Essay on "Drug Crime Does Research Evidence"

Essay 3 pages (908 words) Sources: 2

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Organized crime syndicates engage in criminal behaviors that are independent from and ancillary to drug trafficking. These are the target behaviors that can be more readily criminalized than drugs. If drugs were legalized, organized crime syndicates would lose a considerable amount of revenue but they are already highly diversified organizations that require law enforcement.

A dismantling of current drug policies would make it so that supplies of popular drugs were made safe and regulated. The problems associated with drug abuse could be tackled at the level of healthcare, rather than criminology. Funding for law enforcement would be freed up and diverted towards actual criminal issues: ranging from white-collar crime to rape. As South (2007) points out, "although most public and political attention tends to focus on illegal drugs as a source of social problems, this should not overshadow the significance of problems associated with legal drugs," (p. 811). Alcohol has been especially problematic in terms of public health and public safety; alcohol is also implicated in crimes as diverse as DUI and robbery.

It is therefore easy and correct to compare current drug policies with the attempt to outlaw the production and distribution of alcohol during the early 20th century. Current drug policies closely resemble such failed alcohol prohibition policies: the prohibition of alcohol was a policy that miserably failed in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. If the criminalization of drugs is also failing, then it is time to rethink criminal policies related to drugs. Legal and illegal drugs are both widely available; the main difference is the channels by which they are distributed and purchased by the end user. A criminalization policy does little to reduce actual, measurable, supply or substance abuse patterns (South 2007).

Research almost unequivocally shows that current drug policy of hard-lined criminalization is no longer relevant. This is as true for national security efforts as it is for public health concerns. Criminalizing drugs has not reduced drug use prevalence, and has also not reduced the tendency for organized crime organizations worldwide to traffick drugs and other illicit substances like weapons. Unfortunately, ill-informed citizens and politicians continue to believe propaganda related to the efficacy of outmoded drug policies (South 2007). Drug policies that are based on criminalization should be framed as anachronistic, based on evidence that they are not working and may even be working against the public.

References

Downes, D. And Morgan, R. (1992, 1997, 2002, and 2007) in M. Maguire, M. Morgan and R. Reiner (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

South, N. (2007) 'Drugs, Alcohol and Crime' in M. Maguire, R.… READ MORE

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