiction and its damaging effect. Thus a whole range of different tools have been implemented throughout the world to fight it.
[...] The recent history of the heroin spread is quite interesting to understand the historical connection of this drug and crime. By the early twentieth century, opium and its derivatives, morphine and heroin, had become a major global commodity equivalent in scale to other drugs such as coffee and tea. However in England and America a moral reaction to these excesses emerged. The expansion of drugs abuse inspired a global anti-opium movement. Individuals control over their body was restricted notably with the passage of the Harrison's Narcotics Act in 1914 in the American state. [...]
[...] This study aims at understanding how the drugs world is related to crime, and will stress upon the drug defined offences. Different steps can be taken: first observation of the problems induced by addiction; secondly, the impact of Drug Related Crime as a worldwide plague; thirdly, the answers provided to reduce it. Finally a focus on a particular threat: the heroin web. I The addiction and the drug related offences As we are here dealing with the scope of drugs it is necessary to stop for a moment on the meaning of this word. [...]
[...] III -Efforts to reduce drug related crimes A - A worldwide fight Attempting to fight alone, as a single state, against the diffusion of drugs and drug defined offences on its territory would appear completely absurd. Of course, local initiatives are unavoidable, and even crucial to cope with the daily threat of the drug misuse consequences. However, closing the eyes on the realities of this global market where the interests involve large amounts of money and men, would lead to the uselessness of any policy. [...]
[...] The frightening effect of drug related crime among population is considerable and often sensationalized in the media. Of course, the political Parties cannot avoid the debate on this issue and hence it is a major part of their programs. However the picture given may be exaggerated as it can be seen through several elements. Many addicts were involved in criminal activity before becoming dependent, so drug use may not be the cause of the crime. Poverty, unemployment and social exclusion are often neglected underlying factors rather than the drug itself. [...]
[...] Moreover, confirming the previous report, it affirms that the drug related crime in the UK is rising, and in some parts of the country it has doubled.[22]The report presents a range of data concerning the state of the country in the drug issue: A hardcore of offenders in ten- commit an average of 240 offences a year to fund their drug habit. In fact, they are supposed to raise half a billion pounds through crime as a means of funding as another report by the Audit Commission revealed. [...]
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