Illegal Drugs and Violent Crimes
...smoke Marijuana for years and never have any problems. They are able to maintain jobs and no one ever knows. The more heavily used drugs like Cocaine and Crack (a cheaper version of cocaine) have an effect on the central nervous system and have been proven to increase violent acts. In many cases, a person who is going to commit a crime will use some illegal drug, so they will not have to think about what they are about to do. Those who use crack commit crimes, so they will be able to purchase more drugs. They might not have intention of killing anyone, but if someone gets in their way they will do just that. Crack is sold in the form of a rock and is usually smoked with a crack pipe. This drug just hit the streets in the 80’s and it has really become popular because of its price. Cocaine is more expensive. It is sold in the form of a powder, and it is snorted through the nose. I have known people who use this drug, and it definitely alters the way one acts and functions. Drugs like cocaine and crack are easy to become addicted to do and hard to get off of. People have lost everything they own when they become addicted to these drugs. These drugs have made many young black males rich from selling these drugs. Drug dealers traffic these drugs into our country, and from state to state everyday. Drugs increase violent crimes. Drug dealers continue to kill someone over a drug deal gone badly, or because someone has invaded their so-called territory. Drug users are known to steal to make money to buy more drugs. Drug use can be an expensive habit. According to a study done by David Freeman, “Drugs, Violence, and Economics”, he states that the link between drugs and violent crimes can occur in three ways: violent crimes by consumers of drugs, violent crime associated with the production and distribution of drugs, or violent crime directly associated with the attempt to enforce drug prohibition (Friedman). Drugs are being sold to teenagers on school grounds. Drug dealers know that high school students and college students are easy targets to sell drugs to. In most cases the drug dealers are well known because they are at many of the school functions such as parties and sporting events. The Public Agency Training Council has stated that “according to the Pride Survey, which surveyed more than 114,000 sixth to twelfth grade students during the 1999-2000 school year, drug use and violent behavior remain chronic problems among America's youth. The survey concluded that one-fourth of high school seniors use illegal drugs on a monthly basis and 8.6 percent use drugs daily”. It has been reported by the Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University that there are two out five middle school age kids and two out three high school age kids that knows of a classmate or friend that has used LSD, cocaine or heroin. It goes on to state that 37 percent of teens between the age of 15 and 17 have seen drugs on school grounds. (Public Agency Training Council) Some form of violent crimes has always occurred in our society. There always been bank robberies gone wrong, the robbing of pizza delivery guy at gun point, or breaking into someone’s home. Over the last ten years the crimes have grown more violent. Serial killers have been the main type of crime since Charles Manson. I have seen crimes like men killing their spouses at close range. In some cases they have killed other innocent people present, and even their own kids. This is what I consider a violent crime. I would like to share a personal story of mine. One of my classmates was dating a guy that she was having problems with. She had about three or four kids, but none of them belonged to him. One night he called her to meet him in a very dark area. I guess she decided it was safe to do so. She left her kids home and went to meet this guy. When she arrived he killed her, then he put her back in her car and set it on fire. This to me is very violent. He was on drugs at the time of the murder and prior to the murder. This is the type of crime I’m seeing in my area a lot. You read stories like this every couple of months in our cities newspaper. Most of the times these criminals are not addicts, but they use them when they feel like it. However, their use of drugs whether used daily or casually, or the selling of illegal drugs contributes to the number of violent crimes being committed. Illegal drug use does lead to crime in some form or fashion. Those who use drugs or those who sell drugs are always involved in some type of criminal act. Sometimes these criminal acts turn out to be the worst kind of violent crimes. Drug dealers have always had a reputation of killing someone when they are crossed. The prisons are full of criminals who will admit to selling or using drugs when they committed an act of crime. In self reports from a 1991 survey with a sample of 14,000 State and 6,600 Federal prison inmates, 24% of Federal inmates and 49% of State inmates stated they were under some type of illicit drugs when they committed their crimes. In 1998 about 218 homicides that occurred in New York, were presumed to be related to drugs. A 1999 study linking the effects of certain drugs and criminal behavior done by Brochu showed the following (Long, 1996): • 28% of the inmates questioned said they had committed al or at least most of their crimes under the influence of an illegal drug. • Nearly 44% of inmates reported that they had previously used illegal drugs believed that their drug use had increased their criminal activity, and 51% thought that drug use had had no effect on their criminal activity. • Nearly 80% of inmates used illegal drugs on the day they committed the crime for which they were incarcerated, and drugs were the cause of their actions. These finding are enough to convince anyone that drugs does have an affect on the increase in violent crimes being committed. These finding are coming from the ones that actually committed the crimes. Drugs enter our country illegally daily and it has really gotten out of hand. Drug trafficking is defines as the illegal smuggling of drugs across the United States borders. The drugs are usually smuggled in through small planes or boats coming from places like Mexico, Haiti, or Jamaica. From these countries come many pounds of marijuana. Cocaine comes into our country mainly form South America and most drugs enter our country off the coast of Florida and California. Laws have gotten stricter and air strikes have become a useful tool in spotted crops where drugs are being grown. Air strikes are when planes fly over large rural field to look for place drugs could have been grown. No matter how strict the laws are, there always be those drug dealers that get there drugs i...