On Some Criminological Parameters of Ensuring Anti-Drug Security

Abstract

The current state strategy of national security enumerates some crucial directions of its implementation. Illegal drug trade, when carried out by criminal organizations and groups in most dangerous forms, is identified by legislators as a separate problem among the threats to national security. Thus, the anti-drug security today acquires a specific meaning and significance within the context of determining its vital indicators and criteria of effectiveness to ensure the protection and sustainable development of society. The understanding of anti-drug security is connected with a complex of consolidated legal, political, information, socio-economic and other measures aimed at further development and implementation of the state policy of counteracting the activities of criminal organizations and groups connected with illegal drug trade with the goal of ensuring national interests and strategic national priorities. One of the criteria of the effectiveness of anti-drug security measures is the implementation of the policy of counteracting illegal drug trade and other forms of illegal trafficking carried out in a group. The official information on the effectiveness of such policy shows that there are no serious results in this sphere. These conclusions are based on the stable average statistical domination of persons convicted for illegal operations with drugs without the goal of selling (over 70 % of all persons convicted for drug crimes) among all those convicted for such operations. This indicator has been increasing year-on-year practically during the whole past decade. The specific weight of persons convicted for collective crimes has traditionally been insignificant in the structure of all illegal drug trade and does not exceed 8–9 % of all drug-related crime. These statistical facts are totally in discord with the priorities outlined in the policy of counteracting illegal drug trade. The causes of statistical dominance of such indicators are connected with the organizational and legal difficulties in the work of the law enforcement system, which is supported by the statistical and specific sociological methods used in the research of the regional specifics of these processes.