Drug abuse: Tendencies and ways to overcome it

Drug abuse: Tendencies and ways to overcome it

CONTENTS:

Number:

Pages:

1. Introduction

2-4

Chapter 1. Concept, Manifestations and Tendencies of

Drug Abuse

4-14

2. The Concept and Manifestation of Drug Abuse 4-

11

3. Tendencies of Development

11-14

Chapter II. System and Classification of Measures to Overcome

Drug Abuse

14-22

4. System of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse 14-

17

5. Classification of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse 17-22

Chapter III. Drug Abuse in the International Law 22-38

6. International Fora and Legal Acts on Drugs

22-34

7. Tendencies in the World Community's Reaction to Drug Abuse. 34-37

Chapter IV. Measures to Suppress and Prevent Drug Abuse 37-40

Chapter V. Organized Measures to Counteract Narcotics 40-57

8. General Provisions for Counteracting Narcotics

41-45

9. Organization of Medical Counteraction to Narcotics 45-

49

10. Enforcement of Legal Measures of Narcotics Counteraction 50-53

11. Other Organizational Measures to Combat Narcotics 53-57

12. Conclusion

57-58

Introduction

The 20th century has witnessed the spread of narcotics to the entire

world. In the past narcotics in the natural economy were confined to

territories where drug-bearing plants were grown. By the end of century

drug addiction has become a worldwide socially dangerous trend.

Narco-dealers making fabulous profits infect more and more people and

even entire social groups with drug addiction. Narcotics have long since

gone beyond the borders of traditional drug-producing areas and have

infiltrated all the countries of the world, exerting its malicious effect

on their peoples. It has affected social, economic, political and

biological aspects of life.

Statistics is constantly reporting the spread of drug addiction and the

growth in the number of drug addicts on file at medical institutions, as

well as the rise in officially recorded drug-related crimes.

Drug abuse has become a real plague of the 20th century in many

countries of the world and may become the plague of this country in

particular.

The pleasurable sensations of comfort and satisfaction that a person

experiences using narcotics is much greater than that of alcohol thus

making the repetition necessary. Consequently, dependence on drugs and the

desire to enlarge the dose or experiment with the new and more powerful

drugs increases. Gradually the desire for dope becomes so overwhelming that

it degrades the addict's individuality. The transition from experimentation

to dependence is no longer a secret for it has been studied thoroughly.

Profit seeking dealers expand the drug market at any cost by supplying

drugs to more and more addicts taking advantage of their weaknesses.

Drug sales are the closing stage in drug trafficking. Drug trade earns

huge profits that cover the costs of cultivating drug-bearing plants,

producing (or illegally acquiring from medical institutions)

transportation, sale expenses, and the bribery of officials, including

those of the law enforcement agencies. Since illegal drug trafficking is

extremely advantageous in terms of illegal profit accumulation and so

harmful and immoral it must be regarded by the entire world community as a

socially dangerous phenomenon. Some countries qualify its certain

manifestations as a heinous crime.

Throughout this century international organizations have been paying

much attention to actions against drug abuse. For example, in 1909 the

Shanghai Opium Commission approved documents to restrict drug trafficking

between countries. The international opium conference held in the Hague

between 1911 and 1912 worked out, for the first time in history, the drug

convention of 1912. The conference on opium held in Geneva between 1924 and

1925 approved, on February 11, 1925, an Agreement under which opium was

made a government monopoly. The second Geneva conference on opium passed a

convention on February 19, 1925, under which narcotics were to be produced

only for the purpose of meeting the countries' legal demand for them.

Besides this convention stipulated the extension of the list of drugs. On

July 13, 1931, an international convention limiting the production of drugs

and regulating their distribution was approved in Geneva. It came into

force in 1933. A convention of actions against the illegal trade in hard

drugs was signed in Geneva on June 26, 1936. It made international

prosecution for drug-related crimes possible and introduced punishments for

such crimes compared with the previous conventions.

In 1946, the UN Economic and Social Council passed a resolution that

provided for the international drug control and for the establishment of a

drug commission for this purpose. On November, 19 1946, the UN General

Assembly passed resolution 54/1 which endorsed a Protocol on Drugs. It was

signed at Lake Success on December 11, 1946. At the initiative of the Drug

Commission, a protocol extending the international control over drugs set

forth by the 1931 convention, was signed at the third UN General Assembly

session in Paris on November 19, 1948. A Protocol on Control over opium

poppy, consisting of the Preamble and the Final Act, was signed in New York

at the UN opium conference on June 23, 1953. The UN conference in New York

in 1961 approved a Uniform Drug Convention and in 1971 in Vienna a special

diplomatic conference passed a convention that stipulated the establishment

of a control over psychotropic preparations. The UN conference in Vienna in

1988 adopted a convention of actions against the illegal trafficking of

drugs and psychotropic substances. In keeping with the decisions of the G

Seven heads of state and governments and of the European Commission

Chairman, the 15th top-level economic summit in Paris set up a special

group in July 1989 to deal with the laundering of drug money. Upon this

group's recommendations, the International Drug Control Council called on

all the governments to approve, among other things, legislative acts

against attempts to launder money obtained from drug sales and to ensure

their effective use. The list of international antidrug conferences and

their drug-prevention documents alone, as well as the establishment of

special international bodies and organizations to carry out their

decisions, is a graphic illustration of how serious the world community's

effort to oppose drug abuse has been.

A lot of people today are drawn into the process of illegal drug

trafficking: from those engaged in cultivating drugs or producing medical

preparations containing drugs, to drug salesmen and dealers engaged in

money-laundering. At times these people form groups, which are termed,

organized criminal groups or associations by the criminal code. On the one

hand, these groups take control of drug-related crimes and draw people who

commit such crimes on their own. And on the other hand, they establish firm

organizational ties among themselves forming drug cartels in order to

monopolize drug trafficking in the vast regions of the world. This shows

that there is a continuous blending process between narcotics and organized

crime. These factors characterize the highest degree of danger that

narcotics represent. They prove the pressing need to increase worldwide

action against narcotics. This action calls for the use of all possible

means: political, legal, economic, and medical among others.

The antidrug campaign is a big drain on the material resources of the

country. It involves large spending on various programs such as preventive

Medicare, law-enforcement, legal and economic measures, and other. If this

spending is to be rational and effective, a range of measures should be

outlined with the utmost precision and professionally implemented.

All this calls for a comprehensive analysis of the existing situation

and of the possible opposition by drug dealers. As the owners of enormous

wealth, which sometimes exceeds the budgets of some countries, drug dealers

are able to influence government policies, especially in small countries.

Mainly bribing top government officials in the legislative or the executive

branches ensures this influence. As a result, criminals get a chance to

interfere in law making from the outset. The bribery of the law enforcement

officers and of the officers of the court, among others, makes it possible

to cover up drug deals, prevent exposed members of the criminal

associations involved in these deals from prosecution or substantially

curtail their prison terms.

Unlike the United States and other wealthy countries, smaller nations

are in no position to allocate sufficient sums from their budgets to carry

out effective antidrug projects. Research-based guidance may to a certain

extent make up for the lack of necessary funding. And here government-

supported antidrug programs may play an essential role.

The study of drug abuse has always been prominent in the study of law.

Many booklets, articles, serious textbooks, and monographs are devoted to

narcotics. It is as hard to cover all aspects of the problem, even in the

most profound study, as it is to establish absolute truth, especially,

since reality keeps creating new problems all the time.

The key solution lies in the need to pool international efforts in

eradicating drug addiction and narco-business. In the present-day world

with its integration processes it is impossible to do away with drug

addiction in any one country. Yet there is no way for the world community

to regard itself free from the problem even at a time when drugs will be a

peril only in one particular country. An intensive and continuous buildup

of the world community's joint effort against narcotics is a top priority

objective of the world at large.

Chapter 1. Concept, Manifestations and Tendencies of Drug Abuse

1. The Concept and Manifestation of Drug Abuse

Sociologists, lawyers and medical experts single out three basic

aspects of drug abuse: social, legal and medical.

These aspects are interconnected and interdependent and reveal the

diverse nature of drug abuse. Moreover one can also point out the

criminological, economic and ecological aspects.

To highlight the entire multiplicity of this phenomenon, it is

necessary to go beyond the widespread notion of "drug addiction" because

strictly speaking it applies only to the medical or biological aspects of

drug use being viewed exclusively as a disease without covering social,

legal and some other aspects. This is why the notion "drug abuse" rather

than "drug addiction" is used in juridical literature as a much wider term

covering social, legal and other aspects. So, drug abuse is understood as a

"social phenomenon" which combines such illegal actions as willful

consumption of narcotics, dealing in narcotics illegally, as well as

solicitation to use drugs, creating the conditions for becoming a part of

illegal drug trafficking.

This definition is acceptable on the whole and may be used as a basis

for describing the phenomenon, yet it fails to cover the biological aspect

and insufficiently expresses the economic, legal and criminological

aspects.

There is a need for a term that would cover all the aspects of this

negative phenomenon, and of the ways of combating it.

Social Aspects of Drug Abuse:

Most concisely, the social aspect of drug abuse can be described as a

combination of social behaviors linked to narcotics and their social

consequences in the form of damage that has been done and can be done to

society.

The actual negative social manifestations of drug abuse are expressed

in various drug-related actions: cultivation of drug bearing plants,

preparation, acquisition, storage, sale and consumption of narcotics, as

well as persuasion to use narcotics.

Negative Social Consequences of Drug Abuse:

The negative social consequences of drug abuse are similar to the

social consequences of crime. They amount to "real harm caused by crime to

social relationships and expressed in the cause-and-effect combination of

criminal behavior and in the direct and indirect, immediate and mediate

negative changes (damage, losses, and other ill effects), ultimately

affecting the social (economic, moral, legal, etc.) Values and also

implying the combination of society's economic and other social hazards

attributed to the effort to combat and to socially prevent crime.

Proceeding from this definition it is possible to recognize the

negative social consequences of drug abuse. The first is the negative

social changes, such as harm to people's health, the destruction of family

foundations, and a decline in work efficiency. The second is the cost which

society has to pay to overcome these changes. Other changes also include

refusal to work, various antisocial actions, and crime. A closer look at

these negative changes shows that drug addicts are poor workers because of

their ill health, which, in general, makes work impossible for them during

spells of abstinence. Their entire range of interests and thoughts lies in

the desire to find ways of obtaining drugs. The list of negative changes

also includes material damage perpetrated by the drug addicts who are often

the source of transportation accidents and accidents in industry. For

example, 60 billion dollars worth of damage is done annually in the United

States alone. There is also the moral damage resulting from the various

unlawful actions motivated by the desire to find means for buying drugs,

such as the willingness to commit crime for the sake of meeting that

desire. Forgery, embezzlement, abuse of authority and office duties is just

a few. Drug addicts create unbearable conditions for their families by

denying them normal lifestyles and means of existence. They harm their

offspring by upsetting the hereditary stock. Drug addicts undergo physical

and moral degradation and die early. They destroy their own basic moral and

ethical values.

The Committee of Experts of the World Health Organization determines

the social danger and negative consequences of drug abuse according to the

basic factors and divides them into two main groups: the breach of

relations among drug consumers and the spread of unfavorable consequences

among many people.

Specific Social Problems of Drug Abuse:

WHO experts describe the specific social problems caused by drug abuse

as follows: the huge material losses and their consequences in the form of

all kinds of damage done to those who immediately surround drug consumers

(parents, college roommates and so on) and to the society as a whole; the

deterioration of relations with official organizations and institutions,

staff at college and at work etc.; drug consumers' inclination to commit

crimes motivated by the need to have drugs or the means to buy them, and

also the mercenary and violent crimes committed under the influence of

drugs; the additional demand for welfare benefits and medical care for

persons using drugs other than for medicinal purposes and in connection

with this the unnoticed spending both by drug addicts and by society as a

whole; the danger arising from drug addicts as potential conduct of drug

addiction in their immediate surroundings.

Detailed research however allows for a broader list of specific social

aspects. They include: ideological and cultural, law enforcement, medical

care and preventative medicine, labor and education, family and leisure

time, and material resources. The specific ill effects of narcotics and

their unfavorable social consequences can be seen in any of the categories

listed above. For example, in the ideological and cultural area they

express themselves in the development of a specific drug ideology; in the

law enforcement area there is an increase of crime. In Medicare and

preventive medicine, there is deterioration in people's health and an

increase in the number of handicapped children. In industry and education -

a decline in labor efficiency and poor results at schools and other

educational centers is evident. One can also point to accidents and to

deterioration of relations among staff. In the family relations, a loss of

understanding occurs. All this requires setting up special schools,

preventive centers, drug departments at medical institutions,

rehabilitation centers and new antidrug programs.

To sum up the above-cited social aspects of drug abuse one may state,

that it is harmful in physical, moral and proprietary ways. This harm is

caused by the proliferation of the narcotic sub-culture as it draws more

victims into it; secondly, by drug-related crimes; thirdly, by crimes

committed for the purpose of getting means for buying more drugs; fourthly,

by crimes committed under the influence of drugs; and, finally, by the

spending needed to carry out various programs aimed at eliminating drug

abuse.

Legal Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The legal aspect of drug abuse is also a part of the social aspect.

Crimes and other law-breaking acts covered by the totality of legal norms

involve the illegal cultivation of drug-bearing plants, the preparation,

storage, transportation, trafficking, sales, and theft of drugs, the use of

drugs without doctor's prescription, and the violation of laws regulating

the handling of narcotics. This also covers the situation when suitable

conditions are created for taking drugs and those in which more people are

persuaded to use drugs or when people have to commit crimes in order to

obtain means to buy drugs. Crimes committed under the influence of drugs,

as well as crimes that are committed for the purpose of getting money to

purchase drugs are included as well.

These crimes should be viewed as part of the notion of drug abuse since

they are caused by the desires of drug users to boost drug-inspired

activities or their level of intoxication. The legal aspect of drug abuse

also includes those relationships regulated by law and arising from the non-

medical use of drugs.

Criminological Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The criminological aspect of drug abuse includes a part of this

phenomenon that poses an extreme danger to the public, i.e. is linked to

the above-cited crimes, their state, level, structure, dynamics, cause-and-

effect, criminal's personality, and prevention measures, among others.

Economic Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The economic aspect of drug abuse is associated with its affect on

economy, such as large sums of money in possession of drug dealers, a

decline in labor productivity of drug addicts; an increase in spending on

law-enforcement engaged in combating drug-related crimes; and a drain on

national budgets due to preventive and rehabilitation measures to combat

drug addiction. Experts claim, for example, that in the former USSR, the

cost of illegal drug trafficking within the "narco-business-shadow economy"

amounted to billions of troubles.

Biological Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The biological aspect of drug abuse is associated with the notion that

it is "a disease manifested by a constant and insurmountable craving for

drugs (morphine, for example) causing euphoria in small doses and stupor in

large ones. The regular use of drugs arouses a desire to increase the dose.

The abstinence syndrome usually accompanies withdrawal.

Narcotics damage the internal organs of drug takers, destroy their

nervous systems, their state of mind, and bring about their social

degradation.

Since drug addiction is a disease, there is a need to find a cure for

it. Hence, the need to have qualified medical personnel, special drug

rehabilitation centers and branches offices, effective medicines and

curative methods.

Ecological Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The ecological aspect of narcotics is associated, on the one hand, with

the natural existence of drug-bearing plants, and on the other, with their

man-made cultivation. These plants are a source of obtaining and preparing

narcotic substances. From the ecological point of view there is a need,

first, to do away with the spread of wild drug-bearing plants, and second,

to ban their man-made cultivation. The economic, biological and ecological

aspects are subjects for research by experts.

Drug-related Crimes:

It is possible to define drug abuse as a negative social phenomenon

touching upon the social, legal, criminological, economic, biological and

ecological areas accordingly. One part of the phenomenon is drug addiction,

as a disease, and other, embraces all the law-breaking actions related to

drugs: those carried out to secure means for purchasing drugs or those

committed under the influence of drugs. Such law-breaking actions cover the

use, preparation, purchase, storage, transportation, parcel mail, sale and

theft of narcotic substances; attempts to force other people to use drugs

and the creation of conditions conducive to such use; attempts to sow and

grow drug-bearing plants; attempts to violate the established rules

regulating the production, purchase, storage, control, sale, transportation

or parcel mail of narcotic substances; and, drug smuggling. The law-

breaking actions also cover various mercenary crimes (violent crime) that

are not drug-related but are committed in order to buy drugs subsequently

(theft, robbery, plunder, fraud, blackmail and others) and also violent

crimes committed under the influence of drugs (e.g., hooliganism against

individuals). This notion reflects the essence and the confines of the drug

use and serves as a guideline for determining its scale and developing

strategies against it. Yet the true scale of this phenomenon is obscured by

a high degree of latent drug-induced diseases and law-breaking drug-related

actions.

Narcotics and Crime:

The above-listed law-breaking actions are crimes proving an

interrelation between drug abuse and crime. Drugs and crime are not only

closely interrelated, but actually blend fully, and in fact, becomes what

is known, as narco-crime. But to merely establish this fact is not enough.

The danger drug-related crimes pose to the public surpasses the danger

coming from other crimes. Drug-related crime is largely interrelated with

various other kinds of crime and even merges with one of its most dangerous

varieties such as organized crime. This becomes clear studying the dynamics

of drug-related crimes. Central here are the drug users who represent a

consumer of narcotics, and the ultimate target of drug trafficking - the

sale of drugs. When people become dependent on drugs they concentrate all

their efforts on getting drugs at any cost. They engage in criminal

activities ranging from the cultivation of drug-bearing plants and the

preparation of "stuff", to its sale.

Tendencies of Development:

The number of drug users grows in direct proportion to the rise in

crimes committed under the influence of narcotics and, in the long run, to

the profits earned by the drug dealers. Hence, drug dealers seek to 1)

expand the drug sales; 2) increase the output of drugs or receive more of

them from medical and pharmaceutical centers; and, 3) further promote

criminal activities connected to drugs. The latter seems to ensure the

realization of the former. A high degree of organization paves the way for

expanding drug sales, increasing the output and boosting drug trafficking.

Expanding Drug Sales:

The expansion of drug sales is achieved by persuading more people to

take drugs. Drug dealers set up drug pads and stores where narcotics are

available. They try to advertise them in indirect ways. They make sure that

more powerful drugs are continuously being developed.

In order to increase drug output drug-bearing plants are grown on

remote plantations in regions with difficult access. Illegal shops and

laboratories for developing new types of narcotics are set up there. Funds

for increasing drug output are raised by blackmailing or bribing public

officials. Drug-dealers practice violence, make threats against officials

and encourage theft of large amounts of drugs.

Boosting the Level of Organization of the Illegal Drug Trafficking

Business Methods to improve the level of organization include mergers of

criminal groups and associations, severe disciplinary measures within

criminal organizations, greater degree of cohesion among group members,

conspiratorial rules, and tougher actions against those who violate the

rules in such groups. Other methods are: increasing attempts to draw

government officials into criminal groups, taking control of persons

engaged in drug-related crimes on their own, centralizing finances and

monopolizing drug prices.

According to various studies there are quite a few syndicates and

cartels in the world that have divided drug trafficking regions among

themselves. Activities of these groups are guided by a clear-cut system of

criminal actions, such as promoting the sowing and cultivation of drug-

bearing plants, the production of narcotics, their wholesale purchase, and

the transportation and sales of drugs to consumers. Drug syndicates and

cartels, for whom drug trafficking is the main source of income, act under

the guise of legitimate companies, trying to come across as legal as

possible. They have airplanes, modern weapons and the newest technology in

their possession. Leaders of the criminal drug associations do their utmost

to oppose the actions of law enforcement agencies. With this purpose in

mind, they not only try to check police actions but make attempts,

successful at times, to infiltrate police ranks. Professional criminals

deploy defense measures that may prove to be so effective in challenging

the worthiness of surveillance of suspects and the bugging of their phones.

United into cartels and syndicates and organizationally divided into groups

and associations, drug- criminals are usually aware that they remain under

constant surveillance. To ensure their personal safety they resort, as a

rule, to various counter-surveillance measures, thus putting well-trained

police officers in a difficult position. Experience shows that criminal

groups usually keep the approaches to places where narcotics are turned

over under their own close watch.

Ways to Legalize Drug Profits:

Drug dealers seek not only to build up profits from drug trafficking

but to legalize them as well. To that end they engage in criminal

activities where by legal and illegal operations are inextricably

intertwined. The money earned from the trade in narcotics is invested into

legitimate businesses or in real estate. It may also be laundered in

financial transactions, such as, the purchase of shares and securities or

other newly invented and constantly perfected operations. The income thus

obtained allows drug dealers not only to pour more money into drug

trafficking or finance more drug-related crimes but also provides for a

legal coverage of drug trade, or for the participation in legal activities.

Speakers at the international seminar on combating organized crime in the

Russian city of Suzdal in 1992 held in accord with the resolution of the

45th session of the UN General Assembly, pointed out that "in the majority

of countries, organized crime developed along two directions: participating

in prohibited activities (property crimes, money laundering, illegal drug

trafficking, violation of hard currency transaction rules, intimidation,

prostitution, gambling, trade in weapons and antiques) and joining legal

business (directly or using such parasitical means as extortion. This

participation in legal economic activities is always bent for the use of

illegal competition methods and may have a greater economic impact compared

to the involvement in totally illegal kinds of activity). In short,

criminal methods are used in both cases leading to the situation in which

criminal elements form the majority of organized criminal formations.

Organized Narco-crime:

Typically, drug cartels and syndicates are highly organized. Present in

the organizations are: strict and precise distribution of functions; very

rigid hierarchies; internal discipline maintained by interest, authority

and force; stringent conspiracy; ramified networks of groups bound by firm

organizational ties; branches existing and functioning in various

countries; contacts with other criminal groups (counterfeiters, smugglers,

murderers etc.); the use of professional criminals; the

internationalization of group members; and, the use of violence to meet the

desired ends. To protect their huge profits and spheres of interest, the

subjects of narco-criminals stop at nothing and employ violent means, such

as the contract murders of their rivals and of law enforcement agents. The

money brought by the trade in drugs is often used to finance dangerous

crimes and acts of terrorism. It becomes a source, which finances

subversive activities of all kinds. Profits obtained from the drug trade

make it possible to finance large-scale armed operations against government

forces (like in Columbia or Mexico). Profit gained from the drug trade is

often compared with the profits earned by whole industries. The drug trade

is regarded as the world's second largest economy. All this enables drug

dealers not only to pay generously for the participation in crimes but also

to set up a common financial fund, a common bank, so to speak. Narco-money

is also used to exert influence on policy-making, particularly, by

nominating the associates of drug dealers to key posts in the economy and

politics or by bribing persons who already hold such posts and turning them

into supporters of the drugs trade. These financial investments are

reinforced by threats of violence against them or their close relatives

(wives, children or parents). This proves convincingly that narco-crime is

a well organized and well planned business incorporating the mutually inter-

related criminal activities of individuals, groups, associations,

syndicates and cartels with a division of mutually interrelated functions.

This is the reason to regard this kind of crime as a variety of organized

crime. Some researchers believe that drug profits are the economic

foundation of organized crime. This can be seen in comparison of elements

forming narco- and organized crimes. To get a clear understanding of the

elements of the latter it is necessary to look in retrospect at the history

of organized crime. While crime and drug addiction have been known to the

world for at least several centuries, the existence of organized crime has

been officially recognized quite recently, only in this century. Yet both

national and foreign researchers date the origin of this phenomenon, in one

way or another, to a much earlier period.

Various stable criminal organizations used to appear and operate on

territories of almost all modern states. Gangs of brigands and smugglers

were at work not only on land but also at sea (sea pirates). They had in

their possession caches of weapons, stocks of gold and food and, sometimes,

entire fleets of pirate boats furnished with everything necessary for an

attack and ready to go into combat with regular troops or ships. They

thereby challenged borders and laws. Already at that time members of such

gangs observed their own internal rules and traditions strictly, contrary

to the ones obligatory in society. Among them there was the principle of

mutual help, the recognition of the leaders' authority, the distribution of

duties and spoils, as well as a system of reward and punishment. Gangsters

knew exactly the kind of work they were responsible for and also knew their

zones of influence (slave trade, cattle stealing, smuggling arms,

narcotics, gold, diamonds, etc). They talked their own language and stuck

to other conspiratorial rules. Taking hostages and bribing officials were

their usual practices, very much like the actions of the present day

organized crime groups.

With the passing of time, of course, these organizations kept

transforming and modernizing, adjusting to changes of state borders,

governments and economies. They were turning more and more into organized

criminal associations that posed a serious threat to public safety, to the

supremacy of the law and to other state institutions. As researchers point

out, a particular danger of organized crime is that it becomes more and

more arrogant, aggressive, ingenious and diverse. In the 1980s, organized

crime became increasingly apparent throughout the world.

Forms of Organized Crime:

Along with traditional forms of organized crime, new forms, more

diverse and greater in scale, have appeared, such as the theft and re-sale

of luxury cars, electronic equipment, historical and cultural art objects,

antiques, icons and church plate. Other forms include the illegal trade in

human being, weapons and ammunition, strategic raw materials, non-ferrous

and rare metals, drugs counterfeiting, theft and forgery of credit cards,

gambling, and infiltration of legal business and world finance. An analysis

of documents issued by the UN Information Center proves that the influence

of various forms of organized crime spreads far beyond national borders and

"transnationalize crime", so to speak. This creates a situation which

"differs, both qualitatively and quantitatively, from the situation in the

past and hampers the accomplishment of effective measures aiming to prevent

and eliminate crime. Experts believe that the evolution of organized crime

should be seen as "a process providing for a rational reorganization on the

international basis of criminal enterprises using the same patterns just as

it is the case for legal enterprises." This process reflects tendencies for

forming a more intricate organizational structure typical of the modern

society in all countries. This explains why the UN Secretary General

pointed out in his speech at the 47th General Assembly session on September

28, 1992, that it was imperative to promote international cooperation and

develop practical steps against organized crime in view of its negative

impact on various areas of society's social, political and economic life.

Though extremely topical, problems of organized crime have not yet been

resolved properly by juridical theory and practice. Suffice it to say that

there are still some countries where no laws on organized crime have yet

been passed. There is no uniform approach to the concept of organized crime

at the legislative level. The attributes and signs of this phenomenon have

not yet been finalized. No attempts have yet been made to develop a

comprehensive program of action against it. There are few statistics or

official data on organized crime as a whole.

For example, in the former USSR the first official mention of organized

crime made at the government level was on December 2, 1989, when the

decision to step up the effort against organized crime was passed by the

2nd Congress of People's Deputies. However, no laws regarding organized

crime have been adopted. This could not help but leave its imprint on the

practical activities of law enforcement agencies in the former Union

republics. There was no solid theoretical discussion of the concept of

organized crime, as the scarce publications of the last few years could

hardly give a complete picture of this problem.

Some published works, however, contain a number of definitions of

organized crime. Some authors point to the following basic features.

Criminal groups based on hierarchical order consolidate within the borders

of one particular region or a country; their leaders take no part in crimes

but only perform organizational, managerial and ideological functions.

Government officials, including law enforcement officers, become corrupt

and join criminal activities providing safety to the members of criminal

associations. This association has a tendency to monopolize and expand the

spheres of illegal activities, and to protect leaders from bearing any

responsibility. Another group of authors believe that organized crime is a

system of contacts forming naturally in the criminal surroundings which

lead to the concentration and monopolization of certain kinds of criminal

activities. Diversified ties between groups engaged in criminal activities

are characteristic of this system.

About the Concept of Organized Crime:

Organized crime represents the consolidated criminal associations with

their own norms of behavior, hierarchical ladders and finances, it is the

most dangerous kind of crime that opposes and counteracts the lawful

actions of the state. This definition also embraces the totality of

mercenary and economic crimes committed with the help of corrupt government

officials, and law enforcement agents among them, who yielded to bribery

and other forms of corruption.

Organized Crime in Foreign Legislation:

In this context it is interesting to look at foreign experience in

dealing with organized crime, particularly, in the field of legislation.

The Italian criminal code states, for example, (article 416-2) that "the

association of a mafia kind is ranked as a criminal one when its members

practice the removal and intimidation of other persons in order to ensure a

cover-up and observe the law of silence and thus make it possible to commit

crimes, and win, directly or indirectly, posts allowing the management or

control of business activities, the distribution of concessions and permits

of all kinds, the signing of contracts, and communal services, as well as

making illegal profits or securing illegal privileges for themselves and

other persons." The American approach seems to be slightly different. While

the Italian Criminal Code lists features of organized crime, American

Federal Legislation (USC-par. 3781), though naming certain features of

organized crime, attributes concrete actions to it, namely, "unlawful

activities by members of a well-organized and disciplined association

supplying illegal commodities and offering illegal services, which include

but are not limited to, gambling, prostitution, usury, the spread of

narcotics, racket and other unlawful actions by such organizations."

Organized crime has broad opportunities for carrying out unlawful deeds but

the choice of these opportunities is mainly determined by the level of

expected profit, the minimum degree of possible risk of being caught and

exposed and the absence of concrete victims. It is this particular factor

that comes to the foreground in crimes related to narcotics whose users are

not interested in reporting to the police. The specific choice of a

"specialization" for this or another criminal group is a factor

guaranteeing it, to a large degree, a high level of conspiracy and a free

hand in committing crimes. Along with the previously mentioned

"specialization" of criminal associations there also exists what is termed

as an "internal specialization", i.e. the division of labor among criminal

association members.

Organized Crime and Drug Related Crime: Features in Common:

These features include:

- clearly defined organizational and managerial structures with a

hierarchy which ensures the protection of leaders from punishment since

their actions usually remain outside the confines of the criminal code;

- uniform norms of behavior and responsibility;

- planned unlawful activities and common goals aimed at making large

profits;

- a system aiming to neutralize all forms of legal control and

development of counter measures;

- common finances invested in various areas of criminal activities,

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