Traffic and illegal consumption of drugs

• Author: Maria Pescaru
• Position: Ph. D. Lecturer, Sociology and social services department, The University of Pitesti
• Pages: 315-320

TRAFFIC AND ILLEGAL CONSUMPTION OF DRUGS

Maria Pescaru*

Abstract

The content of the study includes phenomena as traffic and illegal consuming o f drugs producing

traumatisms no matter the affiliation to a grou p, race, sex or age. Shock induced can affect drammatica lly life of

even destroy it. Abuse and illegal traffic of drugs are simmilar to a disease destroying society’s mental a nd

moral hea lth.

Keywords: drugs, tr affic, consuming, consequences, behavior.

Introduction

Over the last years, drugs’ disaster has represented the most complex, profound and tra gic

phenomenon of the contempora ry world, in the conditions in which annua lly, million of dolla rs and hundred of

thousands of persons are driven into this death marriage called” The illegal drug traffic and consuming”. In the

perspective of the ye ars to come, the extent of this phenomenon is extremely concerning, also because there isn’t

a clear statistic of the pr oduction, tra ffic, consuming and of the number of the persons deceased because of

drugs. The criminality created by drugs, by its socia l, economic, medical, cultural and politica l consequences

causes serious pr ejudices, not only to state’s concerns, but also to the ones of the society, of many particular

persons, attempt to citizens’ life and health, influence in a demoralizing way p eople’s consciousness and

behavior.

Drugs-terms, notions and classification criteria

The concern shown by the sp ecialists in this matter (doctors, psychologists, sociologists, teachers,

journalists fro m different state organisms, specialists co-opted into non-governmental organizations) is fueled,

firstly, by the growing all over the world of this problematic and by the more rapid erasing of the distinction

existent in a recent anteriority, bet ween the producing co untries, consumers and o f transit. An eloquent example,

from this point of view, is constituted by problematic‘s escala de into Romania, beginning with 1990, when

illegal traffic and drug consuming surpassed all specialists’ forecasts, in this way, from a country of “transit” it

became a “drug consuming” one

1.

The social alarming iss ued from the proliferation of drugs, without a prec edent, leads to the unpleasant idea that

the adopted battle strategies against this phenomenon, generally sp eaking, by the world community and by

Romania’s government, especially, proved to be inefficient.

At present, illegal drug traffic is a very profitable criminal activity, with super-national characteristic,

that acts in conformities with law’s market econo my, ha ving as immediate purpose the charging of consuming

centers, and as finalit y obtaining e normous benefits, which righteously supposes, state’s concern of orienting, in

an efficient way, its own policy in the anti-drug battle, for its own citizens ‘health protection and the salvation of

socio-moral values. But, every state (even social collectivities inside a country) has certain” particularities”,

given by the geographic positioning, traditions, religion, culture and last but not least, by drugs’ diversity and

availability, at a certain point. These specificities have to be correlated with the quality of the preventing and

punitive measures taken by state organs with these sorts of attributions. This is why, at the o rientation of our

policy, one has to take into consideration “the profile” of the illegal drug dealing existent in Romania, in report

with other numerous factors. Or, this supposes, first, a careful and complex a nalysis and materialization, of the

three vectors that constitute the structure o f the phenomenon into disc ussion which is-the drug-the individual-the

society. The scientific strictness and the wish to avoid some inadequacies impose us to make a presentation of

the main specialty terms with which we are going to operate and to explain the notions used with them, in the

conditions in which, with reference to heroin, cocaine, Ecstasy and other co mpounds with similar effects over

the human body, the use of terms like drugs, dopes, psychotropic substances and narcotic substances, can, at a

certain point, generate co nfusions in certain situations. According to the Explanatory Dictionary of the

Romanian language (ed. 1996), the term “drug” defines a substance of a vegetable, mineral or animal origin,

which is used for the preparation of some medicines and as “dope”, the term “dope” defines a “medicamentary

substance which inhibits the nervous centers, provoking a state of physic and psychic inertia, and which, after

being used for a long time, lea ds to the habit and the necessity of increasing doses; substa nce which, by repeated

usage, leads to the phenomenon of habit”, the term “psychotropic” refers to a “medicine with an action over the

mind”, and the term “narcotic” refers to a “substance, medic ine that provokes narcosis- state characterized by the

* Ph. D. Lecturer, Sociology and social services department, The University of Pitesti, mariapescaru@yahoo.com

1 Cristina Otovescu Frsie, Protecia internaional a drepturilor omului, Didactic and Pedagogic Publishing House, Bucharest, 2008, p.

159-166.