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Drug abuse: Tendencies and ways to overcome it скачать рефераты

p> The Experience of Countries:
The experience of countries that have developed national programs against drug abuse can be very instrumental in drawing up a national anti-narcotics program.

In 1982, the United States adopted a program against drug trafficking and organized crime. Its implementation presumed mapping out a special presidential policy and the participation of the governors of all the states.

The USA:

The then US President Ronald Reagan sanctioned the allocation of an additional USD 130 million to the Department of Justice budget for the implementation of that program. These funds were distributed to the federal law-enforcement agencies, the judiciary, penitentiaries and the police. The administration envisioned an increase in the number of prosecutors, FBI agents, and the personnel of anti-drug departments, customs services, the coast guards, Internal Revenue Service, Immigration Naturalization Service, and other departments.

More than a half of the allocation was set aside as salary and bonuses for special service agents. The rest was spent on modernizing police equipment, the renovation of the state and federal prisons, and enhancement of the FBI technical capabilities in neutralizing criminals who can afford the most up-to-date listening devices and surveillance equipment.

The program also made provisions for creating special regional task force, and creating programs for participation in actions against drug abuse by the state, as well as for more room in federal jails. Coordination committees responsible to the Secretary of Justice were established in all of the 94 Federal judicial districts. The committees were obliged to make up plans for fighting grave crimes at the county, state and national levels.

It was for the first time that a program envisioned deployment of the armed forces against the spread of drugs. Their task was to detect and detain traffickers, especially at the US-Mexican border and in the
Caribbean.

A variety of drug prevention programs were developed at the regional level, such as the program of aid to potential abusers and their victims in the District of Columbia or the program against the abuse of drugs and alcohol by adolescents in Maryland. Many of them, however, remained ineffective not because they lacked professionalism, but more often because the moves lacked coordination. Not rare was the shortage of financing, technical and personnel support.

In 1989, the US adopted the national strategy against drugs, which is executed by more than thirty federal departments, including the CIA.
American experts believe that the US share of the worldwide consumption of drugs is more than a fifty per cent. They also consider drug trafficking as a global threat which cannot be controlled by the efforts of a single country. There must be international cooperation to settle this bedeviling problem.

Since the bulk of drugs originate outside the US, the Administration put an emphasis on attacking drug dealers on their home territory and on stepping up counteraction to the proliferation and sale of drugs inside the country. The strategy evidently has flaws, as the situation shows no signs of dramatic improvement.

Canada:

On May 25th, 1987, the Canadian government officially introduced a national strategy against drug abuse. The strategy had resulted from long consultations with provincial governments, different private organizations and individual specialists. The goal of the strategy was to shape a unified course of actions against the abuse of drugs in Canada.

The general supervision of its implementation was vested in the
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Other participants were the Royal
Mounted Police of Canada, the Directorate of the Penitentiaries, the
Ministry of Justice, the Customs Department and the Excise Tax Service, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Training and Youth.

The main goal was to work out a balanced line of action that would meet the needs of all Canadians, bring down the impact of alcohol and other stimulants on individuals, families and entire communities. The strategy comprised six directions of action: 1)education and prevention, 2)control over law abidance, 3) medical treatment and rehabilitation, 4) gathering of information and research, 5) international cooperation 6) and national policy. Over two-thirds of the resources were directed into the educational, preventive and treatment programs to curtail demand on the banned substances.

The Royal Mounted Police had the assignment to help develop and implement five initiatives on restraining the supply of and the demand for drugs, namely 1) a program to curb the black marketing of drugs, 2) the coordination of coastal guard patrol, 3) the gathering and processing of data on drugs, 4) technical assistance to foreign countries and 5) an educational program.

Canadian experts note that it is hard to measure the effects of this program yet, but all the above measures contribute to saving lives and making the nation healthier.

The United Kingdom:

The British government is acting upon a multifaceted anti-narcotic strategy that it adopted in 1994. There are five strategic priority aspects 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 available hospital beds. The prophylactics of social illnesses like alcoholism, misuse of narcotics and toxic chemicals cannot be built upon the same methods as the treatment of serious infectious diseases. Alongside pharmaceutics, it requires psychological aid and education which more and more often involves the addicts' families and friends. It is naive to believe that medicines and injections alone can bring about the desired results and that the selection of individually suitable pharmaceutical preparations gives a clue to the problem of treatment. Good results are yielded by a combination of psychology and pharmacy. Therefore, the treatment for drug addiction consumes much painstaking effort of a doctor, psychologist, educator and other specialists working with a person who is likely to develop the illness or is ill already.

On the face of it, the issues of treatment and prophylactics necessitate comprehensive programming and proficient organization. Their solution lies in the medico-biological, medico-psychological and medico- social spheres.

From the standpoint of government policy, public health institutions have the exclusive authority to treat drug addicts by officially approved methods, including compulsory treatment of the addicts who pose danger to society.

According to the results expected in this field, health centers must organize and effectuate a series of measures destined to establish firm grounds for progress in the drug abuse situation.

In the first place, this means the early identification, diagnosis and registration of the persons who use drugs for non-medical purposes and hence stand in need of prophylactic and treatment. However, shortcomings in the existing methods of express-diagnostics and in the expert check-ups of drug addicts make establishing the degree and the type of drug dependence somewhat problematic.

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