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Criminological Theory On Drug Use
Crimes relating to drugs take place because of the illicit use of drugs undoubtedly. The statistics of the United Kingdom (UK) show that recreational use of drugs and crime has a significant relationship in between (Bean, 2004). Mainly, we are discussing the association of crime and use of illicit drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, and this topic have a major area of debate and research. However, the nature of the relationship between crime and drug is not clear till date and it is a topic for many discussions Griffiths, Mounteney and Laniel, 2012). Drug-related crime includes the acts of crime committed by those who used drugs or related to selling or buying the drugs and excludes violations of the drug laws (Bean, 2014).
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Write My Essay For MeGoldstein distinguished the drug-induced crime into three types (Duke, 2013). Economic- compulsive crime means the crimes done by one due to the need of additional income for funding the drug purchases that are made necessary for habitual use of drugs. Psychopharmacological is the crime generating by the reaction of the drug in one’s brain, for that one loose self-control or the capacity for decision making, or become violent due to the external provocation. Systematic violence is the feature of the functioning of illicit markets, where the legal contract enforcement is impracticable (Wood, Greene and Dargan, 2013). It is to be noted that economic-compulsive crime can be related to any types of consumption, for not only the illegal drugs but some people also commit the crime for money to purchase tobacco, clothes or alcohol. For this use of unusual medicines, there is a long-run indirect effect can happen which is hard to evaluate. For example, use of illicit drugs may lead to impairing of intellectual ability, effect the achievements in education and the employment prospects, etc. (Martin et al. 2013).
Categories of Drugs
The Misuse of Drugs Act, 1971 categorises drugs into three classes, namely:
Class A: This category includes cocaine and crack, LSD, heroin, methamphetamine (crystal meth), ecstasy, methadone, magic mushrooms that contain the ester of psilocin and any injected Class B drug. Class A drugs are characterised as most dangerous among all the classes.
Class B: This includes codeine, amphetamine (not methamphetamine), ketamine, cannabis and barbiturates. In this class, we also find the drugs like mephedrone, methedrone, methylone and MDPV, which are controlled by the Class B drugs since 2010.
Class C: We can describe minor tranquillisers, anabolic steroids, GHB and GBL, and khat in the Class C category (Monaghan, 2012).
Representation of the crime
The Misuse of Drugs Act, 1971 (Act) proposes prevention of drug usage for the non-medical purpose. The Act controls both medicinal drugs and the drugs, which are not in use currently. This Act deals with the controlled drugs which defines a series of offences including the unlawful supply and possession of the drugs. For enforcement of the Act, the police have the extraordinary powers to search, stop and detain any person on a reasonable suspicion (Duke, 2013).
Offences under the Act
The Misuse of Drugs Act includes the following offences:
Possession of the Controlled Drugs
Possession of drugs intending to supply to the other person
Cultivation, production or production of the controlled drugs
Supply or proposal to supply the controlled drugs to another person
Export or import of controlled drugs
Allow any premises occupied by one to use for consumption of some of the controlled drugs, such as smoking of opium or cannabis, or production and supply of any controlled drugs
Certain controlled drugs may be consumed, which can be obtained by the prescription of a doctor. In that case, the possession is legal.
Exceptions
Some drugs that are covered by other legislations are not treated as the exception under the Act, namely, alcohol, GBL, poppers, tobacco, solvents, minor tranquilities and anabolic steroids (Romero, Magaloni and Díaz-Cayeros, 2014).
Penalties
Sentences for the offences under the Act can differ as per the nature of the crimes. For possession of Class A drugs, one can be punished with imprisonment for 7 years and a fine, and for the supply, one can be imprisoned for life and pay the fine. If one person is arrested for possession of Class B drugs, then he or she can be punished with imprisonment for 5 years and pay fine, and for the supply of the same, one is punished with imprisonment for 14 years and with fine. In the case of possession of Class C drugs, one can be imprisoned for 2 years and pay the fine. For the supply of the Class C drugs, one can be punished the same as for the Class B drugs. The maximum sentence differs as per the character of the offence (Reuter, 2013).
2005- Drugs Act
To prove the offence under this Act, if the suspect found in possession of drugs greater than the quantity required for personal use, then the burden of proof of such possession shall lie on the suspect. The defendant has to prove that he is not intended to supply the drugs.
The police have the right of compulsory drug-testing of the arrested persons where they have rational grounds to believe that an offence related to Class A drugs involved (Walters, 2014).
The Medicines Act 1968
This act oversees the supply and manufacture of medicine. This act includes three categories of medical drugs. The most restricted are prescription only medicine (Appelbe and Wingfield 2013). Pharmacists can sell pharmacy medicines without a prescription. General sales list medicines may be sold not only from a pharmacy but in any shop (Pierce et al. 2015).
Customs and Excise Management Act 1979
Along with the Misuses of Drugs Act, this Act penalises the unlawful import or export of the controlled drugs.
Road Traffic Act 1972
The offence for which one can be charged under this Act is while driving an automobile being in a poor condition to drive due to drugs or drinks. The drugs included prescribed medicines, solvents or illegal drugs (Appelbe and Wingfield 2013).
Drug Trafficking Act 1994
An offence relating to this Act includes selling of instruments or articles that use for the preparation of the controlled drugs, like snorting kits of cocaine. The Act authorises seizure of the assets or the income of the person who may be held guilty of the drug trafficking (Newburn, 2012).
Crime and Disorder Act 1998
This Act initiates enforcement of drug treatment and the testing orders, for those people who are convicted of the offences committed due to continuing their use of drugs (Facchin and Margola, 2015).
Statistics of Illicit drugs use
In this report, we are discussing the trends and extent of unlawful use of drugs among the adults aged from 16 to 59 years in the year 2014/15 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) (Newburn, 2012). The survey measured the level of the drugs used by the person during his/her lifetime, except cannabis.
CRIMLJUS 1130 Introduction to Criminal Justice
CRIMLJUS 2130 The Police Function
CRIMLJUS 2230 Foundations of Corrections
CRIMLJUS 4030 Criminal Law
