Power of Heroine and Other Drugs - Term Paper Example

Outline I. Discussion of the Problem II. Analysis of the Problem III. Proposal to Ameliorate the Problem A. Sociological Theories to Support the Proposal IV. Feasibility of the Program and Outcomes V. References The Social Impact of Drugs on the Community of Milwaukee Wisconsin DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM According to the National Drug Intelligence Center (2007), most of the problems with drugs in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are related to gang wars on the North side of town. They distinguish the South and the North because they exhibit different types of behavior. According to this report the North side gangs engage in violence to "steal drugs, money or weapons from other dealers." (par. 1).Within the region the drug that is abused the most is powder and crack cocaine, heroine and other drugs. However, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner, in 2005 "196 drug deaths occurred, 92 of which involved cocaine" (quoted in National Drug Intelligence Center, par. 2). This report also found that heroin and other opiates have come into play which means that the population of abusers has changed. Now Caucasian males and females from small towns and suburban areas come into Milwaukee to purchase these higher scale drugs. Unfortunately, the mean age of the abusers has also change; adolescents are now experimenting with these stronger drugs. This report suggests that most of the activity is through Hispanic gangs with Asian and African American drug dealers as secondary problems. The Hispanic and African American gangs create problems for residents in the local neighborhoods as they spend time recruiting from those neighborhoods as they distribute their drugs. The drug dealing is often brought into the neighborhood by gangs and distributed. The dealers often come from Chicago and other nearby cities. As an example, a drug bust just found 19 people who were distributing drugs within the city limits. These dealers had a distribution going that came out of Chicago and distributed in Milwaukee each week (Halter, 2008, par. 5). This problem is difficult because many of the street gangs operate in a very sophisticated way. As an example, the National Drug Intelligence Center reports that the Hispanic gangs are very well organized, they have a hierarchical structure and they have established manifestos ("Drug Trafficking Organizations"). This enables them to distribute drugs faster. They are also using prepaid cellular phones and social networking sites like MySpace to connect with buyers and each other. There are also turf wars from gang problems. Law enforcement predicts that there will be an increase in heroine abuse among young offenders by prescription opiate users because it is cheaper and easier to access. (p. 18). The residents in this area are suffering and have been told by the police to keep their doors locked and not to allow anyone in they do not know. It has become a large scale problem in this area. ANALYSIS OF THE PROBLEM The social theory that best fits this situation is the social conflict theory because this situation is clearly a matter of economics and survival. When we look at American society as it exists today most people are worried and afraid of the future because of what has happened economically. All communities are affected by higher prices for gas, utilities and food. These are all basic needs that are compromised because of the way our society has gone. Social conflict theory is based upon the idea that the fundamental reasons for crime are due to the social and economic forces that operate within a society (Greek, 2005, "Criminal Theory"). Many years ago marijuana was the drug of choice for most young people. Now it is heroine and crack cocaine within the Milwaukee regions. This is a much harsher drug to stop and the effects on the body are stronger than with marijuana. This shows that people are in real need to tune out many aspects of society in order to service. According to Lo (2003) social conflict theory looks at the structures within neighborhoods where people are using drugs and shows that there are higher degrees of drug use within "lower social classes, disorganized neighborhoods, low-income families and relatively politically powerless places" (p. 4). We are now facing recession, loss of jobs, and people are choosing another way to support their families. Drugs are a way that has been around for many years and there seems to be no end in sight regardless of what the police do in this situation. The unfortunate situation is that the majority of drug dealers are uneducated and unskilled. They have moved into neighborhoods causing the residents who live there learn a feeling of helplessness and know that the police are not helping as much as they might in other neighborhoods. For a lot of the young people, drugs can offer an escape from these conditions. According to Parker and Maggard (2005) the structure of societies will also promote drug use when there is disorganization within the community. This is very apparent in Milwaukee because the neighborhoods are inundated with the challenges brought on by low income, lack of opportunity and lack of political clout. Martinez, Rosenfeld and Mares (2008) created a study to identify factors within neighborhoods that resulted in drug abuse and crime. Instead of looking at arrest records, they concentrated on specific neighborhoods in Miami to see what effect this had on those neighborhoods. They found that violent crimes and drug abuse were most prevalent in neighborhoods that were unstable and where there were no specific populations moving through the area (p. 863). This creates a way for drug dealers to come in and settle within specific turf areas. It is clear from these studies that drug dealers are secure in neighborhoods because residents have the feeling that nothing can be done. They either stay in the neighborhood and deal with the situation or find a way to leave. Most have lived in the area all of their lives and leaving may not be feasible. Instead, they deal with the situations the best they can and as the economy continues to decrease their ability to have their basic needs met, many will turn to drugs to easy the emotional pain. PROPOSAL TO AMELIORATE PROBLEM In a perfect world a strong Neighborhood Watch program would be exactly what a neighborhood like this one would need. There would be a faction of the community who decided to be on the lookout for the crimes being committed and the local police would work with this group to get rid of the drug problem. Unfortunately, it is not as easy once there are gangs that are centralized within the territories. According to Lum (2002) these types of programs can work if the entire community becomes a part of it. The study done by Lum brought together colleges and universities, government officials and police in an effort to curb the violence. It is my opinion that this would work because we have to created jobs, invest in our communities, people, and encourage business to stay in our community by giving them incentives. This program could be funded by a block grant or private foundation that was interested in promoting the growth of neighborhoods. Psychologists and mental health professionals from the neighboring drug rehabilitation programs would be instrumental in talking to those individuals who wanted to get well and they could help with the distribution of literature about drug abuse. They psychologists and mental health professionals would also be involved with helping people in the neighborhood cope differently with the problems. Also the hospitals would be involved in teaching people how to take better care of themselves. Sociological Theories to Support A variety of sociological and psychological theories apply when looking at neighborhoods and how they deal with crime. Some of them deal with the individual committing the crime and others deal with the neighborhood itself. According to Ross (2002) it would be difficult to institute a neighborhood watch program in the Milwaukee neighborhoods because the residents are already feeling a strong level of fear and mistrust. Because their needs haven't been met to this point in alleviating the crime, it would be difficult to pull them together for this purpose. In order to make it work, there would need to be a system of social ties with neighbors within the community. Forman (2004) suggests that youth should be engaged in doing neighborhood patrols so that everyone was involved at every level. This would ensure that some youth would not be a part of the gangs and therefore some headway would be made in this respect. This type of research would back the thoughts of Max Weber in that the action would fall into the uniformity of social action where a group of people were repeating a widespread action. This is what Neighborhood Watch is about when it is combined with people policing the neighborhoods. The Functionalists would see the neighborhood as a society that is struggling to survive. They would see the Neighborhood Watch as a way to restore the social order to the community. Marx would see the drug dealers as working against the class structure that was there to oppress them. He would see the Neighborhood Watch as a struggle between two lower classes (the drug dealers and the neighborhood) to try to equal what was happening in the larger community. FEASIBILITY OF PROGRAM AND OUTCOMES Although a Neighborhood Watch program is feasible in the Milwaukee neighborhoods there would be several challenges with implementing one. Some of those problems have already been discussed. Central to the implementation would be finding people who would agree to work as part of the Watch. These people would be volunteers and would have to have a degree of investment in the community. They would also need the time to spend doing what was required. It would be very important to bring all the residents together to discuss the problem and they would need strong leadership. People would have to care about the program and come together as a unit without fear. The challenge would be to have the police involved more concretely in the area. However, Vojvodich (2004) was able to accomplish a strong presence in the Caribbean through a neighborhood watch program and he outlined how this could be done. This could be a model for Milwaukee. Ohmer and Beck (2006) found through their study that the more neighbors participated in programs like Neighborhood Watch the more they were invested in the community to at least see that collectively the community may be able to stop crime (p. 5). There are quite a few challenges though when working with a strong gang presence in a neighborhood and it would take a lot of time and energy to send the gangs out. When we look at street gangs, it would be quite a challenge to think that many of the gang members would turn away from drugs and crime to get a regular job. Taking people off the streets who sell drugs and expecting them to get a "respectable job" would be difficult because drugs are a more lucrative vacation than a regular job. Though gang members are usually caught, prosecuted and/or killed at some time in their life, many think that the possibility of death is worth it because they can live well through their drug deals. There are also a lot of politics involved with getting people off the streets and bringing them to justice; many avoid incarceration for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons deal with police in the area. The other point is that the gang members would need to be trained in other professions that would bring them the kind of money that drugs once did. Perhaps there would be a way to take the entrepreneurial skills they've learned and turn them into a legitimate business. The most positive outcome would be that neighbors would find a reason to start cleaning up the neighborhood and find a way for hope. The police would be able to incarcerate more of the offenders due to the help from the residents in the neighborhood. The most negative aspect would be that it would not work because people would not become involved and more neighborhoods would be taken over by the gangs. There would not be ethical issues for psychologists because they would be involved in treatment programs which would be what they are trained to do. There may be some issues regarding how they dealt with ethnic situations but they should be trained to do this within the neighborhood. The best way to create an evaluation process for a Neighborhood Watch program would be to create a study within one neighborhood to see how this would work. The study would create a timeline for implementation and the intention would be to create a model that could be taken into other neighborhoods. There would be a lot of study done for programs like this in other neighborhoods to make this approach more attractive to funders. Although Neighborhood Watch programs are not always successful, this would be worth a try to see whether the neighborhood could come together in some way. References Forman, M. (2004). Community policing and youth as assets. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 95 (1) retrieved July 2, 2008 from http://questia.com. Greek, C.E. (22 November 2005) Criminological Theory: Conflict Theory. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/conflict.htm. Halter, N. (3 July 2008). Federal grand jury indicts 19 on drug charges. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-JS Online. Retrieved June 3, 2008 from http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=769110. Lo, C.C. (2003). An application of social conflict theory to arrestees' use of cocaine and opiates. Journal of Drug Issues. 33(1). 237-266. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier database AN: 9534917. Lum, L. (2002). Anchors in the community. Black Issues in Higher Education. 20(22). Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCOhost Database Academic Search Premier. AN: 07420277. Martinez, R., Rosenfeld, R., and Mares, D. (2008). Social disorganization, drug market activity, and neighborhood violent crime. Urban Affairs Review, 43: 846 - 874. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from http://uar.sagepub.com. National Drug Intelligence Center. (2007). Milwaukee high intensity drug trafficking area drug market analysis. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved June 30, 2008 from http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs22/22850/crime.htm. ---. (2008). Milwaukee high intensity drug trafficking area drug market analysis. U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved July 3, 2008 from http://www.justice.gov/ ndic/pubs27/27498/27498p.pdf. Ohmer, M. and Beck, E. (2006). Citizen participation in neighborhood organizations in poor communities and its relationship to neighborhood and organizational collective efficacy. Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare. 33 (1). Retrieved July 2, 2008 from http://questia.com. Parker, K. F. and Maggard, S. (2005). Structural theories and race-specific drug arrests: what structural factors account for the rise in race-specific drug arrests over time? Crime and Delinquency. 51(4). 521-547. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier database 10.1177/0011128705276294. Ross, C. E. (2002). Neighborhood disorder, fear, and mistrust: the buffering role of social ties with neighbors. American Journal of Community Psychology. (28) 4. p. 401. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from http://questia.com/. Sociology at Hewett.(n.d.) Map of sociological theory. (Karl Marx and Max Weber). Retrieved July 2, 2008 from http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/ CURRIC/soc/T&M/funct.htm. Vojvodich, J. (2004). Building an Effective Maritime Neighborhood Watch in the Caribbean. U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings; 130(3) 68-69. Retrieved July 2, 2008 from EBSCOhost database Academic Search Premier AN: 12456776. Read More