Control Measures and Sanctions for Illegal Drugs in the U.S - Research Proposal Example

Running head: Drug Control Measures in U.S. Control Measures and Sanctions for Illegal Drugs in the U.S. Institute: This paper aims to study the control measures and the sanctions imposed for the usage, sale, or possession of the illegal drugs and other controlled substances in the United States. The paper provides a background of the existing federal drug control measures in place in the United States. It identifies the issues and discusses the possible options that the Congress has adopted in the development and implementation of the illegal drug control policy. Control Measures and Sanctions for Illegal Drugs in the U.S. The usage, possession and sale of illegal drugs and other controlled substances are the issues of federal concern in the United States. Thus, over a period of time, a Federal domestic policy for the control of banned substances has evolved that currently aims to achieve the following three goals: 1. Inhibit the inception of the use of illegal drugs. 2. Provide proper clinical treatment to the drug addicts. 3. Hinder the supply of the illegal drugs by means of law enforcement and interdiction both nationally and internationally (Executive Office of the President, 2009). The role of Congress has been highly significant in the development and enforcement of all traits of the domestic drug control policy through the provision of the necessary funds required for the anti drug campaigns and operations. The Congress also, administers the efforts of federal agencies in relation to drug control programs and missions apart from legislating their anti-drug policies, programs and duties. Furthermore, the Congress is also responsible for devising the penalties for the criminals prosecuting under the federal drug offense. The prime objective of this paper is to determine the federal domestic measures for the implementation of the national drug control policy so as to minimize the usage, sale and availability of illegal drugs and other controlled substances in the United States. Since, the purpose of this study is to discuss the federal domestic efforts for the control of illegal drugs in the United States therefore, it does not intend to consider the international efforts for the reduction of drug supply that have been developed to inhibit the production and trafficking of illegal drugs and other control substances in all parts of the world. This paper aims to study the control measures and the sanctions imposed for the usage, sale, or possession of the illegal drugs and other controlled substances in the United States. The paper provides a background of the existing federal drug control measures in place in the United States. It identifies the issues and discusses the possible options that the Congress has adopted in the development and implementation of the illegal drug control policy. Background The federal domestic drug control enforcement measures that are currently in place in the United States have been delved in to its prolong legislative history comprising of almost the previous century. Initially, the federal laws for the control of drugs were developed with the purpose of restraining the non-medical application of the narcotic drugs that originally comprised of just opium and its by-products like heroine and morphine but later it also, included cocaine in its classification. The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, in general, is regarded as the first federal decree for the control of illegal drugs. The existing domestic drug control policy is based upon the Harrison Narcotics Act, which categorized the production, possession, sale and non-medical use of drugs as a crime. Under this law, the production, distribution and importation of coca and opium by-products were monitored as it compelled the authorized dealers of narcotics to give a special tax annually and also, register their products with the federal government. The Congress pursued to safeguard the health and safety of the people with the help of Harrison Narcotics Act as it required the legally available medicines and other substances to be labeled properly which was subjected to federal regulation in the past. This law also, imposed restrictions over particular areas of recognized pharmaceutical and physician practices that require the medical use of drugs and other control substances. Besides imposing various control mechanism and regulations, this law also devised a legal system to exercise federal criminal punishments in case of any sort of breach of these provisions. In general, the Congress has adopted a ‘prohibitory attitude’ for the drugs that have been recognized as hazards for the welfare of general public through imposing criminal punishments against the deterring and dissuading providers and users of banned substances (Hanson, et al., 2004). The changing cultural and social trends along with the shifts in the modes of drug use and the tolerance of the society towards such use were other factors that further shaped the federal drug control policy. As for instance, the previous drug control acts, such as the 1937 Act of Marijuana Tax, aimed to address only certain drug problems since their usage was found to be a concern of public safety. Due to this reason, amendments were made to the federal statutes that instituted punishments for drug specific crimes that increasingly turned in to severe penalties. Despite the fact that the federal drug control measures in the past were based upon the punitive strategies for dealing with the illegal drug issue however until the 1960s, the use of illegal drugs and the federal interference in the drug control were considered as concerns of minor scale (Erlen, et al., 2004). The Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act in the year 1970 with the purpose of defining the federal contribution in the prevention of illegal drugs and other controlled substances as it consolidates and replaces the previous federal disparate laws for the control of drugs. The Controlled Substances Act along with other provisions instituted five ‘schedules’ for different plants, drugs, chemical and psychoactive substances, which arranged them according to ‘a common standard of dangerousness’ (Boyum and Reuter, 2005) and reduced their likelihood of possible misuse in comparison to their medical advantages with the help of imposing varying levels of control over the prescribing practitioners, producers and distributors. This act also offered federal criminal punishments for the illegitimate possession, production and distribution of illegal drugs and controlled substances. This act further formulated a mechanism for the regulation of the production and distribution of controlled substances with the help of the registration requirements and the punishments for the breach of these provisions. At present, this act with its amendments continues to offer the legal structure for the implementation of the federal drug control policy. This act has numerous provisions that monitor the use of controlled substances for the purpose of legitimate use in the areas of medicine, research and industries besides making the diversion of such substances or products illegal (Musto, 1999). The Controlled Substances Act has been amended by the Congress numerous times over the years in order to indicate the changes in the trends of drug misuse, the creation of new psychoactive materials as well as to amend the associated federal punishments (ONDCP, 2008). The Federal Anti-Drug Enforcement Strategy The federal anti-drug enforcement strategy, being one of the three constituents of the domestic drug control policy, depends upon the proposition that the use of drugs can be inhibited if the production and supply of the illegal drugs is eradicated or at least abated. For this purpose, the federal anti-drug enforcement strategy comprises of the following two overarching approaches: The national efforts to implement the drug control policy have been established in order to disrupt all possibilities of the distribution illegal drugs so that illicit substance does not reach the local retail market and the drug users. This can be done by means of proper investigations, seizure of the controlled substance, arrests of the offenders and their prosecutions, punishments, fines and the forfeiture of the money involved in this trade. The inhibition of illegal drug trafficking to or from the United States or even in transit either across the land borders or waters of the United States. Such measures emphasize over the reduction or inhibition of the supply of the illicit drugs as their accessibility, sale and use becomes more risky, costly and difficult. Role of the Federal Agencies in the Drug Control The role of the several federal agencies is very crucial in the enforcement of domestic drug control policy. The federal agency called the ‘DOJ - Department of Justice’ bears the responsibility for the implementation of federal criminal laws. Furthermore, various other federal agencies and division play vital roles in the implementation of the drug control laws through investigations, arrests, prosecution and imprisonment of the offenders involved in the federal drug crimes. The DEA – Drug Enforcement Administration at the Department of Justice is the only federal agency having the exclusive obligation to implement the federal laws for controlling the production, usage, distribution and possession of the illicit drugs and other controlled substances. The role of the Drug Enforcement Administration comprises of the following basic aspects: Carrying out the investigations and developing the case for the prosecutions of the prime drug criminals. Forfeiting and seizing of the assets involved in the trade of illegal drugs. Management of the El Paso Intelligence Center. Management of the drug intelligence program of multiple agencies established for accumulating, examining and sharing of the operational and strategic drug intelligence information for supporting the federal, local, state and foreign efforts for law enforcement to overcome the smuggling of drugs, weapons and aliens. Carrying out a money laundering program in collaboration with the Treasury Department of the United States for the purpose of investigation, monitoring and disrupting the illicit drug movements that further provide funds for the drug trafficking mafia. Co-operating with the task forces of various federal, domestic and state agencies for the enforcement of drug laws so as to improve the potential investigation within states with combined resources outside the limited federal jurisdictions and the domestic jurisdictions. Role of the State and Local Law Enforcement in the Illicit Drug Control Having discussed the role of federal drug policy and the contribution of the federal law enforcement agencies, this paper will now highlight the critical role of the state and local law enforcement agencies in their endeavors to control illegal drugs in the United States. The jurisdictions of the state, local and federal law enforcement agencies are considerably overlapping. Also, the types of their law enforcement activities to arrest and incarcerate the drug criminals overlap with each other. Nevertheless, the state and local law enforcement activities primarily emphasizes over the drug dealers and users at the level of retail market, many of whom are confined on the charges of illegal drug possession. Subsequently, the total number of incidents of drug control, such as arrests, prosecutions and imprisonment, at the domestic and state level is quite more as compared to those drug control incidents that happen at the federal level. This gap between the number of drug control incidents between the state, local and federal law enforcement agencies is because of the generalized objective of the federal law enforcement agencies to emphasize over illicit drug distribution and drug trafficking organizations of higher level. However, it should be taken in to consideration that the federal drug control efforts constitute only part of the total domestic drug control activities. References Executive Office of the President. (2009). Office of National Drug Control Policy, National Drug Control Strategy, 2009 Annual Report, pp. 2-3. Hanson, R.G., et al. (2004). Drugs and Society, Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc., ninth edition, pp. 252-253. Erlen, J., et al. (2004). Federal Drug Control: The Evolution of Policy and Practice, Binghamton, NY: Pharmaceutical Products Press, pp. 11. Boyum, D., and Reuter, P. (2005). An Analytic Assessment of U.S. Drug Policy, American Enterprise Institute: Washington, DC, pp. 42. Musto, D.F. (1999). The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control, Third Edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 255. U.S. Executive Office of the President, ONDCP (2008). National Drug Control Strategy, February 2008, pp. 5, 35-36. Read More