How drug use results in other crimes
| Subject: | 🏥 Health Care |
| Type: | Exploratory Essay |
| Pages: | 4 |
| Word count: | 805 |
| Topics: | 💉 Drug Abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, 🔪 Crime, 🕵🏻♀️ Criminology |
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Under the contextual framework of drug use, drug abuse and misuse are and have always been a common phenomenon. Some of the notable drugs that are used by different categories of people across the world revolve around, marijuana (bhang), cocaine, heroin, and by extension intoxicants such as alcohol (Miron, 2014). When people are under the control of drugs some of the immediate internal body reactions that result in criminal activities include impaired judgments and mood swings. This is the link between the use of drugs and the consequent engagement in illegal activities. Thus, as a point of departure, this paper explores the manner in which the use of such substances mentioned above always results in crimes relative to people’s diverse environmental settings.
Gist of the matter
The feeling of being intoxicated renders almost useless the standard functionality of a person’s mental ability as well as physical functionality. These two regressive effects of drugs result in poor judgment and decision making as well as a sudden change of moods (Miron, 2014).
All these scenarios culminate in three types of crimes which are typical of many social settings across the world namely:
- Use-related crimes
- Economic-related crimes
- System-related crimes
Use-related crimes
These are crimes that occur as a result of drug ingestion. In other words, they happen because of the effect the drug causes on thought processes as well as the behavioral patterns. For instance, more than a million people are taken into custody on an annual basis in the US due to driving under the influence of drugs. Such behavior has mostly been attributed to the use of alcohol and marijuana. Thus this practice has persisted in many parts of the world with the US statistics indicating that 40% of all traffic casualties are alcohol and drug use-related (Miron, 2014). Other forms of use-related crime are college-based violence, domestic violence, child abuse and rape. In such cases of violence, drug users usually do so because of the “highness” feelings that result in the stabbing of friends, close relatives and even parents by extension. For instance in the US colleges. Each year 600000 students aged between18-24 are reported to have been assaulted by colleagues who are under the influence of drugs (Hammesley, 2011). Additionally, 90% of rape and other sexual assault cases in campuses are associated with alcohol consumption and other intoxicants. Such cases result due to uncontrolled behaviors attributable to impaired judgments, a caused by dopamine release by the brain.
Economic-related crimes
Second on the list of the abovementioned crimes are those that are associated with the economy. It is noteworthy to underscore that fact that drug use results in addiction. Addiction is usually a dangerous state because it demands the drug user to continue sustaining the habit using any means possible. In majority instances, these crimes therefore become evident when individuals commit them to fund their drug habits. They include theft and prostitution. Young men who are deep into drugs participate in the robbery with violence activities and other means of obtaining money illegally to sustain their behaviors. On the other hand, women engage in commercial sex activities to sustain their addiction to drugs behaviors. These are the most dangerous of crimes to any society owing to the level of destruction they can cause (Hammesley, 2011).
System-related crimes
The final type revolves around system-related crimes. These refer to those that result from the structures of the drug systems. They include the production, manufacture, transportation as well as the sale of those drugs. It is quite evident that the world has witnessed a rise in the numbers of drug lords whose primary business is to sell the drug within the borders of their countries and even yonder to international borders. Such cases of narcotics being napped in airports are not new but something that the society now consider to be a norm. However, in the real sense, these are criminal activities that result from the use of drugs and the urge to increase the number of consumers as well as sustain the behaviors (Bennett, 2015).
Conclusion
The abovementioned crimes are some of those that are very common in our societies today, and this does not imply that the list is complete. It should be noted that even the excessive consumption of alcohol and its sale to underage children are also criminal activities which result in catastrophic consequences to those who are involved. Thus, it is evident that the use of drugs is a broad topic that forms and defines how a society look. Conclusively, this paper gives particular emphasis on the manner in which drug use alters the normal functioning of our bodies starting from mental functioning to physical operation (Bennett, 2015). When normal functioning of the body has been compromised, the decisions that are usually made by those under the influence, are the primary causes of the three categories of crimes illustrated in this excerpt.
- Bennett, T., & Holloway, K. (2015). Understanding drugs, alcohol and crime. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
- Hammersley, R. (2011). Drugs and crime: Theories and practices. Cambridge: Polity.
- Miron, J. A. (2014). Drug war crimes: The consequences of prohibition. Oakland, Calif: Independent Institute.
Offered for reference purposes only.