Drug Law Research Articles

Effective sanction avoidance in drug trafficking: The construction and validation of the restrictive deterrence utility scale using a sample of female drug offenders.

Drug traffickers perform many crime strategies to avoid legal sanctions. The use of any crime strategy is mainly for reducing the risk of arrest, which has been the focus of research on restrictive deterrence. This study aims to develop a Restrictive Deterrence Utility Scale (RDUS) to measure the effectiveness of crime strategies used in drug trafficking. Survey data were collected from August to October 2021, including 294 female drug offenders aged between 21 and 61 years serving sentences with a median length of around 10 years in a Southern city in Mainland China. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted for scale investigation. Three valid and reliable factors for the RDUS were found: anomaly avoidance, reduction of exposure time, and the use of weapons and tools. Composite reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity of three factors were confirmed with Cronbach α being higher than 0.9, that being higher than correspondent Average Variance Extracted which all being higher than 0.5 and higher than correspondent factor correlation. The RDUS offers a helpful method for assessing the motivation for drug traffickers to persist in drug crime and for formulating appropriate interventions for drug prohibition.

Pleasure, drugs, materiality and tensions in harm reduction in practice: The case of safer injection programmes

Drawing on ethnographies of a public health programme called ‘safer injection education’ (where people inject drugs under the supervision of harm reduction providers), this article explores how the materialities of drug use (such as paraphernalia and space) intersect with habitual behaviours and expectations. The article compares the diverse accounts of people who inject drugs with the biomedical knowledge of professionals to argue that people experience different forms of pleasure which challenge clinical understandings of addiction as driven by a desire to alleviate the pain of withdrawal symptoms. The analysis also critiques the assumption that people who use drugs are enslaved or unaware of their behaviours, showing instead that they are well aware of their patterns of psychoactive substance use and actively manage them in order to increase pleasure, and produce expertise and agency. During safer injection education sessions, people who inject drugs challenge normative assumptions and prescriptions on drug-related risks, and deploy practices and accounts that resonate with narcofeminist approaches, which produces solidarity between peers, social transformation and new forms of resistance to prohibitionist drug policy regimes and the pathologisation of drug use.

Living and responding at the margins: A conversation with narcofeminist activists

On 25 November 2021, the editors of this monograph had the honour and pleasure of talking to five founding members of the narcofeminist activist movement from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They discuss the history and vision of the movement, the issues confronting women and gender minorities who use drugs, and the significance of the political context of drug prohibition in shaping their experiences. This article documents this conversation as simultaneously interpreted by Lyu Azbel.

The Effect of Government Regulatory Agencies on National Development: A Case Study of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency of Nigeria – Edo State

The Effect of Government Regulatory Agencies on National Development: A Case Study of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency of Nigeria – Edo State

Pattern and Socio-demographic characteristics of Drug Users at the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Rehabilitation Facility, Port Harcourt

Background: Substance abuse particularly among young people has become a large phenomenon globally affecting all segments of society. The abuse of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other psychoactive drugs among young people has become an issue of public health concern with untold negative consequences on human existence. Aim: This study sought to examine the sociodemographic profiles and patterns of drug use among drug users at the NDLEA Rehabilitation Facility, Port Harcourt. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among inmates of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Port Harcourt. A structured questionnaire covering socio-demographic characteristics and other factors were self-administered to inmates of the facility, who have been brought by their relative for addiction care over a period of 3 years (2017 to 2020). Ethical approval was obtained from the ethical committee of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital and approval was obtained from the NDLEA Authority. All other ethical provisions were followed. Descriptive statistics was used to analyzed the data. Data were analyzed with number count, percentage, and then Chi-square of independence. Results: Majority of the drug users were male (98,8%), single (72.5%), unemployed (27.5%) and apprentice (40.0%), between the ages of 15 and 35 (67.5%) and with tertiary education. Cannabis was the most consumed drug (75.7%), followed by nicotine (30.8%) alcohol (28.3%), cocaine (27.4%) and heroine (25.8%). Majority of the users were introduced to drug by friends and family members and referred to the feeling they got on the first day of use as high and happy. Majority had 15 to 25 years as age of onset of drug use and there were no family history of psychoactive substance use or mental illness. Conclusion: Substance use is common among young people between the ages of 26 and 30, single, with higher level of education and low-income earners. Majority use illicit drugs, which they started at early age of 15 to 25 and introduced to by friends and family members. Improvement in socio-economic status of adolescents and sustained public health enlightenment will help to reduce the rising prevalence of drug use.

The Development of Narcotics Legislation in Indonesia and Singapore

Since the Dutch colonial era, Indonesia has had drug-related regulations. Drug use was controlled with special licenses for people of Chinese descent who contributed financially through the opium trade. After Indonesia's independence, regulations on the production, use, and distribution of dangerous drugs were issued. In the 1970s, drug abuse increased, and the government responded with laws regulating illicit drug trafficking and imposing severe criminal sanctions, including the death penalty. During the Reformasi era, the crackdown on drugs became more assertive. BNN was established in 2002, and regulations continue to be revised to tackle the complex drug problem. Law No. 35/2009 became the legal foundation that imposed the death penalty to curb the spread of drugs in Indonesia. Singapore has faced a growing drug problem since the early 19th century. To control drugs, Singapore implemented various regulations, such as the New Dangerous Drugs Ordinance and Regulations in 1951 and the Misuse of Drugs Acts (MDA) in 1973. Severe penalties are imposed on drug dealers and users. Public education and criminalization are used to prevent drug abuse. Singapore applies harsh measures, including the death penalty for drug traffickers. The Misuse of Drugs Act sets drug quantity thresholds for trafficking and possession, with varying penalties, including fines, imprisonment, and even the death penalty. The Act authorizes officers to conduct searches and urine tests on suspected drug offenders. Singaporeans support tough drug laws as drug use is considered a moral and social evil.

Exploring the substance abuse problem in a police academy in Nigeria: Implications for its cadets and authority

There is an illicit drug/substance abuse problem in Nigeria, especially among youths. This morphed when cadets of the Nigeria Police Academy were arrested by the drug law enforcement agency for having illicit drugs. This spurred our study's objectives. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach, police cadets identified, through snowball sampling technique, to be involved in illicit drug/substance abuse were interviewed on causes of drug/substance abuse among cadets; accessibility to illicit drugs; perceptions on the effectiveness of punitive measures; effects on academic performance, police training, and interpersonal relationship. Findings are discussed in line with extant literature and inferences indicate the important need for a robust drug/substance use screening exercise for entrants into the Academy. Advocacy is made for the engagement of preventive measures which focus more on dissuading this behaviour through counselling and educational enlightenment initiatives.

“Criminalization Causes the Stigma”: Perspectives From People Who Use Drugs

Introduction In light of North America's persisting drug toxicity crisis, alternative drug policy approaches such as decriminalization, legalization, regulation, and safer supply have increasingly come to the forefront of drug policy discourse. The views of people who use drugs toward drug policy and drug law reform in the Canadian context are essential, yet largely missing from the conversation. The aim of this study was to capture the opinions, ideas, and attitudes of people who use drugs toward Canadian drug laws and potential future alternatives. Methods This paper was developed as part of the Canadian Drug Laws Project, a cross-jurisdictional qualitative study conducted in British Columbia, Canada between July and September 2020. The qualitative data are from 24 semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of people who use illegal drugs. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically by the research team. Results Two main themes and corresponding sub-themes are presented: (1) The experience of stigma as a consequence of criminalization; (2) The perceived benefits of drug law reform. Participants spoke in-depth about their experiences living within a criminalized drug policy context and offered suggestions for new pathways forward. Their perspectives illuminate how Canada's drug laws may shape public attitudes toward people who use drugs and the consequent manifestations of structural, social, and self-stigma experienced by people who use drugs. Conclusion Participants openly and profoundly believed that current drug laws produced and propagated the public attitudes and structural inequities experienced by people who use drugs in Canada. This matters, not only because our findings highlight the fact that people who use drugs experience stigma in tangible and clearly impactful ways, but it also suggests that the criminlilization of drugs shapes the experience of structural, social, and self stigma. Finally, participants believed that efforts to destigmatize people who use drugs would be ineffectual without the enactment of more robust forms of drug law reform such as the decriminalization of illegal drugs.

National Drug Laws, Policies, and Programs in India: A Narrative Review.

Drug use is a major public health issue in India. Significant changes in the approach toward drug use have happened in the last few decades. Despite this, no systematic attempt has been made to document the same in the scientific literature. This narrative review attempts to discuss the major drug laws, policies, and national programs of the Government of India (GoI). A thorough search was conducted to look for policies, programs, acts, and notifications related to substance use/drug use on various websites of different ministries of the GoI. Acts, programs, and policies addressing substance use were identified. Various drug laws, programs, and acts from the GoI provide a multipronged approach to curbing the procurement of drug use along with its prevention and cure. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) is the nodal ministry for drug demand reduction. The enactment of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985 and Policy 2012 and the implementation of India's Drug De-Addiction Program (DDAP) are important landmarks in this journey. The GoI initiatives for reducing the mental health burden in this country in general and substance use disorders (SUDs), in particular, are immense. The acts/statutes/laws/notifications are all interlinked. Stakeholders in mental health, public health, and policy-making need to upgrade themselves with the relevant statutes to curb the menace of drug use.

Association of State Drug Laws with Nonmedical Use of Prescription Medications in Adolescents.

The aim of the study is to examine the associations between mandatory access prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs), pain management clinic (PMC) laws, and doctor shopping (DS) laws with adolescent nonmedical use of prescription medications (NUPM). We linked 2011-2015 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data on 364,103 adolescents across 40 states with PDMP, PMC laws, and DS laws. We conducted a 2-way fixed effects logistic regression model to examine the associations between state drug laws and adolescent self-reported NUPM. We found some evidence that implementation of a mandatory access PDMP was associated with a decrease in nonmedical use of prescription drugs at the P = 0.079 level (average marginal effect: -0.017, 95% confidence interval = -0.036 to 0.002), while there were no associations with the implementation of PMC and DS laws. Our findings suggest that current state drug laws to combat NUPM are inadequate for adolescents.

Between street and digital capital? A qualitative study of judicial sentencing of persons convicted of online drug dealing in Sweden

PurposeDrug sales facilitated through digital communication on the surface web and on darknet cryptomarkets have increased during the past two decades. This has resulted in an increase in drug law enforcement efforts to combat these markets and a subsequent increase in judicial sentencing of people selling drugs online. The aim of this study was to analyze how Swedish courts describe sentenced sellers and how the courts apply case law.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical material consists of 71 sentencing documents produced by Swedish courts in cases of online drug selling between January 1, 2010 and January 1, 2020. In total, 99 sentenced persons occur in the documents. Using a qualitative research design, the authors analyzed the material through thematic text analysis.FindingsOverall, in their descriptions of online drug sale operations, the courts’ characterizations of the concepts of street capital and digital capital show a dichotomy. These forms of capital are situationally described as both aggravating and mitigating aspects in the application of case law, indicating that it may be fruitful to view both street and digital capital as resources used on contemporary drug markets in general.Originality/valueVery little research exists into how judicial systems describe and perceive the developing phenomenon of online drug sales. Using a relatively large sample from a decade of sentencing, the authors provide an analysis of how Swedish courts view and valuate capital forms in the online drugs trade.

Research on Factors Related to Drug Abuse Relapse Among Patients

<i>Purpose:</i> To study the influencing factors of the time limit for maintaining abstinence of drug addicts and provide a scientific basis for the formulation of targeted intervention to extend the time limit of ethics. <i>Methods: </i>A total of 237 individuals were randomly selected from 23,350 individuals who were released from compulsory isolation for drug addiction and received long-term follow-up from December 1, 2010 to December 1, 2020. Among them, 215 individuals had relapsed after drug withdrawal (with a duration of maintaining abstinence ranging from 0 to 120 months), and 22 individuals had maintained abstinence after drug withdrawal for more than 120 months were used as the research objects. The relapse reasons self-assessment scale, social regression factors self-assessment scale, and three-dimensional personality scale-curiosity subscale were used to conduct a questionnaire survey to analyze the psychological and social factors influencing drug abuse patients. <i>Results:</i> The differences in the number of times of drug withdrawal, education level, marital status, and duration of drug abuse among drug withdrawal patients with different durations of maintaining abstinence were statistically significant (P < 0.05). The differences in the relapse reasons self-assessment scale among drug withdrawal patients with different durations of maintaining abstinence, such as physiological symptoms, job discrimination, drug-related temptations, rehabilitation effects, and social regression factors such as family acceptance, police acceptance, community services, and drug prohibition policies, were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Except for no significant difference with the control group in NS1 (only significant differences were found in the 49-60 month group, P < 0.05), the differences between drug withdrawal patients with different durations of maintaining abstinence and the control group in NS2, NS3, and NS4 were statistically significant (P < 0.05). <i>Conclusion:</i> Factors affecting relapse include drug-related temptations, rehabilitation effects, job discrimination, family and friends' rejection, psychological symptoms, and personality traits; Factors affecting social regression include family acceptance, economic income, drug prohibition policies, fair treatment, and job opportunities. To intervene in the factors leading to relapse in drug abuse patients, attention should be paid to the first withdrawal, education level, physiological symptoms, job discrimination, drug-related temptations, rehabilitation effects, family acceptance, police acceptance, community services, and drug prohibition policies.

Media constructions of an illegal drug: the link between cannabis and organized crime in Swedish newspapers

Background Lately, there has been massive media coverage of gang-related criminality in ‘exposed areas’ in Sweden. Politicians have blamed the illegal drugs trade without questioning the country’s prohibitionist drug policy. This study analyzes how cannabis is constructed in Swedish newspaper articles that mention both organized crime and cannabis. We ask how the drug and its buyers and sellers are described, what discourses are drawn upon, and discuss the relationship between media coverage and drug policy. Methods We analyzed recent (2021) articles from four newspapers (n = 71) through Critical Discourse Analysis. Results Cannabis was constructed as a commodity linked to violence and deviance. Agency was attributed to people with power and status (e.g. gang leaders), and recreational cannabis users were described as guilty of feeding organized crime. A combination of economic and moral discourses was used to make the reported events meaningful, and to motivate both prohibition and decriminalization/legalization. Conclusion The study shows that assumedly neutral journalistic voices emphasized the link between cannabis and violence and problematized cannabis buyers and sellers. This homogenous media coverage will probably contribute to keep the question of cannabis law reform discursively lifeless in Sweden.

Estimating the impact of a police education program on hepatitis C virus transmission and disease burden among people who inject drugs in Tijuana, Mexico: A dynamic modeling analysis.

Criminalization of drug use and punitive policing are key structural drivers of hepatitis C virus (HCV) risk among people who inject drugs (PWID). A police education program (Proyecto Escudo) delivering training on occupational safety together with drug law content was implemented between 2015 and 2016 in Tijuana, Mexico, to underpin drug law reform implementation. We used data from a longitudinal cohort of PWID in Tijuana to inform epidemic modeling and assess the long-term impact of Escudo on HCV transmission and burden among PWID in Tijuana. We developed a dynamic, compartmental model of HCV transmission and incarceration among PWID and tracked liver disease progression among current and former PWID. The model was calibrated to data from Tijuana, Mexico, with 90% HCV seroprevalence. We used segmented regression analysis to estimate impact of Escudo on recent incarceration among an observational cohort of PWID. By simulating the observed incarceration trends, we estimated the potential impact of the implemented (2-year reduction in incarceration) and an extended (10-year reduction in incarceration) police education program over a 50-year follow-up (2016-2066) on HCV outcomes (incidence, cirrhosis, HCV-related deaths and disability adjusted life-years averted) compared with no intervention. Over the 2-year follow-up, Proyecto Escudo reduced HCV incidence among PWID from 21.5 per 100 person years (/100py) (95% uncertainty interval [UI] = 15.3-29.7/100py) in 2016 to 21.1/100py (UI = 15.0-29.1/100py) in 2018. If continued for 10years, Escudo could reduce HCV incidence to 20.0/100py (14.0-27.8/100py) by 2026 and avert 186 (32-389) new infections, 76 (UI = 12-160) cases of cirrhosis and 32 (5-73) deaths per 10 000 PWID compared with no intervention over a 50-year time horizon. In Tijuana, Mexico, implementation of a police education program delivering training on occupational safety and drug law content appears to have reduced hepatitis C virus incidence among people who inject drugs.

Recreational Cannabis Use: Regulatory Aspects, Public Opinion and Concerns for Public Health.

Cannabis represents the most used substance in the young population after alcohol and tobacco. The consumption of the substance undoubtedly represents an emerging public health issue, and the regulatory aspects are quite heterogeneous. Alternatives to drug prohibition, such as legalization or decriminalization, are a topic of growing debate among researchers, policy makers and the public. Limiting harmful use and combating illicit trafficking are the main objectives of legalization for recreational purposes, although liberalization raises critical issues that have not yet been resolved despite the experience gained in many countries. In the context of legalization, it is essential to allow the lawful production of cannabis, guarantee a supply of controlled quality cannabis, and ensure that the population understands the risks associated with the consumption of the substance. At the same time, it is essential to protect the safety and health of the population by limiting access to cannabis and preventing accidental exposure to fragile categories and children. Incomplete knowledge of law enforcement can create further complications. Incomplete knowledge of the implementation of the laws can create further complications; therefore adequate information must be favored. Scientific evidence helps to understand the potential harms and benefits of cannabis, but the impact of legalization - even in terms of reducing consumption - is not clearly documented. So, far more efforts need to be made in the future to broaden awareness of the general population on the recreational use of cannabis.

RESTORATIVE JUSTICE DALAM PENEGAKAN HUKUM TINDAK PIDANA PENYALAHGUNAAN NARKOBA DI KECAMATAN SENYERANG TANJUNG JABUNG BARAT

This study aims to examine the law enforcement of criminal acts in Indonesia, as a country law, of course enforcement law that doesn't take sides has set in Constitution 1945 Constitution Article 27 paragraph (1) of the 1945 Constitution where everyone is treated same in front law . Restorative justice is an alternative law enforcement approach that prioritizes solidarity, custom and culture, as regulated in the decision letter of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia concerning application of restorative justice. This study resulted in four things, namely: 1. General description of drug abuse crimes in Senyerang District 2. Efforts made by the Senyerang Pengabuan Police against drug abuse by applying the concept justice restorative justice, 3. Forms of restorative justice on drug abuse 4. MUI decree against eating and drinking containing alcohol/ethanol. The conclusion of the study is that drug abuse is a victim of crime, drug law enforcement can only be carried out with prevention without punishment and rehabilitation methods which are the implementation of restorative justice, drugs can be interpreted as khomar and the law is haram.

Cold War Narcotics Trafficking, the Global War on Drugs, and East Germany's Illicit Transnational Entanglements

AbstractAlthough it lacked a significant domestic market for internationally trafficked drugs, East Germany emerged as an important corridor for narcotics smugglers in the 1970s due to its position between supply countries in Asia and consumer countries in the West. The unique geography of West Berlin created a large market of consumers surrounded by East German territory, forcing traffickers to pass through the GDR border. Efforts by officials in both Germanys and the United States to cooperate on the problem of narcotics trafficking revealed conflicts between the geography of the Cold War—where the GDR border was the front line in the ideological conflict between East and West—and the international drug prohibition system, which sought global interstate collaboration in the name of a “universal international society,” against the common threat of crime. As Cold War tensions declined in the 1980s, border enforcement cooperation between East and West became increasingly viable as both sides reoriented toward the view that Europe had to defend itself from the threats posed by mobilities of those in the global south.

Policies Affecting Pregnant Women with Substance Use Disorder

Policies Affecting Pregnant Women with Substance Use Disorder

“It's no foundation, there's no stabilization, you're just scattered”: A qualitative study of the institutional circuit of recently-evicted people who use drugs

People who use drugs (PWUD) commonly experience housing instability due to intersecting structural vulnerabilities (e.g., drug prohibition, discriminatory housing policies), and prejudicial or illegal evictions are common. In Vancouver, Canada, evictions have proliferated in the Downtown Eastside, a historically low-income neighbourhood with high rates of drug use and housing instability, resulting in many PWUD being evicted into homelessness. This study characterizes housing trajectories of recently-evicted PWUD through the lens of the institutional circuit of homelessness, and explores how wider contexts of structural vulnerability shape experiences within this. Qualitative interviews were conducted with PWUD recently evicted in the Downtown Eastside (<60 days). Peer research assistants recruited 58 PWUD through outreach activities. All PWUD participated in baseline interviews on the causes and contexts of evictions. Follow-up interviews were completed with 41 participants 3–6 months later, focusing on longer-term impacts of eviction, including housing trajectories. Most participants were evicted into homelessness, remaining so at follow-up. Participants described patterns of residential instability consisting of frequent cycling between shelters, streets, and kin-based networks. While participants normalized this cycling as characteristic of their marginalized social positions, narratives revealed how the demands of the institutional circuit deepened vulnerabilities and prolonged experiences of homelessness. Experiences were framed by participants' (in)ability to navigate survival needs (e.g., shelter, drug use), with tensions and trade-offs between needs increasing participants' and their peers' risks of harms. Constructions of agency further shaped experiences; accounts highlighted tensions between the control inherent to indoor spaces and participants’ need for autonomy. Findings demonstrate how the demands of the institutional circuit foregrounded structural vulnerabilities to perpetuate cycles of instability. Interventions that address survival needs and preserve agency will be necessary to mitigate risks within the institutional circuit, in tandem with upstream interventions that target housing vulnerability and broader social-structural conditions (e.g., poverty, affordability) that entrap recently-evicted PWUD in the institutional circuit.

ANÁLISE CRÍTICA DOS IMPACTOS DA LEI 11.343/06 NOS RUMOS DO ENCARCERAMENTO NO BRASIL

The Drug Law currently in force in Brazil, dated 2006, brought important differences between the legal dealings that should be used with drug users and spies who trade with them. The legislation in force, however, receives criticism for granting a certain degree of discretion to legal operators to make such a distinction, and is identified as one of the determining factors for the large increase in incarceration rates that Brazil has been experiencing in recent decades. This article intends to analyze statistical data regarding the prison population and analyze them in the light of Law nº 11.343/06; in addition to analyzing the points of distinction between the Drug Law in force and the old one, as well as the markers of race and gender in the application of this legislation.