Drug addiction as a negative social deviation

The article examines the causes and conditions of crimes in the sphere of illegal drug trafficking, as well as measures to prevent crimes of this group.

Collusion, Co-Optation, or Evasion: The Politics of Drug Trafficking Violence in Central America

Why do drug traffickers sometimes decide to use violence, but other times demonstrate restraint? Building on recent work on the politics of drug violence, this article explores how Central American drug trafficking organizations’ strategies impact their use of violence. I argue that three inter-related political factors—corruption, electoral competition, and the politicization of the security apparatus—collectively determine the type of relationship between traffickers and the state that will emerge. That relationship, in turn, determines the primary strategy used by traffickers in that country. Drawing on over two years of comparative ethnographic fieldwork in key transshipment points along the Caribbean coast of Central America, I show how co-optation strategies in Honduras have resulted in high levels of violence, evasion strategies in Costa Rica have produced moderate levels of violence, and collusion strategies in Nicaragua have generated the lowest levels of drug-related violence.

Composed Cognitive Maps

Composed cognitive maps are a tool based on grounded theory and on Lynch's urban model of cognitive maps, which allow the transfer of information from ethnographic situations to general patterns, and to the so-called spatial dynamics. In criminological matters, they have been applied in the context of environmental and criminology of place to identify criminal situations, criminal patterns, and spatial dynamics of crime. The latter concept has allowed reliable diagnoses for the design of criminal policies. Their advantages are compared with traditional criminometric methods. It introduces a brief compilation of the existing literature on the subject. In a special way, this chapter shows how composed cognitive maps allowed the measurement of drug trafficking networks, police intelligence, and, above all, crime reduction.

The Twenty Years’ War

The author, expert in British colonial history, explains the inevitability of the rout of the US/British-installed regime in Afghanistan in 2021 by the Taliban, in terms of the ways in which corruption, drug trafficking, pillage of international aid, war-lordism and non-payment of police and military personnel had been allowed to flourish over the past twenty years.

Analysis of forms of interdepartmental interaction in the anti-drug sphere: organizational aspect

Today in the context of a difficult situation related to the distribution and use of drugs, there is a need to review the practical application of preventive measures in the anti-drug sphere. The separation of departments and the ineffectiveness of the impact on the situation with narcotic drugs from the executive authorities require the improvement of joint activities. The authors show that the coordination of forms of interdepartmental interaction contributes to the targeted fight against illicit drug trafficking and their use. The article analyzes the forms of interdepartmental interaction in the field of drug control and suggests ways to improve them. For this purpose, based on the experience of different regions in interdepartmental cooperation in the fight against drugs, the main forms and priority areas of such interaction were studied.

Drug Legalization, Elite Support, and Government Effectiveness in Latin America

In Latin America, the legalization of drugs—where it occurred—has been driven mainly by elites, although much attention has been placed on public opinion. Considering that efforts toward legalization have been top-down, analysis should concentrate on opinions of the governing elites. To undertake such an analysis, we draw on data from surveys conducted in 18 Latin American parliaments (2012–2018), and we examine elite perspectives on the legalization of all drugs. Results from a Bayesian hierarchical logistic analysis show that in countries where the government is less effective, and where public health problems persist, legislators are less likely to support legalization. We argue that this is due to a lack of trust by MPs in legalization as a solution to trafficking. Wherever those concerned with drug trafficking see the current government as problematic, they will be less likely to support so challenging and complex a policy as drug legalization.

Organizational foundations for operational and search prevention of crimes committed in the sphere of illegal drug trafficking and psychotropic substances

High level of drug criminality has a negative impact on economic and social stability, harms the national security of the state. Only operational and investigative activities, which have a complex structure of interconnected organizational and tactical elements, ensure in the face of the opposition from the criminal environment timely detection, prevention, suppression and disclosure of latent and camouflaged crimes committed in the sphere of illegal drug trafficking and psychotropic substances. The issues of organizing the activities of officers of operational units for the prevention and suppression of these crimes are the least regulated in departmental regulations. With the adoption of Federal Law, No. 182-FZ dated 23.06.2016 «About the basis of the crime prevention system in the Russian Federation» it is required to specify the tasks of operational search prevention and suppression of crimes under consideration. Taking into account the special nature of operational search information about persons involved in the illicit trafficking of narcotic substances, methods for identifying this information, in order to solve specified tasks, it is necessary to form an appropriate management system for the activities of officers of the operational units. Structurally, the management system provides for a set of mandatory elements and functional relationships that ensure a sufficient level of a separate unit efficiency. Priority tasks for the prevention of crimes committed in the field of illegal trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances are highlighted in the article on the basis of the theoretical and legal analysis of the modern organization of the operational units’ activities of territorial bodies.