Research Paper on Drugs and Substance Abuse: The Growing Social & Economic Problem

Introduction

In the modern world, there is a high use of drugs and substance abuse in society. It is also essential to realize the need for the establishment of the programs aimed at preventing consumption. Even though drugs and substance abuse had become a priority for various nations across the world, it indicates that the problems related to use are increasing, causing a social and economic issue. In this paper, it is more significant to provide the background of the use of drugs and substance abuse in society. It further incorporates the organizational structure of the prevention programs to get an in-depth insight into the plans. On another hand, it also examines the traditional methods of the prevention of drugs and substance abuse in society. In this regard, there is essential for the description of technology and innovations made in the contemporary methods of the prevention of drug abuse use concerning crime prevention in society. Thus, this provides the changes that had occurred over time. It is through this understanding that the findings of the researchers for the exploration of the weakness and strength of the programs. And the theories and innovations are discussed for the realization of their impacts on the programs. Therefore, this reflects the importance of the plans for the stability of society.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Historical Background

Drug prevention programs play a critical role in economic development and growth. Recognizing the necessity for the prevention programs designed to minimize the use of drug abuse, particularly for young people. According to the National Prevention Council, the United States had now adopted the drug prevention program as the national priority due to the positive results on the social and economic development (Stockings et al., 2016). It is required for recognizing that drugs are primarily classified into two categories, namely illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana; licit drugs are those approved by the law as legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol (O'Neil et al., 2015). In this context, there is a need for understanding the cost of the consequences caused by the use of drugs and substance abuse. For example, the crashes of motor vehicles, homicides, suicides, unintentional violence and harm, etc. If the impacts of drugs and substance abuse can be understood through this dimension, it helps to explore the adverse effects of the use in society (Cheung et al., 2019). Most importantly, the cost incurred is always sustained by community, healthcare institutions, and as well as the judicial system.

Therefore, the realization of the adverse impacts on the community reflects the need for the establishment of community policies. Furthermore, this involves the incorporation of the deterrence as an approach for the restriction of crime commission (Braithwaite, 2018). And it also focused on the prevention of the crimes through the imposition of threats and pains for the perpetrators to think about the consequences. Thus, this approach helps to dissuade the perpetrators from committing the crime again (Braithwaite, 2018). On another hand, the community recognizes that the offenders are always members of the city. It implies that the need for the prevention of the use of drugs, and at the same time, using a rehabilitation approach for behavioral changes (Weisburd et al., 2017). These are incorporated into the community policing for ensuring that it is participating in the social and economic development. Thus, this is primarily aimed at the creation of a free-drug society, which in turn helps to reduce the crimes in the community.

Organizational and Operational Structure

In contemporary society, the interventions aimed at the amelioration of the economic and social problems caused by the use of alcohol and other drug abuses are required. It is essential for the management of crimes in the future. In recent years, there has been an increasing desire for cooperation between individuals with organizations or institutions in the management of drug prevention programs (Cheung et al., 2019). However, this had often been recognized as the partnerships, and sometimes coalitions. In this perspective, it is essential for considering that drug prevention programs are easily managed through the establishment of the structure. With depth insight, it is worth understanding that the structure or organizational management of the plan largely depends on the size of the programs (Welsh, 2018). For compelling exploration, there is a need for examining the size of the programs through the understanding of the beneficiaries of such programs (Romer, 2016). Nevertheless, it is also required for looking at the waist by the realization of the individuals or organization responsible for coordinating the programs' activities.

At the local level, the war on substances and drug abuse has its structure that aimed at involving the community members to ensure that the environment is free-drugs. It further incorporates the prevention approaches, commonly known as the 'Community-based prevention approach.' In this regard, this approach heavily relies on the introduction of the activities aimed at bringing social changes (Stockings et al., 2016). It includes the empowerment and capacity building programs that trace the origin of the community development programs. Furthermore, the so-called 'Community-based intervention activities' primarily focus on solving the social and economic problems caused by drugs and substance abuse in the community (O'Neil et al., 2015). However, it merely looks at the issues in three dimensions, namely: agents, environments, and as well as victims or drug users. In drug prevention programs, there are various institutions involved to bring positive results, and they include non-governmental organizations and governmental organizations (Weisburd et al., 2017). In their operations, the organizations primarily focus on the building of the family-community approach for understanding the root cause of the problems.

The prevention of future crimes in society requires the consideration of various factors. In this perspective, there is a need for the recognition of the impacts of the misuse of drugs and substance abuse on society (Welsh, 2018). However, multiple approaches are being incorporated for the prevention of the use of drugs and the increase in crimes. It requires the education of the public about the side-effects of drug abuse use, and how the application is related to the increasing rate of crimes (Cheung, 2016). Therefore, this implies the required effort of the communities for the cooperation with law enforcement agents for the prevention of crimes through awareness of the adverse impacts of drugs and substance abuse. It is mainly intended to prevent the occurrence of crimes in the community before they could happen.

Law enforcement institutions often involve the use of punishment for the reduction of crimes in society. However, the sentences tend to achieve various goals, including deterrence. It is also necessary for complementation with the deterrence and rehabilitation approaches as practical ways for the success of drugs and crime prevention programs (Weisburd et al., 2017). In this regard, there is a need for recognizing that some methods, such as incarceration, do little to deter crimes in society. And this is coupled with an explicit exploration of the impacts of harsh punishment for minimization of future crimes. On another hand, the rehabilitation technique is more likely to bring positive results if carried out more effectively to help individuals rehabilitated to be appropriately integrated into society (Welsh, 2018). It is mainly a result of behavioral change and adaptation of behaviors that facilitate the safety of the member of the community and the society at large.

Traditional Practices

The reliance on a community-based approach is not a new technique in the prevention of drugs and substance abuse. In the United States, the community-based approach was incorporated into the 1830s programs aimed at fighting the problems related to the alcoholism and use of other drugs (O'Neil et al., 2015). It is quite clear that the occurrences of crimes are associated with the use of substances and drug abuse. Even though drugs were initially used for medicinal purposes in the United States, but the effects become a national problem that required government intervention for control. For instance, cocaine was commonly used in drinks during the nineteenth century, and this was the case to heroin that was used for the treatment of respiratory diseases (Braithwaite, 2018). Morphine was used in healthcare institutions as a remedy for body pain. Thus, when the side-effects exceeded human control, it mirrored the drug use prevention in the United States.

Later, the prevention was primarily focused on the incarceration of the pharmacists and physicians who collaborated with drug addicts as a source of their drugs. It was followed by a series of drug use increase across the United States. For example, the end of the American Civil War and the Vietnam War left the nation with more drug addicts than before. Both periods brought a new perception of the fight against drug use (O'Neil et al., 2015). Thus, this reflects the new approach toward the prevention of crimes in American society through the control of the use of drugs and substance abuse. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 were passed to control the use of addictive drugs as medicine (O'Neil et al., 2015). And it was followed by The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, which was intended to restrict the sale and manufacturing of narcotic drugs such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and as well as morphine drugs (O'Neil et al., 2015). The traditional practice of the prevention of the use of drugs and substances lacked the incorporation of educational and community policing. Thus, this formed the basis for the increasing number of drug users across the world, particularly in the United States. The United States had been in war against narcotic drug use in the country for centuries.

Innovation and Use of Technology

In recent years, the world went through a transformation due to the increasing use of technology in all sectors of human life. It is, therefore, worth understanding that it had been incorporated into drug prevention, educational programs, and awareness of the impacts of drugs and substance abuse for minimization crimes (Cheung et al., 2019). Nevertheless, the community policing had also adopted the use of technology for compelling performances. It implies the need for the provision of the description of the incorporation technology and innovation in the investigation. In this regard, it requires the realization of the use of innovations and technology as a mean for the prevention of crimes, and at the same time, improving the performance of the security agents such as police officers (Welsh, 2018). Therefore, this reflects the transformation of drug prevention programs and community policing through the use of technology, which further makes it easy for deterrence and rehabilitation techniques.

The innovation of technology in the drug prevention program had become a driving force for the attainment of desired goals. Thus, this had led to the reformation of crime control and prevention (Stockings et al., 2016). It is worth understanding the need for the incorporation of social media technology for making awareness of the adverse effects of drug and substance use.