The Effects Of Alcohol And Drug Abuse On Criminal Activities

The drug misuse and dependence policy, aims to support people misusing drugs to live safe and free from a drug dependence life (Department of Health, 2015). With this policy in place drug treatments are becoming more successful with 18% of people staying in treatment and leaving drug free (Department of Health, 2015) this shows the policy is successful and works with people to reduce drug dependency (HM Government, 2012). 193,198 people aged 18 and over were in treatment for drug use during 2013 to 2014, 29,150 of these patients completed treatment and have overcome their drug dependency (Public Health England, 2014). From when the policy was first introduced, drug use is at its lowest since measurement began in 1996 (Featherstone, 2013).

20. The following are trends in substance abuse treatment today except for A. chain smoking regarded as an addiction B.human rights seen as a practical philosophy C.counseling of clients in moderate drinking D.public opinion favoring more imprisonment of drug users ANS:D PG42 21. The drug court movement promotes what action with individuals whose legal problems are related to their addiction? A. decarceration – treatment in the community B. incarceration – treatment in the prison system C. requirement to serve out the remainder of prison term, in case of relapse D. moving clients into “wet house”. ANS:A PG46

The purpose of this study was to show that an effective drug treatment program in the criminal justice system is a necessity and to show that treatment will reduce recidivism thus reducing crime in society as a whole.

An often-discussed approach to dealing with substance abuse in Canada defines four pillars: prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction. Supervised Injection Sites fall under harm reduction. The pillar of harm reduction concerns the efforts around reducing the negative impacts to society that substance abuse inflicts.

Harm reductions recognizes an individual’s willingness to make a change in their life, there is a wide range that these individuals may be along, from not thinking about change, to contemplating change, to taking action, to maintaining change and the other way around. The method of harm reduction first begins with focusing on what stage the individual is on with their drug use. As earlier stated the active participation of individuals who use drugs is at the heart of harm reduction. These individuals are the best source of information in terms of their own drug use and are determined with the help of other service agencies to determine the best form of intervention. There have been many success stories from having injection sites as a form

“Harm reduction is based on the premise that people are responsible for their behaviour, that they maker personal choices that affect their health and well-being, and that they can make safer and better decisions if given useful and honest information” (Mathre, 2002, p. 106). Harm reduction recognizes people’s unhealthy choices while also attempting to reduce the harmful effects that come from these unhealthy behaviours (Marlatt, 1998 as cited in Brown, Luna, Ramirez, Vail, and Williams, 2005). Using a harm reduction approach has a positive effect on drug users, as it helps to reduce the negative consequences that come from using drugs. Although harm reduction aims to reduce the harm from illegal drug using, it is viewed as

There are types of approaches to help an individual with recovering from drug and substance abuse. The approaches that are being looked at to help someone recover is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET), Medication Management, Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA), and Community Reinforcement and Family Training Approach (CRAFT).

Addiction to any substance whether it be alcohol ,drugs prescribed or illegal or even the new legal highs can have turbulent effect on a person’s life, whether it be work, social or family life. It has been said that addiction in any form can be treated through intervention by relevant bodies, such as NHS Trust, Twelve Step Programs, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), to help the person overcome this compulsion through time and guidance, working towards a future clean and sober minded life. Drugs, alcohol, or any other chemical, artificially induced into the body, affects the way people see, speak, walk and hear. Albeit, theorists such as Dr Peele are staunch critics of the 12 steps model as advocated by Alcoholics Anonymous.

Harm reduction can be defined as an approach that aims to reduce the consequences of high risk behaviours such as injection drug use on the individual and on society as a whole. Harm reduction programs provide injection drug users with access to a clean injection environment, sterile injections, drug-preparation equipment and safe disposal of contaminated material at the time of injection. Staff members in harm reduction facilities provide health teaching, anonymous HIV testing, information on addiction treatment, condoms and assist in connecting clients to social and health services (Semaan et al., 2011; Ball, 2007). Although, the benefits of harm reduction are evident through reduction of accidental drug overdose and prevention of

In most cases, one of the main objectives of courts and the sentences they impose is that of rehabilitation. This is evidenced through a growing move in favour of a more holistic approach to justice, trying to address the issues which may have led to the crime, rather than just punishing the end result. One of the prime examples of this therapeutic approach to justice is the introduction of the Drug Court. Governed by the Drug Court Act 1998, the Drug court has both Local court and District court jurisdiction, and seeks to target the causes of drug-related criminal behaviour. It achieves this by ensuring that those who go through it receive treatment for their addictions, thereby reducing their propensity to reoffend, as many crimes are motivated by the need to satisfy addictions.

Narcotic Anonymous throughout the country hereby the twelve steps and traditions of Narcotic Anonymous. The twelve steps of narcotic anonymous are: 1. To admit that they are powerless over their addiction, and their lives are unmanageable. 2. They believe that a power greater than themselves could restore them to sanity. 3. A decision is made to turn their will and their lives over the care of God as they understood Him. 4. They made a searching and fearless moral inventory of themselves. 5. They admit to God, to themselves and to another person the nature of their wrong doings. 6. The readiness of letting God remove the defects in their characters. 7. To humbly ask God to remove their shortcomings. 8. Make a list of people they harm and make amends to all of those people. 9. To make direct amends to

There have been a lot of ideological opposition to it since its inception because of their fundamental differences. The conventional abstinence approach suggested that abstinence and therefore reducing the prevalence of use ought to be main goals of substance use, interventions or policy while the "harm reduction" approach defined the severity of substance use problems by the extent, quantity and frequency of substance use by an individual or within a population. Nowadays harm reduction is an umbrella term usually described as a strategy directed toward individuals or groups that aims to reduce the harms associated with substance abuse. This paradigm accepts that a continuing level of substance use is inevitable in society and defines objectives as reducing adverse consequences. It emphasizes the measurement of health, social and economic outcomes, as opposed to the measurement of drug consumption. This approach have been effective in reducing morbidity and mortality in adult populations with substance abuse however the concept of harm is not objectively defined, and therefore does not provide a strong empirical basis for the implementation and evaluation of harm reduction measures. With regards to alcohol field, there has been recognition that abstinence may not be the ideal or most feasible

There are groups of people in the criminal justice system who considers drug addiction a personal issue, not a criminal one. This could not be further from the truth; drug abuse is illegal and should be treated as such. It is a catalyst for many crimes seen today from mugging to murder. If the numbers of those who abuse drugs are reduced, the amount of crimes associated with the addiction are also reduced. Not only will crime levels be reduced, most of those who undergo treatment tend to be better prepared to do more with their lives and not re-offend.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) estimated that a majority of criminal offenders were under the influence of alcohol alone when they committed their crimes.

Drug abuse and predatory criminality go hand in hand in a few, select social groups, while in others, drug abuse most often occurs without criminal behavior (other than the fact they’re doing drugs.) Despite what most might think, drug abuse typically follows predatory criminality. As drug abusers keep trying harder drugs due to necessity, the intensity of their criminal behavior escalates dramatically. When using more than one type of drug at one time, studies show that the frequency of criminal activity increases. But, when these drug offenders decrease the amount of drugs they put in their system, their rate of criminal activity also decreases, which shows that drugs can cause a person to commit crime. This shows that drug usage can cause crime and stopping drug usage can slow or even halt criminal activity.