Drug abuse: Tendencies and ways to overcome it

CONTENTS:

Number:                                                                                           
Pages:

1. Introduction                                                            
                     2-4

Chapter 1. Concept, Manifestations and Tendencies of

Drug
Abuse                                                                                      
4-14 

2. The Concept and Manifestation of Drug
Abuse                            4-11

3. Tendencies of
Development                                                          11-14  

Chapter II. System and Classification of Measures to
Overcome

Drug
Abuse                                                                                     
14-22          

4.
System of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse                            14-17

5. Classification of Measures to
Overcome Drug Abuse                  17-22         

Chapter III. Drug Abuse in the International
Law                      22-38 

6. International Fora and Legal Acts on
Drugs                                 22-34

7.
Tendencies in the World Community's Reaction to Drug Abuse. 34-37

Chapter IV. Measures to
Suppress and Prevent Drug Abuse     37-40

Chapter V. Organized Measures to Counteract
Narcotics          40-57

8. General Provisions for Counteracting Narcotics                           41-45

9. Organization of Medical
Counteraction to Narcotics                    45-49

10. Enforcement of Legal Measures
of Narcotics Counteraction     50-53

11. Other
Organizational Measures to Combat Narcotics                53-57

12. Conclusion                                                                                 57-58         

   

            

Introduction

The 20th century has witnessed the spread of narcotics to the entire
world. In the past narcotics in the natural economy were confined to
territories where drug-bearing plants were grown. By the end of century drug
addiction has become a worldwide socially dangerous trend.

Narco-dealers making fabulous profits infect more and more people
and even entire social groups with drug addiction. Narcotics have long since
gone beyond the borders of traditional drug-producing areas and have
infiltrated all the countries of the world, exerting its malicious effect on
their peoples. It has affected social, economic, political and biological
aspects of life.

Statistics is constantly reporting the spread of drug addiction and
the growth in the number of drug addicts on file at medical institutions, as
well as the rise in officially recorded drug-related crimes.

Drug abuse has become a real plague of the 20th century in many
countries of the world and may become the plague of this country in particular.

The pleasurable sensations of comfort and satisfaction that a person
experiences using narcotics is much greater than that of alcohol thus making
the repetition necessary. Consequently, dependence on drugs and the desire to
enlarge the dose or experiment with the new and more powerful drugs increases.
Gradually the desire for dope becomes so overwhelming that it degrades the
addict's individuality. The transition from experimentation to dependence is no
longer a secret for it has been studied thoroughly. Profit seeking dealers
expand the drug market at any cost by supplying drugs to more and more addicts
taking advantage of their weaknesses.

Drug sales are the closing stage in drug trafficking. Drug trade
earns huge profits that cover the costs of cultivating drug-bearing plants,
producing (or illegally acquiring from medical institutions) transportation,
sale expenses, and the bribery of officials, including those of the law
enforcement agencies. Since illegal drug trafficking is extremely advantageous
in terms of illegal profit accumulation and so harmful and immoral it must be
regarded by the entire world community as a socially dangerous phenomenon. Some
countries qualify its certain manifestations as a heinous crime.

Throughout this century international organizations have been paying
much attention to actions against drug abuse. For example, in 1909 the Shanghai
Opium Commission approved documents to restrict drug trafficking between
countries. The international opium conference held in the Hague between 1911
and 1912 worked out, for the first time in history, the drug convention of
1912. The conference on opium held in Geneva between 1924 and 1925 approved, on
February 11, 1925, an Agreement under which opium was made a government
monopoly. The second Geneva conference on opium passed a convention on February
19, 1925, under which narcotics were to be produced only for the purpose of
meeting the countries' legal demand for them. Besides this convention
stipulated the extension of the list of drugs. On July 13, 1931, an
international convention limiting the production of drugs and regulating their
distribution was approved in Geneva. It came into force in 1933. A convention
of actions against the illegal trade in hard drugs was signed in Geneva on June
26, 1936. It made international prosecution for drug-related crimes possible
and introduced punishments for such crimes compared with the previous
conventions.

In 1946, the UN Economic and Social Council passed a resolution that
provided for the international drug control and for the establishment of a drug
commission for this purpose. On November, 19 1946, the UN General Assembly
passed resolution 54/1 which endorsed a Protocol on Drugs. It was signed at
Lake Success on December 11, 1946. At the initiative of the Drug Commission, a
protocol extending the international control over drugs set forth by the 1931
convention, was signed at the third UN General Assembly session in Paris on
November 19, 1948. A Protocol on Control over opium poppy, consisting of the
Preamble and the Final Act, was signed in New York at the UN opium conference
on June 23, 1953. The UN conference in New York in 1961 approved a Uniform Drug
Convention and in 1971 in Vienna a special diplomatic conference passed a
convention that stipulated the establishment of a control over psychotropic
preparations. The UN conference in Vienna in 1988 adopted a convention of
actions against the illegal trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances.
In keeping with the decisions of the G Seven heads of state and governments and
of the European Commission Chairman, the 15th top-level economic summit in
Paris set up a special group in July 1989 to deal with the laundering of drug
money. Upon this group's recommendations, the International Drug Control
Council called on all the governments to approve, among other things,
legislative acts against attempts to launder money obtained from drug sales and
to ensure their effective use. The list of international antidrug conferences
and their drug-prevention documents alone, as well as the establishment of
special international bodies and organizations to carry out their decisions, is
a graphic illustration of how serious the world community's effort to oppose
drug abuse has been.

A lot of people today are drawn into the process of illegal drug
trafficking: from those engaged in cultivating drugs or producing medical
preparations containing drugs, to drug salesmen and dealers engaged in
money-laundering. At times these people form groups, which are termed,
organized criminal groups or associations by the criminal code. On the one
hand, these groups take control of drug-related crimes and draw people who
commit such crimes on their own. And on the other hand, they establish firm
organizational ties among themselves forming drug cartels in order to
monopolize drug trafficking in the vast regions of the world. This shows that
there is a continuous blending process between narcotics and organized crime.
These factors characterize the highest degree of danger that narcotics
represent. They prove the pressing need to increase worldwide action against
narcotics. This action calls for the use of all possible means: political,
legal, economic, and medical among others.

The antidrug campaign is a big drain on the material resources of
the country. It involves large spending on various programs such as preventive
Medicare, law-enforcement, legal and economic measures, and other. If this
spending is to be rational and effective, a range of measures should be
outlined with the utmost precision and professionally implemented.

All this calls for a comprehensive analysis of the existing
situation and of the possible opposition by drug dealers. As the owners of
enormous wealth, which sometimes exceeds the budgets of some countries, drug
dealers are able to influence government policies, especially in small
countries. Mainly bribing top government officials in the legislative or the
executive branches ensures this influence. As a result, criminals get a chance
to interfere in law making from the outset. The bribery of the law enforcement
officers and of the officers of the court, among others, makes it possible to
cover up drug deals, prevent exposed members of the criminal associations
involved in these deals from prosecution or substantially curtail their prison
terms.

Unlike the United States and other wealthy countries, smaller
nations are in no position to allocate sufficient sums from their budgets to
carry out effective antidrug projects. Research-based guidance may to a certain
extent make up for the lack of necessary funding. And here government-supported
antidrug programs may play an essential role.

The study of drug abuse has always been prominent in the study of
law. Many booklets, articles, serious textbooks, and monographs are devoted to
narcotics. It is as hard to cover all aspects of the problem, even in the most
profound study, as it is to establish absolute truth, especially, since reality
keeps creating new problems all the time.

The key solution lies in the need to pool international efforts in
eradicating drug addiction and narco-business. In the present-day world with
its integration processes it is impossible to do away with drug addiction in
any one country. Yet there is no way for the world community to regard itself
free from the problem even at a time when drugs will be a peril only in one
particular country. An intensive and continuous buildup of the world
community's joint effort against narcotics is a top priority objective of the
world at large.

Chapter 1. Concept, Manifestations and Tendencies
of Drug Abuse

1. The Concept and Manifestation of Drug Abuse

Sociologists, lawyers and medical experts single out three basic
aspects of drug abuse: social, legal and medical.

These aspects are interconnected and interdependent and reveal the
diverse nature of drug abuse. Moreover one can also point out the
criminological, economic and ecological aspects.

To highlight the entire multiplicity of this phenomenon, it is
necessary to go beyond the widespread notion of "drug addiction"
because strictly speaking it applies only to the medical or biological aspects
of drug use being viewed exclusively as a disease without covering social,
legal and some other aspects. This is why the notion "drug abuse"
rather than "drug addiction" is used in juridical literature as a
much wider term covering social, legal and other aspects. So, drug abuse is
understood as a "social phenomenon" which combines such illegal
actions as willful consumption of narcotics, dealing in narcotics illegally, as
well as solicitation to use drugs, creating the conditions for becoming a part
of illegal drug trafficking.

This definition is acceptable on the whole and may be used as a
basis for describing the phenomenon, yet it fails to cover the biological
aspect and insufficiently expresses the economic, legal and criminological aspects.

There is a need for a term that would cover all the aspects of this
negative phenomenon, and of the ways of combating it.

Social Aspects of Drug Abuse:

Most concisely, the social aspect of drug abuse can be described as
a combination of social behaviors linked to narcotics and their social
consequences in the form of damage that has been done and can be done to
society.

The actual negative social manifestations of drug abuse are
expressed in various drug-related actions: cultivation of drug bearing plants,
preparation, acquisition, storage, sale and consumption of narcotics, as well
as persuasion to use narcotics.

Negative Social Consequences of Drug Abuse:

The negative social consequences of drug abuse are similar to the
social consequences of crime. They amount to "real harm caused by crime to
social relationships and expressed in the cause-and-effect combination of
criminal behavior and in the direct and indirect, immediate and mediate
negative changes (damage, losses, and other ill effects), ultimately affecting
the social (economic, moral, legal, etc.) Values and also implying the
combination of society's economic and other social hazards attributed to the
effort to combat and to socially prevent crime.

Proceeding from this definition it is possible to recognize the
negative social consequences of drug abuse. The first is the negative social
changes, such as harm to people's health, the destruction of family
foundations, and a decline in work efficiency. The second is the cost which
society has to pay to overcome these changes. Other changes also include
refusal to work, various antisocial actions, and crime. A closer look at these
negative changes shows that drug addicts are poor workers because of their ill
health, which, in general, makes work impossible for them during spells of
abstinence. Their entire range of interests and thoughts lies in the desire to
find ways of obtaining drugs. The list of negative changes also includes
material damage perpetrated by the drug addicts who are often the source of
transportation accidents and accidents in industry. For example, 60 billion
dollars worth of damage is done annually in the United States alone. There is
also the moral damage resulting from the various unlawful actions motivated by
the desire to find means for buying drugs, such as the willingness to commit
crime for the sake of meeting that desire. Forgery, embezzlement, abuse of
authority and office duties is just a few. Drug addicts create unbearable
conditions for their families by denying them normal lifestyles and means of
existence. They harm their offspring by upsetting the hereditary stock. Drug
addicts undergo physical and moral degradation and die early. They destroy
their own basic moral and ethical values.

The Committee of Experts of the World Health Organization determines
the social danger and negative consequences of drug abuse according to the
basic factors and divides them into two main groups: the breach of relations
among drug consumers and the spread of unfavorable consequences among many
people.

Specific Social Problems of Drug Abuse:

WHO experts describe the specific social problems caused by drug
abuse as follows: the huge material losses and their consequences in the form
of all kinds of damage done to those who immediately surround drug consumers
(parents, college roommates and so on) and to the society as a whole; the
deterioration of relations with official organizations and institutions, staff
at college and at work etc.; drug consumers' inclination to commit crimes
motivated by the need to have drugs or the means to buy them, and also the
mercenary and violent crimes committed under the influence of drugs; the
additional demand for welfare benefits and medical care for persons using drugs
other than for medicinal purposes and in connection with this the unnoticed
spending both by drug addicts and by society as a whole; the danger arising
from drug addicts as potential conduct of drug addiction in their immediate
surroundings.

Detailed research however allows for a broader list of specific
social aspects. They include: ideological and cultural, law enforcement,
medical care and preventative medicine, labor and education, family and leisure
time, and material resources. The specific ill effects of narcotics and their
unfavorable social consequences can be seen in any of the categories listed
above. For example, in the ideological and cultural area they express
themselves in the development of a specific drug ideology; in the law
enforcement area there is an increase of crime. In Medicare and preventive
medicine, there is deterioration in people's health and an increase in the
number of handicapped children. In industry and education - a decline in labor
efficiency and poor results at schools and other educational centers is evident.
One can also point to accidents and to deterioration of relations among staff.
In the family relations, a loss of understanding occurs. All this requires
setting up special schools, preventive centers, drug departments at medical
institutions, rehabilitation centers and new antidrug programs.

To sum up the above-cited social aspects of drug abuse one may
state, that it is harmful in physical, moral and proprietary ways. This harm is
caused by the proliferation of the narcotic sub-culture as it draws more victims
into it; secondly, by drug-related crimes; thirdly, by crimes committed for the
purpose of getting means for buying more drugs; fourthly, by crimes committed
under the influence of drugs; and, finally, by the spending needed to carry out
various programs aimed at eliminating drug abuse.

Legal Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The legal aspect of drug abuse is also a part of the social aspect.
Crimes and other law-breaking acts covered by the totality of legal norms
involve the illegal cultivation of drug-bearing plants, the preparation,
storage, transportation, trafficking, sales, and theft of drugs, the use of
drugs without doctor's prescription, and the violation of laws regulating the
handling of narcotics. This also covers the situation when suitable conditions
are created for taking drugs and those in which more people are persuaded to
use drugs or when people have to commit crimes in order to obtain means to buy
drugs. Crimes committed under the influence of drugs, as well as crimes that
are committed for the purpose of getting money to purchase drugs are included
as well.

These crimes should be viewed as part of the notion of drug abuse
since they are caused by the desires of drug users to boost drug-inspired
activities or their level of intoxication. The legal aspect of drug abuse also
includes those relationships regulated by law and arising from the non-medical
use of drugs.

Criminological Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The criminological aspect of drug abuse includes a part of this
phenomenon that poses an extreme danger to the public, i.e. is linked to the
above-cited crimes, their state, level, structure, dynamics, cause-and-effect,
criminal's personality, and prevention measures, among others.

Economic Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The economic aspect of drug abuse is associated with its affect on
economy, such as large sums of money in possession of drug dealers, a decline
in labor productivity of drug addicts; an increase in spending on
law-enforcement engaged in combating drug-related crimes; and a drain on
national budgets due to preventive and rehabilitation measures to combat drug
addiction. Experts claim, for example, that in the former USSR, the cost of
illegal drug trafficking within the "narco-business-shadow economy"
amounted to billions of troubles.

Biological Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The biological aspect of drug abuse is associated with the notion
that it is "a disease manifested by a constant and insurmountable craving
for drugs (morphine, for example) causing euphoria in small doses and stupor in
large ones. The regular use of drugs arouses a desire to increase the dose. The
abstinence syndrome usually accompanies withdrawal.

Narcotics damage the internal organs of drug takers, destroy their
nervous systems, their state of mind, and bring about their social degradation.

Since drug addiction is a disease, there is a need to find a cure
for it. Hence, the need to have qualified medical personnel, special drug
rehabilitation centers and branches offices, effective medicines and curative
methods.

Ecological Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The ecological aspect of narcotics is associated, on the one hand,
with the natural existence of drug-bearing plants, and on the other, with their
man-made cultivation. These plants are a source of obtaining and preparing
narcotic substances. From the ecological point of view there is a need, first,
to do away with the spread of wild drug-bearing plants, and second, to ban
their man-made cultivation. The economic, biological and ecological aspects are
subjects for research by experts.

Drug-related Crimes:

It is possible to define drug abuse as a negative social phenomenon
touching upon the social, legal, criminological, economic, biological and
ecological areas accordingly. One part of the phenomenon is drug addiction, as
a disease, and other, embraces all the law-breaking actions related to drugs:
those carried out to secure means for purchasing drugs or those committed under
the influence of drugs. Such law-breaking actions cover the use, preparation,
purchase, storage, transportation, parcel mail, sale and theft of narcotic
substances; attempts to force other people to use drugs and the creation of
conditions conducive to such use; attempts to sow and grow drug-bearing plants;
attempts to violate the established rules regulating the production, purchase,
storage, control, sale, transportation or parcel mail of narcotic substances;
and, drug smuggling. The law-breaking actions also cover various mercenary
crimes (violent crime) that are not drug-related but are committed in order to
buy drugs subsequently (theft, robbery, plunder, fraud, blackmail and others)
and also violent crimes committed under the influence of drugs (e.g.,
hooliganism against individuals). This notion reflects the essence and the
confines of the drug use and serves as a guideline for determining its scale
and developing strategies against it. Yet the true scale of this phenomenon is
obscured by a high degree of latent drug-induced diseases and law-breaking
drug-related actions.

Narcotics and Crime:

The above-listed law-breaking actions are crimes proving an
interrelation between drug abuse and crime. Drugs and crime are not only
closely interrelated, but actually blend fully, and in fact, becomes what is
known, as narco-crime. But to merely establish this fact is not enough. The
danger drug-related crimes pose to the public surpasses the danger coming from
other crimes. Drug-related crime is largely interrelated with various other
kinds of crime and even merges with one of its most dangerous varieties such as
organized crime. This becomes clear studying the dynamics of drug-related
crimes. Central here are the drug users who represent a consumer of narcotics,
and the ultimate target of drug trafficking - the sale of drugs. When people
become dependent on drugs they concentrate all their efforts on getting drugs
at any cost. They engage in criminal activities ranging from the cultivation of
drug-bearing plants and the preparation of "stuff", to its sale.

Tendencies of Development:

The number of drug users grows in direct proportion to the rise in
crimes committed under the influence of narcotics and, in the long run, to the
profits earned by the drug dealers. Hence, drug dealers seek to 1) expand the
drug sales; 2) increase the output of drugs or receive more of them from
medical and pharmaceutical centers; and, 3) further promote criminal activities
connected to drugs. The latter seems to ensure the realization of the former. A
high degree of organization paves the way for expanding drug sales, increasing
the output and boosting drug trafficking.

Expanding Drug Sales:

The expansion of drug sales is achieved by persuading more people to
take drugs. Drug dealers set up drug pads and stores where narcotics are
available. They try to advertise them in indirect ways. They make sure that
more powerful drugs are continuously being developed.

In order to increase drug output drug-bearing plants are grown on
remote plantations in regions with difficult access. Illegal shops and
laboratories for developing new types of narcotics are set up there. Funds for
increasing drug output are raised by blackmailing or bribing public officials.
Drug-dealers practice violence, make threats against officials and encourage
theft of large amounts of drugs.

Boosting the Level of Organization of the Illegal Drug Trafficking
Business Methods to improve the level of organization include mergers of
criminal groups and associations, severe disciplinary measures within criminal
organizations, greater degree of cohesion among group members, conspiratorial
rules, and tougher actions against those who violate the rules in such groups.
Other methods are: increasing attempts to draw government officials into
criminal groups, taking control of persons engaged in drug-related crimes on
their own, centralizing finances and monopolizing drug prices.

According to various studies there are quite a few syndicates and
cartels in the world that have divided drug trafficking regions among
themselves. Activities of these groups are guided by a clear-cut system of
criminal actions, such as promoting the sowing and cultivation of drug-bearing
plants, the production of narcotics, their wholesale purchase, and the
transportation and sales of drugs to consumers. Drug syndicates and cartels,
for whom drug trafficking is the main source of income, act under the guise of
legitimate companies, trying to come across as legal as possible. They have
airplanes, modern weapons and the newest technology in their possession.
Leaders of the criminal drug associations do their utmost to oppose the actions
of law enforcement agencies. With this purpose in mind, they not only try to
check police actions but make attempts, successful at times, to infiltrate
police ranks. Professional criminals deploy defense measures that may prove to
be so effective in challenging the worthiness of surveillance of suspects and
the bugging of their phones. United into cartels and syndicates and
organizationally divided into groups and associations, drug- criminals are
usually aware that they remain under constant surveillance. To ensure their
personal safety they resort, as a rule, to various counter-surveillance
measures, thus putting well-trained police officers in a difficult position.
Experience shows that criminal groups usually keep the approaches to places
where narcotics are turned over under their own close watch.

Ways to Legalize Drug Profits:

Drug dealers seek not only to build up profits from drug trafficking
but to legalize them as well. To that end they engage in criminal activities
where by legal and illegal operations are inextricably intertwined. The money
earned from the trade in narcotics is invested into legitimate businesses or in
real estate. It may also be laundered in financial transactions, such as, the
purchase of shares and securities or other newly invented and constantly
perfected operations. The income thus obtained allows drug dealers not only to
pour more money into drug trafficking or finance more drug-related crimes but
also provides for a legal coverage of drug trade, or for the participation in
legal activities. Speakers at the international seminar on combating organized
crime in the Russian city of Suzdal in 1992 held in accord with the resolution
of the 45th session of the UN General Assembly, pointed out that "in the
majority of countries, organized crime developed along two directions:
participating in prohibited activities (property crimes, money laundering,
illegal drug trafficking, violation of hard currency transaction rules, intimidation,
prostitution, gambling, trade in weapons and antiques) and joining legal
business (directly or using such parasitical means as extortion. This
participation in legal economic activities is always bent for the use of
illegal competition methods and may have a greater economic impact compared to
the involvement in totally illegal kinds of activity). In short, criminal
methods are used in both cases leading to the situation in which criminal
elements form the majority of organized criminal formations.

Organized Narco-crime:

Typically, drug cartels and syndicates are highly organized. Present
in the organizations are: strict and precise distribution of functions; very
rigid hierarchies; internal discipline maintained by interest, authority and
force; stringent conspiracy; ramified networks of groups bound by firm
organizational ties; branches existing and functioning in various countries;
contacts with other criminal groups (counterfeiters, smugglers, murderers
etc.); the use of professional criminals; the internationalization of group
members; and, the use of violence to meet the desired ends. To protect their
huge profits and spheres of interest, the subjects of narco-criminals stop at
nothing and employ violent means, such as the contract murders of their rivals
and of law enforcement agents. The money brought by the trade in drugs is often
used to finance dangerous crimes and acts of terrorism. It becomes a source,
which finances subversive activities of all kinds. Profits obtained from the
drug trade make it possible to finance large-scale armed operations against
government forces (like in Columbia or Mexico). Profit gained from the drug
trade is often compared with the profits earned by whole industries. The drug
trade is regarded as the world's second largest economy. All this enables drug
dealers not only to pay generously for the participation in crimes but also to
set up a common financial fund, a common bank, so to speak. Narco-money is also
used to exert influence on policy-making, particularly, by nominating the
associates of drug dealers to key posts in the economy and politics or by
bribing persons who already hold such posts and turning them into supporters of
the drugs trade. These financial investments are reinforced by threats of
violence against them or their close relatives (wives, children or parents).
This proves convincingly that narco-crime is a well organized and well planned
business incorporating the mutually inter-related criminal activities of
individuals, groups, associations, syndicates and cartels with a division of
mutually interrelated functions. This is the reason to regard this kind of
crime as a variety of organized crime. Some researchers believe that drug
profits are the economic foundation of organized crime. This can be seen in
comparison of elements forming narco- and organized crimes. To get a clear
understanding of the elements of the latter it is necessary to look in
retrospect at the history of organized crime. While crime and drug addiction
have been known to the world for at least several centuries, the existence of
organized crime has been officially recognized quite recently, only in this
century. Yet both national and foreign researchers date the origin of this
phenomenon, in one way or another, to a much earlier period.

Various stable criminal organizations used to appear and operate on
territories of almost all modern states. Gangs of brigands and smugglers were
at work not only on land but also at sea (sea pirates). They had in their
possession caches of weapons, stocks of gold and food and, sometimes, entire
fleets of pirate boats furnished with everything necessary for an attack and
ready to go into combat with regular troops or ships. They thereby challenged
borders and laws. Already at that time members of such gangs observed their own
internal rules and traditions strictly, contrary to the ones obligatory in
society. Among them there was the principle of mutual help, the recognition of
the leaders' authority, the distribution of duties and spoils, as well as a
system of reward and punishment. Gangsters knew exactly the kind of work they
were responsible for and also knew their zones of influence (slave trade,
cattle stealing, smuggling arms, narcotics, gold, diamonds, etc). They talked their
own language and stuck to other conspiratorial rules. Taking hostages and
bribing officials were their usual practices, very much like the actions of the
present day organized crime groups.

With the passing of time, of course, these organizations kept transforming
and modernizing, adjusting to changes of state borders, governments and
economies. They were turning more and more into organized criminal associations
that posed a serious threat to public safety, to the supremacy of the law and
to other state institutions. As researchers point out, a particular danger of
organized crime is that it becomes more and more arrogant, aggressive,
ingenious and diverse. In the 1980s, organized crime became increasingly
apparent throughout the world.

Forms of Organized Crime:

Along with traditional forms of organized crime, new forms, more
diverse and greater in scale, have appeared, such as the theft and re-sale of
luxury cars, electronic equipment, historical and cultural art objects,
antiques, icons and church plate. Other forms include the illegal trade in
human being, weapons and ammunition, strategic raw materials, non-ferrous and
rare metals, drugs counterfeiting, theft and forgery of credit cards, gambling,
and infiltration of legal business and world finance. An analysis of documents
issued by the UN Information Center proves that the influence of various forms
of organized crime spreads far beyond national borders and
"transnationalize crime", so to speak. This creates a situation which
"differs, both qualitatively and quantitatively, from the situation in the
past and hampers the accomplishment of effective measures aiming to prevent and
eliminate crime. Experts believe that the evolution of organized crime should
be seen as "a process providing for a rational reorganization on the
international basis of criminal enterprises using the same patterns just as it
is the case for legal enterprises." This process reflects tendencies for
forming a more intricate organizational structure typical of the modern society
in all countries. This explains why the UN Secretary General pointed out in his
speech at the 47th General Assembly session on September 28, 1992, that it was
imperative to promote international cooperation and develop practical steps
against organized crime in view of its negative impact on various areas of
society's social, political and economic life. Though extremely topical,
problems of organized crime have not yet been resolved properly by juridical
theory and practice. Suffice it to say that there are still some countries
where no laws on organized crime have yet been passed. There is no uniform
approach to the concept of organized crime at the legislative level. The
attributes and signs of this phenomenon have not yet been finalized. No attempts
have yet been made to develop a comprehensive program of action against it.
There are few statistics or official data on organized crime as a whole.

For example, in the former USSR the first official mention of
organized crime made at the government level was on December 2, 1989, when the
decision to step up the effort against organized crime was passed by the 2nd
Congress of People's Deputies. However, no laws regarding organized crime have
been adopted. This could not help but leave its imprint on the practical
activities of law enforcement agencies in the former Union republics. There was
no solid theoretical discussion of the concept of organized crime, as the
scarce publications of the last few years could hardly give a complete picture
of this problem.

Some published works, however, contain a number of definitions of
organized crime. Some authors point to the following basic features. Criminal
groups based on hierarchical order consolidate within the borders of one
particular region or a country; their leaders take no part in crimes but only
perform organizational, managerial and ideological functions. Government
officials, including law enforcement officers, become corrupt and join criminal
activities providing safety to the members of criminal associations. This
association has a tendency to monopolize and expand the spheres of illegal
activities, and to protect leaders from bearing any responsibility. Another
group of authors believe that organized crime is a system of contacts forming
naturally in the criminal surroundings which lead to the concentration and
monopolization of certain kinds of criminal activities. Diversified ties
between groups engaged in criminal activities are characteristic of this
system.

About the Concept of Organized Crime:

Organized crime represents the consolidated criminal associations
with their own norms of behavior, hierarchical ladders and finances, it is the
most dangerous kind of crime that opposes and counteracts the lawful actions of
the state. This definition also embraces the totality of mercenary and economic
crimes committed with the help of corrupt government officials, and law
enforcement agents among them, who yielded to bribery and other forms of
corruption.

Organized Crime in Foreign Legislation:

In this context it is interesting to look at foreign experience in
dealing with organized crime, particularly, in the field of legislation. The
Italian criminal code states, for example, (article 416-2) that "the
association of a mafia kind is ranked as a criminal one when its members
practice the removal and intimidation of other persons in order to ensure a
cover-up and observe the law of silence and thus make it possible to commit
crimes, and win, directly or indirectly, posts allowing the management or
control of business activities, the distribution of concessions and permits of
all kinds, the signing of contracts, and communal services, as well as making
illegal profits or securing illegal privileges for themselves and other persons."
The American approach seems to be slightly different. While the Italian
Criminal Code lists features of organized crime, American Federal Legislation
(USC-par. 3781), though naming certain features of organized crime, attributes
concrete actions to it, namely, "unlawful activities by members of a
well-organized and disciplined association supplying illegal commodities and
offering illegal services, which include but are not limited to, gambling,
prostitution, usury, the spread of narcotics, racket and other unlawful actions
by such organizations." Organized crime has broad opportunities for
carrying out unlawful deeds but the choice of these opportunities is mainly
determined by the level of expected profit, the minimum degree of possible risk
of being caught and exposed and the absence of concrete victims. It is this
particular factor that comes to the foreground in crimes related to narcotics
whose users are not interested in reporting to the police. The specific choice
of a "specialization" for this or another criminal group is a factor
guaranteeing it, to a large degree, a high level of conspiracy and a free hand
in committing crimes. Along with the previously mentioned
"specialization" of criminal associations there also exists what is termed
as an "internal specialization", i.e. the division of labor among
criminal association members.

Organized Crime and Drug Related Crime: Features in Common:

These features include:

- clearly defined organizational and managerial structures with a hierarchy
which ensures the protection of leaders from punishment since their actions
usually remain outside the confines of the criminal code;

- uniform norms of behavior and responsibility;

- planned unlawful activities and common goals aimed at making large
profits;

- a system aiming to neutralize all forms of legal control and
development of counter measures;

- common finances invested in various areas of criminal activities,
which are used for bribing the necessary people, providing material support to
members of criminal associations and financing crimes;

- monopolization and expansion of areas of criminal activity,
cooperation between criminal associations in various branches of a national
economy, the introduction of commodities and services to the black market,
exploitation of women through pornography, and prostitution;

- the use of legal methods to launder drug money.

In sum narcotics are a negative social phenomenon posing an extreme
danger to society. This danger is expressed in such ill-effects as the
destruction of people's health as a result of drug addiction, drug-related
crimes, the totality of which forms an independent crime branch (narco-crime),
and the ability to turn the most dangerous and well-organized part of
narco-crime into a variety of organized crime.

Par. 2. Tendencies of Development

Some tendencies of development can be traced by using the
statistical method, whereas others, which are not clearly evident, can be
discovered by sociological studies, expert evaluations, interviews, studies of
documents or by content analysis of mass media publications.

The Structure of Narco-crime:

In the structure of narco-crime, the predominant criminal actions
are the illegal preparation, acquisition, storage, transportation and dissemination
of narcotics by mail. The percentage of such crimes is high and is increasing
all the time. It varies between 87 and 96%. Actions not with the intent to sell
constitute an overwhelming share (from 96 to 99%).

On the one hand, this fact gives reason to assume that the actions
listed above were taken to obtain narcotics for personal use. On the other, a
conclusion can be drawn that the main efforts against the spread of illegal
drug trafficking "have actually shifted towards intensifying repressive
measures against drug users.

However, illegal activity with drugs and their deliberate sale is
much more intensive. But for various reasons, both objective and subjective,
these fall under a different legal assessment. A major factor is that it is
difficult to prove that there was an intent to sell. This is compounded by
subjective views of "intent to sell" in special situations and the
absence of a clear-cut stand by the lawmakers. 93% of the polled narcotic
officers believe that proving "intent to sell" is difficult
especially since this question is of decisive importance in final judicial
rulings.

Besides, 63% of the respondents charged with illegal drug operations
without the aim of selling drugs, admitted that they not only had such intent
but also had been engaged in these operations on a regular basis all the way up
until they were arrested.

It is interesting to note that in police seizures, drugs obtained
from natural plants have prevailed so far. (Nearly 9/10ths). Today the amount
of seized raw materials for making drugs is estimated in tens of tons and has
grown more than 5 times in the last few years. This is well above even the
over-estimated needs and norms of known addicts.

Specialized studies on the subject underline how difficult it is to
investigate and uncover the above-mentioned crimes because of "the
ingenuity of methods used to carry them out, attempts to conceal them and also
because criminal behavior is multifaceted.

One should also take into account the absence of well-conceived
methods, and the shortage of professionally trained personnel to uncover and
investigate such crimes, especially, in the present-day conditions when there
are political collisions caused by the Soviet Union's disintegration, when
there are "transparent" and ill-defined borders between the former
sovereign Soviet republics, when the internal affairs agencies are not well
equipped technically, and when the customs and border control services are
vulnerable.

The Structure of Crime and Latency:

Among the registered crimes there are none related to violations
within the system of medical care of the rules of drug-making, drug
acquisition, storage, keeping stock of, dispensing, transporting or sending by
mail, at pharmaceutical factories or medical and bio industrial enterprises,
etc. The absence of information about drug-related crimes, however, does not
mean at all that there are no crimes present.

A study of the problem has shown that there is no reason to believe
narcotics are safely kept out of reach of addicts. This has been confirmed by
more than one-third of the polled officers of internal affairs agencies. Every
second drug taker who was forced to undergo treatment, did not deny that he had
received drugs from medical personnel. Similar cases of drug acquisition were
noted by over 10% of persons charged with drug-related crimes, whereas 17% of
people from the same group of drug abusers confessed that they used to steal
drugs from hospitals, small medical centers and pharmacies. The share of other crimes
in the structure of drug-related crimes total is insignificant, though they
play a rather negative role in the spread of narcotics. For example, during one
year, the crime of solicitation to use drugs was recorded only once or twice
and 3 or 8 times the crimes involving the organization or running dens for
addicts or providing premises for that purpose.

All the same just over 98% of the polled people charged with drug
abuse and intent to sell drugs said they had persuaded 3 to 7 persons to start
using drugs. In more than 70% of such cases, a special effort was made to
invite potential "victims" to homes belonging to different persons.
These people received remuneration for granting premises especially arranged
for this purpose and where conditions were conducive for the use of narcotics.
Practically one out of every 4 persons charged with drug abuse but without
attempting to push drugs, admitted in talking to officials, that he had
persuaded at least 3 or 4 persons to use drugs treating them to narcotics that
he had bought or made for his own use.

What is more, 37% of the examined complaints and statements by
citizens addressed to various agencies, especially, those made directly to the
local police officers have remained unread, though they specifically mentioned
people who had turned their homes into drug pads.

Negative Tendencies:

All these facts highlight: 1) an increase of the degree in danger
posed to the public by drug-related crimes; 2) the appearance of new narcotics,
giving way to diversity of drugs; 3) increase in the number of people involved
in the use of narcotics through persuasion; 4) the rising level of organization
of such crimes; 5) the expanding boundaries of illegal drug trafficking on the
world- wide scale; 6) an increase in the number of illegal labs used to make
drugs; 7) the perfection of methods used for selling drugs and an increase in
the establishment of illegal and semi-legal shops intended for selling drugs;
8) the rising number of cases of illegal acquisition, including theft of
narcotics from medical institutions; 9) the increase in numbers of corrupt
officials involved in illegal drug trafficking; 10) the greater degree of
masked laundering of money; 12) and a higher degree of latency of drug-related
crimes.

The danger to the public from drug-related crimes is manifested by
an increase of crimes committed for the sake of selling drugs, and, second, by
the total quantity of narcotics in circulation.

The appearance new drug substances and the corresponding rise in
variety of drugs is reflected in the constant growth of the List of Narcotics
(narcotic substances and drug medicines both synthetic and natural) produced by
the UN International Drug Control Committee.

The spreading of the cultivation of drug-bearing plants in places,
which are, difficult to physically access is confirmed by the discovery of
plantations sown with such plants in various regions of the world. These
discoveries have been made with the help of space and aerial photography.

The fact that the ever-larger number of people use narcotics is
manifested in the rising figure of medical patients using drugs and
recreational drug users. The growing number of drug patients is registered by
statistics and the rise in numbers of recreational drug users is evident from
opinion polls among experts (medics at outpatient clinics for addicts and law
enforcement officers who specialize in combating drug-related crimes).

The greater degree of organization in drug-related crimes is
manifested by the growth of criminal groups and associations, in the setting up
of syndicates and cartels, in the toughening of discipline within syndicates
and cartels and in the rising cohesion of their members and the coordination of
their actions. Tougher methods of pressure are exerted on members violating the
rules of conduct within groups. Criminal groups, associations, syndicates, and
cartels are also placed under control along with the people who commit drug
related crimes on their own.

The expanding boundaries of illegal drug trafficking on the
international scale are evident in the fact that drugs are smuggled into
practically all the countries of the world. This smuggling includes attempts to
carry drug consignments through the customs and across national borders of a
number of countries by various means and by different kinds of transportation.
This has been established by controlling deliveries of narcotics and by polling
experts (law-enforcement and customs officers).

Law-enforcement agencies in various countries discovered the rise in
the number of drug-making labs and new methods of selling and circulating
drugs. Shops that were camouflaged as book or perfume stores have been seized.

Corruption – as a Way to Protect Drug Dealers:

Growing number of corrupt officials, aspiring for higher posts tend
to improve methods to protect persons taking part in illegal drug trafficking.
Polled experts and narcotic squad police officers, admitted that over the last
few years, there was a rise in the number of requests to them by high ranking
officials suggesting that criminal responsibility be lifted from persons
involved in drug deals and against whom suits had been filed.

Ever more sophisticated methods to legalize the money from drug
trafficking is manifested by laundering such money which makes it difficult,
impossible at times, to trace its primary source. At present one can speak of
the three major methods. First, cash is put into financial institutions or into
retail trade and is immediately converted into foreign currencies or
transferred abroad. Second, there is a stratification of the money, i.e.
increasing the number of transactions that are often carried out in several
countries to obscure the source of the illegally earned money. And, third,
illegal earnings are integrated into investments in economic operations with
the aim of making the money look legal.

The polled experts, and the narcotic police squad officers explained
the increased latency of drug-related crimes by the following examples. There
is mutual interest in keeping crimes a secret both among drug-pushers and
addicts; none of them have any desire to cooperate with the law-enforcement
agencies. There are special mutually beneficial and inter-dependent relations
between users and suppliers of narcotics. This kind of relationship requires
thorough secrecy due to the fear of criminal punishment for both users and
suppliers. Small wonder that the addicts taken to hospitals, often in critical
conditions, dangerous to their life and health, do not reveal, as a rule, the
source of getting drugs. And this silence is due not to some sort of moral
principles, honor, duty or solidarity but rather, in most cases, to the fear of
losing the already established drug source or to the fear of being victimized
for revealing the source. Also much is yet to be done to develop proper legal,
personnel, tactical, material and technical programs that are effective in
combating drug trade. There is the obvious need to find a way to expose latent
drug-related crimes. For without realizing the actual state of affairs with
drug-related crimes, adequate measures of combating them will remain
insufficient.

Chapter II. System and Classification of Measures to
Overcome Drug Abuse

Par. 1. System of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is a socially dangerous and complicated phenomenon.
Narco-crime, particularly, should be countered by a rigid system of measures.

These combine numerous and diversified steps having social, legal,
criminological, economic, ecological, organizational and international aspects.
The word system is understood as "a whole consisting of parts, a
combination; ...a great number of elements bearing a relation to each other,
connected with each other, forming a sort of integrity or unity.

The system of measures for overcoming drug abuse is comprised of
many steps bearing relation to each other.

System of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

The diversity of such measures, their relationships and contacts can
be illustrated by law practices, law-making and law enforcement, as well as by
the crime prevention theories both on domestic and international scales. For
example, a comprehensive inter-disciplinary action program to prevent the
spread of drug addiction submitted for discussion at the international antidrug
conference in Vienna in July 1987 contained more than 400 articles and
recommendations to governments and organizations as to how this negative
phenomenon should be overcome.

The UN international program for combating drugs for the years 1994
and 1995, 1995 and 1996 comprises 298 projects featuring various aspects,
directions and measures for checking the spread of drugs. 216 out of them were
carried through in 1994 and 1995 and the implementation of the remaining 82
projects is underway. The total dollar amount of resources mobilized for the
fulfillment of these projects is estimated at US$ 484,397,800. The sum was
allocated by the UN International Antidrug Program's Fund.

The Concept of the Russian Federation government's policy on drug
control, endorsed by decision No 5494 of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian
Federation on July 22nd 1993, incorporates quite a few antidrug measures from
those developed by the world community and registered by international
conventions and in other documents. This Concept emphasizes the measures that
have been tested and are successfully utilized.

Since the system of measures against drug abuse is too complicated
the discussion of its contents is related, firstly, to the general
characterization of its components and, secondly, to the classification of
these measures in their relation to each other.

Basic Aspects of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

The measures against drug abuse have some social, legal,
criminological, medical, biological, political, economic, ecological,
organizational and international aspects. Although these aspects have different
spheres of application, they still remain interrelated. For example, measures
for curing drug addicts have medical, social and legal aspects to them; measures
for combating drug-related crimes have legal, criminological, social and other
aspects; measures for combating money laundering have legal, social, economic,
international and other aspects and so on. So, each particular aspect can be
discussed only in abstract terms. This approach to the definition and
description of aspects makes it possible to give a full characterization of the
system of measures against drug abuse.

Social Dimension:

The social dimension is the cornerstone of all other aspects. All
the antidrug measures are permeated with it. There is a correlation between the
social aspect and each of the other aspects. It is either a general element in
relation to something specific such as medical measures, or the whole of
something, which represents a part such as criminological measures. It can also
be a content when the other represents a form, as in legal measures. In short,
the social aspect can be regarded as a common for all antidrug measures.
Additionally there are legal measures for making those involved in drug-related
crimes answerable for their actions and for intensifying the customs' control
over the shipment of drugs across borders.

Legal Dimension:

The legal aspect of the measures under consideration can be seen as
a totality of legal norms including international conventions against drugs and
determining the degree of a judicial responsibility for them, mainly, criminal
and administrative; secondly, regulating various legal relationships arising
from drug use, thirdly, ensuring a compulsory treatment for drug addicts who
try to avoid it and, fourthly, referring to these or other substances as
narcotics.

Criminological Dimension:

The criminological aspect comprises measures aiming to overcome
narco-crime, as a totality of drug-related crimes. These measures aim to study,
analyze and sum up the structure and dynamics of these crimes and their
latency. In addition, they aim to establish the causal complex of the given
crime and determine the content, nature and direction of actions aimed at
removing or neutralizing the causes conducive to the commitment of drug-related
crimes. Thirdly, they aim to disclose and fix typical features, traits and
qualities of an individual guilty of committing this or that crime. Lastly,
they aim to develop methods for preventing drug-related crimes.

Medical Dimension:

The medical (biological) aspect involves the improvement of
narcological aid and methods for curing drug addicts, the need to increase the
level of professional medical training for those engaged in treating addicts
and persons taking drugs without a doctor's prescription and the development of
new medicines and medical equipment for treating addicts.

Political Dimension:

The political aspect involves combating narco-business, which tries
to undermine the foundations of state power, weaken the entire machinery of
state and diminish the nation's trust in the government.

Some juridical works make it a point that organized crime opposes
legal actions of top government bodies not only by committing crimes but also
by bending administration officials to the will of criminal associations so
that they could protect criminal activities.

The resistance of narco-business to government lawful actions can
result in attempts to undermine the foundations of state and in the
re-orientation and distortion of any country's policy. So, central to the
political aspect of measures against narco-business is blocking the influence
of drug dealers on the national policy by barring nomination of corrupt
officials to key posts in the government.

Economic Dimension:

There are two facets- retrospective and perspective of the economic
aspect of measures against drug abuse. The retrospective facet, on the one
hand, involves direct expenses of the state to combat narcotics, and, on the
other, the lost benefits to citizens as a result of the spread of drug
addiction.

Direct expenses include sizeable resources taken out from the state
budget to set up and maintain various medical and educational centers for
handicapped children, including those who inherited health problems from their
parents suffering from drug addiction. In addition this includes expenses to
support internal affairs agencies, customs officers engaged in combating the
proliferation of drugs, production of special equipment for identifying drugs,
as well as production of medicines for drug users. Finally, the direct expenses
are used to promote international cooperation in joint antidrug actions with
the United Nations Organization, Interpol and other international agencies and
carry out research in the field of medicine, psychiatry, psychology and law,
and to conduct an antidrug education.

The cost to society is revealed in an increase in the number of
physically handicapped and mentally retarded people, victims of narcotics. In
the long run this leads to a curtailment of society's physical and intellectual
potential as a whole, such as lower standards in education and labor productivity.
This, in turn, causes a reduction in the amount of material and other benefits
produced by society and of resources for various government-run programs. There
is also an increase in the number of cases of accidents in industry and, as a
consequence the increasing failure to meet the output targets.

It is therefore essential to develop economic levers to oppose
narco-business, including the money laundering. This has been poorly done so
far, as no economic measures for combating narcotics have been developed and
applied in practice. These tasks require an independent study by economists and
lawyers.

Ecological Dimension:

The ecological dimension of measures against drug abuse is linked to
the legal regulation that puts restrictions on the preservation and
dissemination of drug-bearing plants. This amounts to a ban on their
cultivation and destruction of the fields without any damage to the
environment. The cultivation of such plants is expected to be limited to
specially allotted areas where drug-bearing plants can be sown for medical
purposes only.

International Dimention:

The international dimention of measures against drug abuse is
manifested in various legislative, and law enforcement measures at the
international level.

In sum, this system of measures covers a totality of numerous,
diverse, complementary and carefully outlined programs that have social, legal,
criminological, medical, economic, ecological, organizational and international
dimensions.

Par. 2. Classification of Measures to Overcome Drug
Abuse

The essence of the system of measures to overcome drug abuse can be
understood by their classification in view of the diversity of these measures.
By establishing their different categories and distributing them into various
groups, this classification would make it possible to give each measure its own
niche, to define its boundaries and its relationship to other measures. This
classification makes it possible to determine the degree of each measure's significance
and its priority in terms of its practical implementation.

It is important to group them by contents, form, level, subject of
application, and type. As for legal measures, they should be grouped in
accordance with different branches of law.

The Content of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

The measures to overcome drug abuse carried out by the UN Commission
on Drugs of the UN Economic and Social Council, by the UN International
Committee on Drug Control and by other international agencies can be grouped
into the following categories: analytical, organizational, training and
educational, research, technical, medical, economic, financial, international
law, preventive, monitoring, legislative, and criminal.

Analytical component is needed in order to be able to make use of a
complex system of collecting and assessing data about drug abuse, to evaluate
the extent of the illegal use of drugs in different countries worldwide, and to
make data available on the seizure of large quantities of narcotics to
interested parties.

Organizational component of measures is aimed at setting up
international agencies to control drugs and to combat drug trade; assisting
countries in developing national policies on such control; supporting projects,
promoting national law enforcement agencies; defining direction of programs and
ensuring the organizational backing of such programs; estimating the amount of
illegal cultivation of drug-bearing plants in areas difficult and dangerous to
access. Governmental measures should include adoption and fulfillment of
national programs to overcome drug abuse by forming special law-enforcement,
medical and other institutions, as well as special services and squads to
combat drug trade; taking stock of lands used to cultivate drug-bearing plants;
arranging control over the production, storage, consumption, an shipments of
drugs, especially across national borders, as well as over the actions for
pharmaceutical and medical centers.

The training and educational component includes educating
specialists in law-enforcement agencies, mass media, narcological centers, and
social services.

The research component aims to define and analyze data on drug
abuse, to work out recommendations for overcoming it, to set up and run special
research labs, and to find new ways of ending drug addiction.

The technical component includes identifying drugs, designing
equipment for special labs, developing remote control devices to spot fields of
drug-bearing crops.

The medical component of measures is: to promote a system of
rehabilitative treatment for drug users; to choose appropriate curative
programs; and work on methods to reduce the spread of infectious diseases among
drug users.

The economic component consists chiefly in funding various programs
and projects, combating drug abuse, supporting programs reducing demand for
drugs and their supply, encouraging and supporting populations which had
switched to cultivating farm crops on territories where drug-bearing plants had
been grown previously.

The financial component involves measures against money laundering.
Financial operations by drug moguls aimed at making their earnings legal are
the most vulnerable part for the criminals. In view of this, the Committee for
Banking Rules and Banking Supervision issued a statement on December 12th, 1988
that calls for preventing criminal uses of the banking system for laundering
cash obtained from drug trafficking. It requires that the international banking
community use extreme discretion while identifying clients. The statement also
calls for more cooperation with judicial systems and police institutions in
halting the legalization of cash from drug trafficking. Many countries have
accepted that the principles contained in this statement are applicable to the
operation of their own financial systems. In keeping with a decision of the G
Seven countries and of the European Commission Chairman at the 15th economic
summit in Paris in July 1989, a special operational group on financial issues
was started. It produced 40 recommendations made public in February 1990. It
also analyzed world financial flows, banking and financial systems and methods
for laundering cash. The group found some weak spots and undertook a number of
other steps. All the countries, who are members of this group and (in keeping
with its recommendations) some other countries declared that they viewed
participation in laundering cash as a criminal act and started special services
to investigate leads on shady deals reported by subunits of the financial
system. At the recommendation of the special operational group on finances, the
UN International Committee on Drug Control called on all governments to pass
and effectively use appropriate legislative acts to stop money laundering, to
confiscate the property of drug dealers, and to consider a possibility of
lifting the burden of proving the legitimacy of supposed incomes or of other
property subject to confiscation under par. 7 of Article 5 of the 1988
Convention even if this may require legal or constitutional amendments.

Among the international law components of measures are those calling
for reciprocal legal support of countries working to combat drug trafficking.
It is essential to make extradition easier, to strengthen international
cooperation against illegal drug trafficking, as well as to promote the
international system of control over medicinal drugs and psychotropes.

The preventive measures are comprised of destroying illegal
plantations of drug-bearing crops; preventing a transfer of drugs and of their
components from the legal sphere to the illegal one; curbing illegal drug
trafficking; reducing the demand for drugs; preventing the use of narcotics,
particularly, in places of employment, eliminating the addicts' pads, illegal
labs where narcotics are made and stores which sell them; promoting social
rehabilitation of drug addicts and encouraging education campaigns against
drugs.

The control component of measures envisages supervision over the
following areas: the growing of drug-bearing plants, to rule out a
"leakage" of the legitimately grown plants: illegal sowing and
raising; production of narcotics, their acquisition, storage, stocking and
dispensing; commercial trade turnover in special equipment used for producing
drugs, as well as in raw materials; semi-finished products, chemicals and
narcotic analogies; international parcel post deliveries as a vehicle for
sending narcotics; ships sailing on the high seas and planes flying in
international space; transit through customs' ports; approaches to land, sea
and air borders; and deliveries of drugs for treatments at hospitals.

The most important law-making measure is that of bringing national
legislation in line with international conventions on narco-business.

The common criminal measures are those applied in every country, as
criminal responsibility for illegal drug trafficking, sowing and raising
drug-bearing plants as well as for other socially dangerous actions related to
drugs. These measures cover both punishments for the above-listed crimes and
also confiscation of tools and of income earned from the illegal drug
trafficking.

Other measures include improving judiciary and legal systems such as
law-enforcement bodies, courts of law, penitentiary and post penitentiary
programs, customs and education.

Forms of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

The classification of measures to overcome drug abuse can be
subdivided into two groups: those having legal form and those that do not, i.e.
those which are regulated and unregulated by the law accordingly.

Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse Regulated by the Law:

The legal measures against drug abuse include compulsory
educational; compulsory medical; preventive- repressive; repressive; those
ensuring active participation of citizens in combating crimes, in preventing
and curbing them; as well as procedural and organizational managerial. The
compulsory medical, preventive repressive and repressive measures are those
aimed at suppressing drug abuse and the compulsory educational-at preventing
it.

Organizational managerial measures on the basis of administrative
legal norms, determine in general terms, the status of curative educational and
curative labor centers providing treatments to drug addicts, and the competence
of law-enforcement agencies and of the court regarding the compulsory placing
of drug addicts for treatment. In addition, there are also measures, containing
the following provisions: to build up, on the national scale, a network of
bodies and institutions whose functions will amount to combating drug-related
crimes; to record the number of addicts and provide treatments to them; to
promote departmental cooperation in the work of combating narcotics; many
organizational managerial measures are specified by international law,
registered in conventions, agreements, treaties and other documents.

Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse Unregulated by the Law:

The second group of measures to overcome drug abuse are those which
are not regulated by the law. They are informational, analytical,
organizational, educational, scientific, technological, medical and preventive,
as well as other measures that bear no relation to compulsion.

It is the group of legal measures, which can be subdivided into law
branches. Such norms, as suggested above, can be found in the civil, family,
labor, administrative, and criminal codes.

The Level of Measures to Combat Drug Abuse:

Measures to combat drug abuse can be divided into the following four
levels: international, social, special and individual.

Measures at the international level are applied by various countries
throughout the world. They are particularly binding in the countries, which
have joined international treaties by ratifying them. This category of measures
may include any of the previously listed such as informational, analytical,
research, technical, medical, economical, financial, preventive, control, and
law-making.

Social measures are those used on a national scale and meant to
influence society as a whole. They include preventive, law-making, criminal and
other legal measures, as well as the ones embracing the entire society such as
informational, analytical, organizational, managerial, medical, economical, and
others.

Special measures aim to overcome drug abuse and influence, on the
one hand, certain kinds of harmful activities linked to drugs, and on the
other, restrain persons inclined to carry out such activities or drug addicts.
Measures aimed against certain kinds of activities include, for example, actions
to destroy illegally sown crops or wild drug-bearing plants, may include
measures in regard to specific individuals, attempts to cure drug addicts; to
reveal and record the names of people inclined to commit drug-related crimes,
or persons already convicted for such crimes; to prevent such people from
committing more crimes; and to help persons from high risk groups avoid
situations which may induce drug use.

Measures in regard to individuals cover steps taken in relation to
those persons who use drugs or those who have committed or tend to commit
crimes or other law-breaking acts involving drugs. They include steps providing
drug addicts with an opportunity to undergo treatment or making them, if
necessary, to undergo treatment, instituting criminal proceedings or using
administrative measures against persons who have committed crimes, as well as
preventing or warding off potentially socially dangerous actions involving
drugs, etc. Medical, preventive, administrative, legal, criminal, criminal
procedural and criminal executive measures can also be seen as measures in
regard to individuals.

The Subjects of Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

The measures to overcome drug abuse can be grouped by institutions
implementing them. There are international agencies and organizations, medical
institutions, law-making bodies, law-enforcement agencies, executive government
branches, specially created agencies, groups and other organizations.

The Commission on Narcotics of the UN Economic and Social Council and
the UN International Committee on Drug Control are permanently functioning
international agencies. Various conferences and symposia on actions against
drug abuse discussed and worked out conventions, programs, decisions, projects,
and recommendations. These can be referred to as temporarily operating
organizations. Conferences of member-states, i.e. of their official
representatives, have the right to approve conventions and other normative
documents subsequently ranked as international law acts. After their
ratification, legal norms contained in them become part of national
legislation. International bodies exercise all the above-listed measures to
combat drug abuse, except for criminal measures and a few others.

Medical institutions have the authority to carry out curative and
curative preventive measures.

By their nature, the measures to overcome drug addiction can be
divided into suppressive and preventive.

This classification makes it possible to determine the importance of
each particular group. It can also serve as the basis for building a system of
measures to be used for the preparation and subsequent development of the
national program of action to combat drug addiction.

Measures to Overcome Drug Abuse:

By evaluating the measures to overcome drug abuse from the study of
the experience, it is possible to single out the following groups of measures:
1) control preventive; 2) research, training and educational; 3) medical; 4)
legal; 5) economic and financial, and 6) organizational.

The control and preventive; research, training and educational;
economic and financial measures are grouped together because they are closely
intertwined. Legal measures in this national program should include law
enforcement and law-making measures and organizational measures-informational,
analytical, and technical measures.

Without referring to the contents once again it would be important,
from the standpoint of their expression and place in this program, to draw
attention to some points concerning certain groups of the proposed measures.

A method should be defined in this anti-drug program of applying
control measures. It would need to be a legislative regulation of drug
movements from the sowing of drug-bearing plants and their cultivation, to the
consumption of drugs. Presently, conflicting rules regulating the production,
acquisition, storage, stock taking, dispensing, transportation and the sending
of narcotics by parcel post are in force. These rules were enacted by executive
branch agencies rather than by lawmakers. For example, the rules concerning the
production, storage, stock-taking, and dispensing of drugs were established by
the orders issued by the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of the Medical
and Micro- biological Industry of the former USSR. Transportation rules can be
found in orders issued by the Ministry of the Medical Industry and coordinated
with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the former USSR. Rules for sending and
shipping drugs by rail or any other kind of transport were determined by
normative acts of various agencies. On the other hand, even if this is the
prerogative of law- makers, the rules are scattered within various and quite
numerous normative acts making it difficult to control violations of these
rules by law-enforcement agencies. So, if a full and effective control over the
circulation of narcotics is to be ensured, uniform rules for handling drugs
should be worked out on the basis of the existing rules and should be made into
law. These rules should envisage the procedures for the sowing, raising,
producing, storing, stock-taking, dispensing and selling of drugs and for the
acquiring, sending by parcel post, and carrying of drugs and their analogies,
as well as raw materials, semi-finished products, chemicals and special
equipment used in making drugs across national borders.

To implement research, training and educational measures in a
national program it is essential to set up a single research and study center
consisting of facilities capable to perform specific tasks of dealing with drug
addiction. These tasks should be defined in the national program without
overstepping their limits, so as not to squander means and resources on meeting
other goals. For example, the tasks of the research facility should be to identify
drugs, establish new types of drugs and study the most pressing problems of
efforts aimed at stopping drug addiction. There is a need to establish how
money obtained from the narcotics trade is laundered and determine methods for
halting this process; a need to develop methods for examining controlled
deliveries, documenting them and obtaining evidence which could determine guilt
of the involved parties. The research center could work out methods for
carrying out searches and other actions to uncover illegal drug operations and
actions of those guilty, including sponsors, leaders and members of organized
crime groups. The research center could summarize international experience in
combating drug addiction, including school and out-of-school psycho preventive
education for minors, preventive measures among population groups considered to
be at a risk, and educational and preventive activity by means of mass media.

Special attention should be paid to law-making measures devoted to
combating drug addiction. It is expedient to include in the national program
provisions regulating legal drug turnover, regulations for the treatment, and
rehabilitation of drug addicts. It is necessary to develop and pass the law on
the responsibility for laundering drug money ensure and to treatment of drug
patients grown drug-bearing plants for personal use at therapy centers or
narcological hospitals, who have made, bought or kept drugs or have sown
without selling them, rather than making them face criminal responsibility.

Economic and financial measures in the national program should
provide for funding to actually put this program into effect. It should also
ensure the functioning of the law-enforcement agencies engaged in the anti-drug
programs, of narcological institutions and drug control services, as well as
support for persons who use fields where drug-bearing crops had been cultivated
earlier but later destroyed. Also the program should develop provisions about
the application of financial measures against the laundering of drug money.

When it comes to organizational measures, it would be expedient to
single out purely organizational and also informational, analytical, and
material- technical ones.

It seems that priorities of the program should be to strengthen
subunits of the law enforcement agencies, and of narcological centers,
specializing in programs against drug abuse; to set up drug control agencies,
encourage anti-drug programs by the greatest number of agencies, organizations,
and mass media. The priority is promoting cooperation between all agencies and
organizations engaged in combating drug abuse; in establishing a research
center for studying problems of combating drug addiction, in training and
up-grading the qualifications of specialists, expected to work in their field;
and in setting up a data bank on drug addiction.

All of the above listed informational, analytical and technical
measures should be included in the national program to combat drug addiction in
the Russian Federation. A special fund needs to be started to support such
projects as building medical institutions, a study center, and the law
enforcement agencies furnished with the most modern equipment.

This system of measures to combat drug abuse examined here with the
ranking of these measures, will make it possible to set specific deadlines for
putting stipulated provisions into practice and will define the responsibility
for their implementation, if this system becomes a part of the national
program. The time frame for the implementation of this extensive program should
be no less than 3 years with annual reports from all those involved. This will
help ensure a more effective realization of all its provisions.

This system and the classification of measures against drug abuse
indicate how difficult and complicated the job of combating drugs is. It calls
for much effort, constant improvement and a considerable resources.

Chapter III. Drug Abuse in the International Law

Par. 1. International Fora and Legal Acts on Drugs

Legal measures figure prominently in the system of actions aiming to
combat drugs. It is precisely the legal acts that determine the object, the
subject of narco-crime and influence the shaping of measures of
preventive-educational and curative interference, as well as the range of drug-related
actions, considered dangerous to the public.

Measures against drug abuse rest, first and foremost, on a number of
international law acts ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the former USSR. These
acts have different names: treaty, pact, convention, agreement, protocol,
declaration and so on. From the juridical point of view, the difference in
names is of no principal importance. No clear-cut criterion for the use of
these names has been worked out in international practice. In each particular
case, this question is resolved by the parties (countries) to negotiations, who
agree on the definition of relations between them in this or another special
field.

Actions against drug abuse are regulated by international law
because they involve international relations, as they touch upon the interests
of not one but, sometimes, of many countries. As for narco-crimes, they
encroach upon the international cooperation, violate human rights, and state
interests.

All crimes bearing international nature and coming under the norms
of international criminal law, can be divided into two groups by the degree of
their danger to the public, and the forms of manifestation: crimes of
international character.

International crimes are those posing the biggest threat to the development
of peaceful relations and cooperation between nations regardless of their
social, political and government systems. They include heinous crimes against
peace and security of the mankind, such as aggression, genocide, biocide,
ecocide or apartheid.

Crimes of International Character:

Crimes of international character are defined as those covered by
the international law but not belonging to the category of crimes against peace
and security of mankind, rather those infringing upon normal relations between
countries and damaging their peaceful cooperation in various fields, as well as
infringing upon relations between organizations and citizens. These crimes are
much less dangerous and are hard to compare to crimes against the peace and security
of mankind. They are punishable "in accordance with the norms covered by
the international agreements (conventions), ratified in the proper order, or by
the national criminal codes which conform to these agreements."

Various areas of inter-state relations are the objects of crimes of
international character. This factor makes it possible to divide these crimes
into four rather relative sub-divisions:

1) Crimes that infringe upon the peaceful cooperation and normal
conduct of international relations (terrorism, hijacking and other crimes);

2) Crimes that damage in a variety of norms international economic,
social and cultural development, such as smuggling, illegal emigration,
counterfeiting and dissemination of narcotics through illegal trade;

3) Crimes that against property, moral values, and rights of
individuals, such as trafficking, piracy, pornography and other crimes covered
by international conventions and agreements;

4) Other crimes of international character, such as crimes committed
on board of aircraft, damage to underwater cables, collision of ships and the
failure to provide help at sea etc.

This classification rules out an identical approach to crimes that
are crimes against humanity, and crimes that are of international character.
This classification allows to examine them in conformity with the set of laws
they infringe upon and in conformity with the extent of harm they do to
international relations. Moreover, this classification largely helps prevent
any broader interpretation of the notion of international crimes.

The categories - listed above of these are not something permanent,
as these crimes are of the changeable and dynamic nature. The extent of danger
they pose can move them from one category to another. At present any crimes encroaching
upon the vital interests of all nations and countries can be considered as
international crime or crime of international character.

Virtually all countries recognize the need to combat international
crimes and crimes of international character, including the illegal
dissemination of and trade with narcotics. The binding nature of this effort
stems from the universally recognized principles of international law,
including the international duty of all countries to maintain peace and promote
security of all nations, as well as to hold persons guilty of committing crimes
against the peace and security of mankind and other crimes of international
character accountable for their actions.

All international legal acts against drug abuse can be divided into
general and specific. General acts regulate various types of international
relations, particularly, those formed in connection with actions against
international crimes and crimes of international character, including the
dissemination of and trade with drugs. Specific acts of international law bear
direct relation to actions against drug abuse and its most dangerous aspect-
narco-crime.

General Acts of International Law:

General acts of international law lay the legal foundation for
cooperation among nations, in actions against international crimes and crimes
of international character, the dissemination of narcotics among others. One of
these acts is the UN Charter. Its Preamble urges all UN members to join in a
common effort to maintain international peace and security. The UN Charter
stresses the need to use international machinery for promoting the nations'
economic and social progress and sets the goal "to practice international
cooperation in resolving international problems of economic, social, cultural
and humanitarian nature and in encouraging and promoting respect for human
rights and basic freedoms for all regardless of race, sex, language and
religion"

The UN Charter (part 2 art. 2) also calls on nations to strictly and
unswervingly observe international commitments that they have taken upon
themselves voluntarily and among them, as the Preamble points out, to the
commitments stemming from treaties, agreements and other sources of
international law.

One of the major historically evolved principles of international
law states that international agreements must be observed. Stemming from this
principle is a member nation's duty to cooperate in combating crime,
international crimes and crimes of international character, including the dissemination
of and trade with narcotics.

These crimes have certain particularities. This has a bearing on the
question of accountability if such crimes are committed. According to I.I.
Karpets, there is a need to single out crimes covered by conventions or other
signed and ratified international agreements, especially, if national
legislation have been brought in accord with them. The existence of both is a
good reason for making those guilty of committing these crimes to be held
accountable. A failure to do so must be qualified as a violation of both
international law and national legislation.

In case there are no coordinated norms of accountability, the
involved countries should proceed from the general principles that had
developed among nations and resolve questions of cooperation against crime on
that basis. Specifically, they may determine the forms of this cooperation, its
confines, the need to institute criminal proceedings in view of the committed
crimes of international character, etc.

Special Acts of International Law:

Special norms of international law dealing with measures to combat
drug abuse have been taking shape gradually. The history of their development
is uneven- from establishing international control over the lawful distribution
and use of drugs to introducing control over illegal drug trafficking.

It is not accidental that crimes bearing on drug abuse are qualified
as crimes of international character. This can be attributed to a number of
circumstances.

As an age-old phenomenon, drug addiction has spread over large
territories. As it kept crossing national borders, whole areas appeared that
specialized in growing and processing drug-bearing plants, manufacturing and
distributing narcotics. Recently, areas where drug money can be laundered at a
profit have emerged. In short, drug addiction has become widespread practically
on all the continents. Drug abuse has acquired a transnational nature. At the
turn of last century it had already been clear that drug addiction endangered
not only the lives of individuals and social groups but also the economic
advancement of many countries, as it is bound to inflict considerable damage on
agriculture and trade and undermine whole industries. (chemical, pharmaceutical
or pharmacological).

Measures that various governments tried to employ within their
countries in the hope to "curb" drug addiction, so to speak, and ban,
say, in Turkey or China, the non-medicinal use of drugs, failed to bring any
positive results.

On top of that, programs against drug addiction required additional
financial resources for treatment and social rehabilitation of addicts, medical
personnel, curative medicines, and preventive measures by law enforcement
agencies. Many countries lacked such financial resources. So, actions against
drug abuse began crossing national boundaries. The awareness of a possible
proliferation of drugs raised concern of the world public opinion and
governments of many countries began pressing for the intensification of the
rule of law on the international scene.

Consequently, an objective need arose to work out and put into
practice joint inter-governmental agreements, adopt effective legal norms that
would regulate international cooperation, enable countries to employ
coordinated measures against drugs as a whole and its specific manifestations
and to establish, as a result, both a domestic and international control over
the use of narcotics and their consumption.

The first experiment of international control over narcotics and of
measures against drug addiction at the international level dates back to the
Shanghai Opium Commission held between February 5th and 26th 1909 in the city
of Shanghai.

Shanghai Opium Commission of 1909:

This commission consisted of the representatives from 13 countries:
Russia, the USA, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Britain, France, China, Italy,
Japan, Netherlands, Persia, Portugal and Siam.

The commission attempted to work out measures that would block the
illegal flow of drugs from the regions of Asia to European countries and the
United States. It also discussed questions related to opium smoking and to
international trade in opium derivatives.

In the long run, however, no constructive measures were produced.
Documents issued by the commission contained no specific bans even on opium
smoking. Members of the commission thought it was sufficient to only speak
about its regulation and gradual restriction.

Nevertheless, the work of the Shanghai opium commission of 1909
played a significant role. Officially it marked the beginning of actions
against drug addiction at the international level and to the launching of a
system of international control over the spread of drugs. It also mapped out
directions for the future international legislation in resolving problems
reviewed in Shanghai.

A further advancement in combating drugs was made in the Hague at
the International Opium Conference held from December 1st 1911 to January 23d
1912. Representatives of 12 countries took part in it (the same as in Shanghai
excluding Austria-Hungary). The conference prepared and adopted the first
convention on drugs (known as the Hague Convention). As a follow up to the
Shanghai Commission, in terms of ideas, the conference proclaimed the
timeliness of actions against narcotics as a whole and its specific trends.

The Hague Convention of 1912:

The Hague convention of 1912 was the first to define the specific
types of drugs, which were put under international control. They were raw
opium, smoke opium, medicinal opium, morphine, cocaine and a few others. The
contracting parties took pledges of both domestic and international nature upon
themselves to adopt national laws establishing control over the production and
distribution of raw opium, and at barring its illegal imports and exports
without permits granted by specially authorized persons; to take steps towards
gradually halting the production, domestic trade and use of smoke opium and
introducing a ban on its imports and exports; to use narcotic substances
(medicinal opium, morphine and cocaine) only for medicinal and "other
reasonable purposes"; to ensure a legal regulation of the production of
morphine, cocaine, medicinal opium, heroin and their derivatives and also of
trade in these narcotic substances; to adopt appropriate laws (if they are not
adopted yet) or change existing laws concerning the responsibility and
punishment of persons guilty of acts involving the illegal possession of drugs.

The provision concerning the legal regulation of the production of
morphine and its derivatives and trade in them (cocaine, medicinal opium and
heroin) was an important step. It was an attempt to use preventive measures
such as foreseeing the establishment of international control over narcotic
substances, which could appear in the future without their prior concrete
mentioning in the Convention's text.

The significant feature about the Convention was that it not only
proclaimed the need for cooperation among countries in establishing control
over the use of narcotics but also outlined what needed to be accomplished. One
of these accomplishments was the duty of countries to exchange, via the Dutch
government, texts of legal acts and statistics on drugs.

The 1912 Hague Convention, however, failed to bring practical
results, largely because of World War I, which began soon after the passing of
the Convention. It was put into force only with the signing of the Versailles
and other peace treaties which specified that their ratification was tantamount
to the ratification of the 1912 Hague Convention on drugs.

International documents approved following the Hague Convention just
filled in the gaps and developed its provisions. The need for such documents
was prompted by the continuous expansion of drug addiction, and of the illegal
trade and smuggling of various narcotics. These documents are kept within the
demands of the present problems that had been approved at the international
level. They had defined more precisely and expanded the range of questions
pertaining to the regulation of the issue on the basis of international law.
They also involved more and more countries concerned about combating narcotics.

The growing threat from narcotics was evident from a series of
international acts on drugs. Apart from that, however, the passing of these
acts marked an important stage in international relations. They affirmed the
principle that international law was bound to help organize and ensure control
over drugs. The case in point was the Agreement banning the production,
domestic trade and use of refined opium. It was signed on February 11th 1925 at
the Geneva Opium conference.

Following the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty and the
founding of the League of Nations this conference was the first to discuss the
issue of narcotics.

Its official program envisaged the development of measures to
implement the decisions of the 1912 Hague Convention to limit and eliminate the
production, domestic trade and use of smoke opium. But according to juridical
literature, the Conference in reality expressed the latent interests of the
colonial powers- the signatories of the above mentioned Agreement.

The Geneva Conference of 1925 Agreement of February 11^th,
1925:

The Agreement provided for the establishment of monopoly
associations on the territories and domains controlled by these powers to deal
with the opium turnover, for handing over the production of smoke opium to the
state monopoly, as well as conducting anti-opium propaganda.

The general control over the implementation of the Agreement's
provisions concerning the trade in opium was placed upon the League of Nations-
an international body set up in accordance with the Versailles peace treaty.

One of the provisions of this Agreement stipulated the need to study
the state of control over smoke opium in the Far East. This study was carried
out, practically for the first time in world practice, by a Special Commission
appointed by the League of Nations Assembly in 1928.

The results of the study were examined in Bangkok and paved the way
for the signing of the Bangkok Agreement of November 27th 1931, which banned
opium smoking. The Agreement entered into force only in April 1937.

The Bangkok Agreement of 1931:

The Bangkok Agreement added some new provisions to the Geneva
Agreement of 11th February 1925. These new provisions made retail trade in
opium possible only by government institutions; established criminal offence
for persons under 21 years of age who visited opium dens; legally regulated the
sale of smoke opium for cash and so on and so forth.

However, prior to the Bangkok Agreement, in view of the
deterioration of the drug situation in the world in the postwar period, the
second Geneva Opium Conference passed an Opium Convention that was signed in
Geneva on 19th February 1925 and entered into force in September 1928.

The Opium Convention of 1925:

It underlined that there was no way to end drug abuse and drug
smuggling unless the production of those drugs was reduced considerably and a
more stringent control over their international trade was introduced than the
one stipulated by the 1912 Hague convention.

For this end, the 1925 Convention stipulated some legal and
organizational measures against drug abuse both at the international and
domestic levels.

This Convention confirmed the principles of the 1912 Hague
Convention and, what is more, it firmly established that drugs could be
produced only for the legal purposes of states, having defined what these legal
purposes were. Of principal importance was the decision to put several more
kinds of raw materials which drugs could be produced from (coca leaves, raw
cocaine, and cannabis) on the list of the controlled substances (in addition to
the ones named by the 1912 Hague Convention). Moreover, the Convention was applicable
to any substance, which, in accordance with the conclusion drawn by an
authorized body, could cause the same harmful consequences as the substances
listed in the Convention.

To exercise domestic control over narcotic substances the parties to
the Convention agreed to the following pledges: to pass national laws that
would ensure the control over the production, dissemination and exportation of
raw opium and to systematically revise and toughen those to the extent that the
articles of the Convention would require; to limit the use, production,
importation, sale, distribution, export, and application of narcotics
exclusively to medical and scientific purposes; to exercise control over the
activities of persons who were allowed to produce, import, export, sell,
distribute and use drugs and also to exercise control over premises where these
persons work with drugs or traded in them; to curtail the number of ports,
cities and other populated centers where the importation and exportation of
narcotics would be permitted and to pass through and adopt domestic legislation
that would envisage punitive measures for the violations of the Convention's
provisions.

To exercise international control over narcotic substances the
Convention stipulated adoption of the following measures: to introduce a system
of evaluation and estimation of a country's domestic need in narcotics for
medical, scientific and other purposes in the up-coming year; to hand in
statistics connected with drugs (in a special form and at definite periods of
time); to establish control over international trade in drugs and to also
establish firm rules for the importation and exportation of drugs (to import
and export narcotics only if there is a special written permission, as outlined
by the Convention; to regulate the order of transit shipments and the storage
of drugs at stores of third countries to prevent their possible leakage from
the legal circulation during their shipments and storage); to establish control
over the compliance with all commitments taken by the countries- parties to the
Convention; to place the exercise of that control on a newly organized
international body called the Permanent Central Committee (later its official
name changed several times, although most of the time, it was known as
"The Permanent Central Committee on Narcotic Substances").

The Convention also stressed the need for cooperation between
countries in preventing the use of narcotic substances for purposes other than
designated. It stipulated that the exchange of information about laws and
decisions on the implementation of the proclaimed principles (using the
services of Secretary General) would be a concrete form of this cooperation.

To put it in a nutshell, the Convention defined the content and
forms of realization of international control over narcotics. It introduced a
system of licensing and recording foreign trade operations of drugs and obliged
the member countries to submit detailed statistics about such operations.

The convention on the limitation of production and the regulation of
the distribution of narcotic substances signed on July 13th 1931 in Geneva
proved to be another link in the international control system.

The Convention of 1931:

That Convention meant to introduce amendments to the two already
existing conventions in force, those of 1912 and of 1925. It contained the
following additions: uniform definition of notions, through the control over
drugs. Alternative versions of such notions as "production",
"refining", "processing", "storage reserves",
"state storage reserves", "import-export" and others were
removed. For the first time, a list of medicines containing drugs was
established and production, processing, use, exportation and importation of them
would now be controlled. The system of evaluating and estimating the overall
demand for drugs in all countries regardless of their membership in the given
Convention was perfected. Accountability for the commitments of member
governments was enhanced. A special agency, the Control Commission, was set up
to study data from governments about the quantity of narcotics and accounts
about their receipt and use. In case the Commission found any deviations or the
demand for drugs was too large in its judgment, the Commission had the right to
question the examined figures and carry out its own calculations. The
extradition of criminals was envisaged (under certain conditions) for
committing crimes linked to drugs. The convention stipulated that
member-countries had to have norms in their national legislation concerning the
criminal punishment of persons who encouraged the illegal spread of the most
dangerous forms of drugs.

The Convention also contained some administrative decisions aimed at
perfecting the domestic control over drugs. It urged member-countries, in
particular, to set up a special body that was to apply the Convention's
decisions; regulate, supervise and control the trade in medicines on the
Convention's list; act against toxicomania using all possible measures for
halting its development, and bar, in particular, the illegal trafficking of
toxic substances.

Under the Convention cooperation between member-countries expanded
considerably. Along with the traditional exchange of the texts of legal acts,
an annual report was to be submitted to the Secretary General of the League of
Nations about the Convention's implementation on the territories of the
member-states. The report was to be compiled in accordance with the model
agreed upon by the Consultative Commission on the Turnover of Opium and other
medicines containing harmful substances.

The contracting parties also pledged to inform each other, through
the office of the League of Nations Secretary General, about all the important
cases of illegal drug trafficking. These reports had to highlight sources or
methods of illegal trafficking, the nature and the amount of drugs, the time
and place of their discovery, smuggling methods and sanctions and measures in
acted by the government.

The Geneva Convention of 1936:

The convention against illegal trade in drastic medicines signed on
26th June 1936 in Geneva became the next important document.

That Convention introduced a number of new essential amendments
corresponding with its title containing the word 'struggle', which opened a
prospect for a juridical cooperation in campaigns against drug abuse. The range
of crimes subject to prosecution was outlined and expanded considerably.
Contracting parties pledged to prosecute persons engaged in the illegal
manufacture, storage, shipment, exportation, sale or purchase of drugs or who
organized conspiracies with the aim of premeditated participation in the
illegal drug trade. The Convention also provided for the extension of
reciprocal legal assistance through the exchange of necessary information to
identify and arrest criminals and extradite them to a foreign country.

World War II pushed the problems of international cooperation and
control of narcotic substances to the background. But right after the end of
the war this problem came to the foreground once again. In view of this, some
international acts were adopted that regulated relations in the area of
narcotics. The following documents seem to be of interest.

The Protocols of 1946 and of 1948:

The Protocol on Drugs signed in Lake Success (New York) on 11th
December, 1946 provided for the introduction of changes into the agreements,
conventions and protocols on drugs signed in the Hague on 23d January 1912; in
Geneva - on 11th February 1925, 19th February 1925 and 13th July 1931; in
Bangkok - on 27th November 1931 and in Geneva - on 26th June 1936. The Protocol
on Drugs covered issues that arose in view of the dissolution of the League of
Nations and the transferring of some of its drug control functions to the Organization
of United Nations, the World Health Organization or its Interim Committee, and
of the transferring of duties of the League of Nations Secretary General- to
the UN Secretary General. The Protocol was the first UN document that
introduced necessary re-naming although in reality changed nothing in the
system of control and cooperation that existed hitherto.

The Protocol signed in Paris on 19th November 1948 dealt with the
establishment of international control on medicines that were not put on the
list of the 1931 Convention which limited the production and regulated the
distribution of narcotics (changes to this Protocol were introduced by the 1946
Lake Success Protocol).

The signatories of this Protocol pledged to inform the UN about any
substance that could possibly be abused and also to spread control onto
synthetic drugs that had appeared by the time of the signing, and had not been
previously listed in earlier international regulations.

Discussion of drug issues at the international level and the adoption
of decisions under international law brought national legislation closer
together, helped define priorities of the anti-narcotics movement, form an
understanding of the danger posed by narcotics and control the lists of
narcotics whose manufacture and use was subject to international control.

Yet, the existence of such simultaneously operating legal acts and
international bodies failed to ensure sufficient legal regulation and control
of all the issues connected with narcotics. This failure created certain
difficulties for exercising control over drug abuse. The existing international
acts also lagged behind the realities of life.

Many issues remained unresolved. For example, only some narcotic
preparations were controlled whereas the production of raw materials for the
making of synthetic drugs remained uncontrolled. The cultivation and use of
drug-bearing plants and other problems related to narcotics required a legal
regulation. In view of this, two important international acts were worked out and
approved within the United Nations framework. They were the Uniform Convention
on Drugs of 1961 amended later by the 1972 Protocol on Drugs, and the United
Nations Convention of 1988 which provided for action against the illegal
trafficking of narcotics and psychotropic substances.

One need not think however that the provisions of the earlier
approved acts were so out-dated that they required to be radically changed. The
two Conventions left intact therefore many time-tested provisions of the
above-cited documents. At present they form the main legal foundation for the
system helping exercise international cooperation and control over drugs.

The Uniform Convention of 1961:

The 1961 Uniform Convention regulates questions pertaining to the
legal use of drugs. Its adoption was a landmark in the development of relations
based on international law. The Convention is designed to promote decisive
actions against narcotics at the international level through the building of a
system of international cooperation and control over narcotics. In fact, this
one document is a substitute for all the previously accepted international acts
(with the exception of some points of the 1936 Convention). It diminished the
number of international bodies in charge of the control over narcotics, and
established control over the production of drug-bearing raw materials.

The participants in the Convention expressed the wish to sign a
universally accepted international convention to limit the use of narcotics to
medical and scientific purposes only and to maintain permanent international
cooperation in order to accomplish the principles and aims of the Convention.

The parties to the Convention pledged to adopt not only necessary
legislative measures, as the case had been here-to fore, but also
administrative measures and to ensure fulfillment of the Convention's
decisions. They took upon themselves to limit the production, exportation,
importation, distribution, use, storage, and trade in narcotics and limit their
use and storage for medical purposes exclusively in order to diminish
sufferings and pain.

Instead of the previous four international agencies, which
controlled narcotics, the Convention authorized the formation of just two: the
Commission on Drugs under the UN Economic and Social Council and the newly
formed International Committee on Drug Control of the United Nations
Organization.

The Convention endowed these two bodies with broad authority.

The Commission on Drugs of the UN ECOSOC:

The Commission examines all issues that bear relation to the aims
proclaimed by the Uniform Convention. Every year it approves and amends the
List of substances, plants and preparations, the use, dissemination,
cultivation and storage of which is under international control. It introduces
corresponding changes and additions to the List and informs the national
governments. The Commission also informs the Committee of any circumstances
that may bear upon execution of its functions. Finally, it issues
recommendations concerning the implementation of the Convention's aims and
decisions, including the program of research and the exchange of scientific and
technical information.

For example, one of the recommendations calls for the need to
provide countries where the illegal cultivation of drug-bearing plants is
practiced with an access to modern reconnaissance technology which makes it
possible to discover and then destroy such fields. This recommendation also
calls for the need to promote the economies of these countries so that their
farmers could earn a living by working at legal agricultural and other
enterprises; to combine steps against the illegal production and spread of
narcotics with the efforts to build a more just international order, give help
to third world countries in boosting their economies, developing their
traditional export industries and agriculture, and train specialists; to regard
programs for preventing drug addiction and curing drug addicts as top
priorities.28

Member countries may also be asked to submit their own
recommendations. These may include annual reports about the Convention's
implementation on their respective territories, texts of laws and rules passed
with the aim of implementing the Convention's provisions; names and addresses
of government agencies authorized to give permits for the exportation or
certificates for the importation of narcotics; or any other reports about cases
of illegal trafficking.

The UN Committee on Drug Control:

In accordance with the requirements of the 1961 Uniform Convention
(with amendments) the Committee consists of 13 members elected for the term of
5 years. 3 members with medical, pharmaceutical and pharmacological experience
from the list of persons submitted by the WHO and 10 members-from the list of persons
submitted by countries belonging to the UN. Persons recommended as members of
the Committee have to meet special requirements such as competence,
non-involvement, impartiality, trustworthiness and must have an awareness of
the situation in the countries where narcotics are produced, made and consumed.

The Committee performs important functions, which actually form the
essence of the system of international control over the legal use of narcotics.
They are:

- using the system of estimation of the countries' demand for drugs.
The countries concerned are obliged to submit the following annual estimations
written in special forms to the Committee: the quantity of drugs used for
medical and scientific purpose and for the preparation of other narcotics, medicines
and substances not covered by the given Convention; the quantity of stored
available narcotics as of December 31st of the reported year; the size and the
geographical position of the field used for cultivating opium poppy and the
approximate quantity of opium expected to be obtained from it, and the number
of enterprises producing synthetic drugs and the quantity of such drugs
produced at each enterprise;

- estimating the overall level of drugs produced and imported by any
country or territory throughout one year (quantity of drugs imported which is
above the reported figures cannot be permitted without a sanction from the
Committee);

- introducing a regulated order for endorsing the demand for drugs
used for medical purposes. To ensure a balance between the demand and supply of
opiates used in medicine, the Committee sends information with estimates of the
demand for these preparations to the country producing these drugs. The country
is to agree with these estimates and then decrease (or increase) their
production.

- using the system of statistical reports. The governments submit
statistical reports to the Committee about the production and preparation of
specific drugs, their use and consumption, their exportation and importation,
their detention, their stocks and fields used to cultivate opium poppy and
other data which allows the Committee to determine if countries are abiding by
the Convention's decisions and then take appropriate measures to ensure their
implementation and the accomplishment of the control functions.

The Committee collects and analyzes information submitted to it by
the United Nations agencies, individual governments and international
organizations, including Interpol. This information features the production,
manufacture, modification, and consumption of drugs, as well as international
trade in them, supply and confiscation of drugs. The Committee also points to
the shortcomings in the arrangement of control functions and offers
recommendations as to how these shortcomings can be dealt with. If need be, the
Committee has the right to invite representatives of any country to its
meetings.

Upon getting the information that the target set by the Convention
is endangered in any country due to its failure to abide by the Convention's decisions,
the Committee has the right to ask for an explanation and also to recommend
adjustment measures. If a particular government fails to provide a satisfactory
explanation or to accept the adjustment measures proposed by the Committee, the
problem can be brought to the attention of the involved parties, of the Council
or the Commission. The involved party may be recommended to stop the
importation or exportation of narcotics to given countries or territories for a
specific period of time until the Committee recognizes that the situation in
that country has become satisfactory.

The Committee is endowed with the right to impose restrictions,
under certain conditions, on the manufacture and import of drugs.

Since a large volume of information is available at the Committee it
is able to prepare reports, publish them and forward them to the Council to be
sent to the parties concerned. In these reports the Committee can touch upon
any issues connected with drugs and inform its readers about newly passed decisions.
For example, in its report of 1989 (Vienna) the Committee called on the
governments of all countries to strictly observe the Convention's provisions,
to submit statistical accounts about the available quantities of narcotics and
trade in them, among other related data.

To avoid alternative versions and form a single understanding, the
Uniform Convention establishes identical definitions of special terminology
related to drugs.

Drug-related Terminology as Established by the Uniform Convention:

For example, according to the Convention a "narcotic
substance" is any of the substances included in List I and List II
regardless of whether it is synthetic or natural. Lists I, II, III, and IV are
enumerations of narcotics or drug-bearing preparations and are supplements to
the Convention in which possible changes may be made from time to time in
accordance with the procedures established by the Convention.

Definitions are also given for cannabis and its plant and resin,
cocaine shrub, coca leaves, opium, opium poppy and poppy straw.

Significantly, the international understanding of the word
"cultivation" pertaining to drugs covers only the cultivation of
opium poppy, cocaine brush or the cannabis plant. It should be mentioned at
this point that the 1988 UN Convention defines this term differently. But this
will be discussed below.

The term "illegal trafficking" means the cultivation of or
any action relating to the sale of narcotics in violation of the Convention's
decisions. The term "importation" and "exportation" mean
the physical shipment of narcotics crossing the boundaries of one country to
another or from one territory to another within one and the same country. The
term "territory" means any part of a country defined as a separate
unit for the purpose of applications of the system of drug importation
certificates and drug exportation permits to it.

The term "manufacture" implies (with the exception of
production) all the processes that pertain to obtaining narcotic substances,
including refining or turning one narcotic into another.

The term "production" means the separation of opium, coca,
cannabis leaves and cannabis resin from the plants, which they are obtained
from.

The term "preparation" means a hard or liquid mixture
containing a narcotic substance.

The term "storage stocks" is used in relation to the
amount of narcotics which are available in a particular country or on its
territory and meant to be used for medical or scientific purposes, for
exportation or for the needs of various pharmacists, authorized traders and
specialists or institutions where medical or scientific research is carried
out.

Included in this term is also the notion "special storage
stocks" which is used to describe the amount of narcotics available within
a country or a territory of that country and put at the disposal of its
government to be used for special purposes or in case of an emergency.

The Uniform Convention introduces a number of specific restrictions
and bans and a special procedure for the cultivation of drug-bearing plants.
The most important restrictions are those concerning the cultivation of opium
poppy, cocaine shrub or cannabis plant.

Special provisions are envisaged in the first place in relation to
opium. Government-run institutions (one or several) should be set up to deal
with the cultivation of opium poppy and with opium production. They should have
the right to determine areas and sizes of fields, and issue licenses and
permits for land plots where a certain amount of opium poppy can be grown and a
certain amount of opium-produced. These government-run institutions should be
endowed with the exclusive right to buy opium poppy crops from farmers and to
import, export, conclude wholesale trade deals and maintain storage opium
stocks (with the exception of medicinal opium and preparations from it.)

The responsibilities of persons are outlined who have permits
(licenses) to grow drug-bearing plants, to turn over crops of opium poppy only
to the institution which they had received their permits from. Any departures
from the established procedures are qualified as violations of the law. The
Convention permits narcotics to be made only at government-run enterprises or
in accordance with licenses issued to persons with necessary qualifications.

The Convention introduces uniform rules for storing narcotics to
ensure that the substances are maintained in proper condition. It envisages the
responsibility of member-states for taking precautionary measures to prevent
the inappropriate use of narcotics or the possibility for them to become part
of illegal trafficking in cases when, for example, they are kept in airliners'
first aid compartments.

Narcotics can be stored only legally. Their producers are not
allowed to keep them in quantity exceeding the established norms. A compulsory
registration system is established under which the quantity of each prepared,
acquired or used drug should be recorded. Drugs can be stored for no more than
2 years.

The signatories of the Convention are obliged to take specially
stipulated measures to combat illegal drug trafficking. The Convention
therefore grants the contracting parties the right to control the work of
persons and enterprises engaged, on a legal basis, in the cultivation,
manufacture, storage and use of narcotics and of those engaged in the drugs'
exportation, importation, distribution and trade.

The participating countries, besides, have the following duties: to
take steps at home towards coordinating preventive and repressive measures
against illegal drug trafficking; to help each other in carrying out campaigns
against illegal drug trafficking; to closely cooperate with competent
international bodies in carrying out coordinated actions for the purpose of
combating narcotics and also to ensure an effective international cooperation
and a quick transfer of legal documents for launching prosecution.

Punishability of Drug-related crimes:

The Uniform Convention institutes the punishment for drug-related
crimes and obliges member-countries to take specific actions when crimes that
are recognized as punishable by the Convention are committed intentionally.
Serious crimes should be punished by imprisonment or some other form of
deprivation of freedom. Intentional crimes which are punishable include: the
cultivation and production, manufacture, extraction, preparation, storage,
offer, offer with commercial intentions, distribution, purchase, sale, delivery
on any conditions, drug-pushing, dispatch, transit re-dispatch, shipping, and
importation and exportation of narcotics. Each of these crimes, if committed in
more than one country, must be considered as a separate crime. Intentional
complicity in any of these crimes, participation in a community with the aim to
commit or attempt to commit a crime, preparatory actions or financial
operations related to the above cited crimes must also be recognized as
punishable actions. Sentences passed by foreign courts for such crimes must be
taken into account when considering recidivism.

The Convention recommends that any extradition treaty should make
these crimes subject to extradition.

Yet while instituting punishment for a long list of drug-related
crimes the Uniform Convention also includes a special decision on treating drug
addicts. It calls on the member-states to create conditions conducive to
providing them with rehabilitation and restoring their ability to work. If
economic opportunities are available in the country, appropriate conditions
should be created providing preventive treatment to drug addicts.

The UN Convention of 1988:

The 1988 Convention regulates questions relating to the illegal
trafficking of drugs and psycho tropes. The aim of this Convention is to
promote cooperation between the contracting parties so as to more effectively
solve various problems involving worldwide illegal drug trafficking, curtail
its size and prevent its grave consequences. The Convention particularly
emphasizes the danger of the proliferation of illegal drug trafficking and the
involvement of children in it. It points to the need to ensure control of
easily accessible substances and those, which are used to make narcotics
illegally.

Special attention is paid to the need to improve international
cooperation to block illegal drug trafficking at sea. The Convention envisages
steps to prevent a certain number of offenses.

The contracting parties are expected to adopt necessary legislative
and organizational steps. The following provisions seem to be the most
interesting.

The Notion of Illegal Drug Trafficking:

Firstly, there is a provision, bearing the form of a recommendation,
for member states that national legislation should recognize certain
premeditated actions included by the Convention into the notion of
"illegal trafficking" as common crimes. Actions that violate the 1961
Convention (with amendments) include: production, manufacture, preparation,
offer for sale, distribution, sale, delivery on any terms, middleman services,
shipping, transit shipping, transportation, and importation or exportation of any
narcotic. Other actions which should be recognized as crimes are the
cultivation of specially indicated narcotic-bearing plants in order to turn out
drugs; storing or purchasing any narcotic for illegal trafficking; making,
transporting or distributing equipment, materials or substances for the purpose
of illegal cultivation, production or manufacture of narcotics; organization,
guidance or financing of any offenses listed above; conversion or transfer of
property obtained from the above mentioned offenses in order to conceal or
cover up an illegal source of property or in order to help a person who is
taking part in committing the listed offenses to evade responsibility for his
actions; concealment or secrecy of the true nature of the source, whereabouts,
arrangement method, transfer of the rights in relation to property or its
belonging if it is known that this property is gained as a result of the listed
offenses; possession of equipment or materials needed to illegally cultivate,
produce or make any narcotic; public encouragement or incitement of other
persons by any means to commit any of the above-mentioned offenses;
participation or involvement in a criminal collusion in order to commit the
mentioned offenses, as well as accomplice, incitement, assistance or advice
during their commission; and intentional storage, acquisition or cultivation of
any narcotic for personal use in defiance of the provisions of the 1961
Convention (with amendments).

Secondly, there is a provision concerning matters of responsibility
and punishment of people convicted of dangerous drug-related crimes. This
provision recommends such sanctions as imprisonment or the deprivation of
freedom, as well as additional measures in the form of rehabilitation,
restoration of the ability to work, or social reintegration with subsequent
supervision.

Controlled Deliveries:

Thirdly, there is a provision about the use of controlled deliveries
at the international level based on mutual accords. Controlled delivery is a
method under which exportation, transportation or importation of illegal or
suspicious batches of drugs are allowed on the territory of one or several
countries with the knowledge and under the supervision of competent agencies in
order to identify the participants in these offenses.

Most norms covered by international conventions are part of the laws
of the Russian Federation, and more of these norms may be registered in the
future provided there are suitable conditions.

Measures to Prevent Drug Money Laundering:

There are two documents, which have been mentioned earlier that are
very important in controlling drug abuse because they affect the "sore
points" of narco-business. Both of these documents need to be applied in
the Russian Federation. One, from 12th December 1988, is a statement by the
Committee on Banking Rules and Banking Supervision. Its aim is to prevent the
criminal use of the banking system for laundering money gained from the trade
in drugs. The other is the decision by the heads of state and government of the
7 leading industrial countries and by the European Commission Chairman. Under
this decision taken at the 15th Economic Summit in Paris in July 1989, a
Special Operations Group on financial issues was set up.

It must also be noted that the past few years have seen the
convocation of numerous official and unofficial conferences, symposia and
meetings of experts specializing in combating drug abuse, including one held in
1996 in Baku. They all worked out and recommended for implementation various
measures to control narcotics.

Par. 2. Tendencies in the World Community's Reaction
to Drug Abuse.

The world community counteracts the negative tendencies of drug
abuse. This can be clearly seen in the materials of the world fora and in the
international legal acts.

The Overriding Tendency of Combating Drug Abuse:

The overriding tendency is the expanding scale, and improvement of
activities, as well as of the international legal regulations combating drug
abuse. The core of this tendency is expressed in the following trajectory from
the study of drug abuse, and exerting influence by the world community through
establishing international control over legitimate distribution and consumption
of drugs, to the adoption and implementation of the increasingly diversified,
detailed, rationalized and tough measures combating illegal drug trafficking
and criminal drug money laundering. These measures are being worked out by
international agencies and organizations and are aimed at fully blocking the
spread of narcotics.

This overall tendency can be seen in several of its more concrete
manifestations, such as bringing the problem of narcotics to the forefront;
expanding the sphere of the international legal regulation by amending existing
measures and approving new international legal norms; making actions against
drug abuse more purposeful by revealing its most vulnerable spots and
controlling them by using new, more perfected international legal norms;
ensuring a more universal, unified and standardized understanding of
international legal terms regulating narcotics and; adopting international
legal norms that pave the way for a real opportunity to combat narcotics;
bringing international and national legal acts in line concerning actions against
narcotics in the process of nations joining international legal acts and
ratifying them; increasing the number of countries taking part in international
conferences on actions against narcotics and the number of countries joining
international legal acts and setting up and expanding the functions of
specialized international agencies that work to combat narcotics.

Bringing to the Foreground Problems of Combating Drug Abuse:

Nearly 80 years since the convocation of the Shanghai Opium Commission
in 1909, the first official body on the international scene that had drawn
attention to the problems of narcotics, its regulation and gradual restriction,
public attention to the problem has been steadily growing in proportion to the
rise in the degree of public danger and the spread of narcotics. This is
manifested by the increasing number of conferences, meetings, and symposia that
concentrate on working out and adopting various international legal acts
regulating measures to combat narcotics along with producing recommendations
aimed at improving these types of measures and their application.

Expanding the Sphere of International Legal Regulation:

Expanding the sphere of international legal regulation means that
each successive forum and each new international legal act against narcotics
has focused on such areas of drug abuse, which have not been previously subject
of international regulation.

In particular, the 1912 Hague Convention was the first to define
types of narcotics - raw opium, smoke opium, medicinal opium, morphine and some
others, which were placed under international control. Later this list was
expanded. Under the Convention of 19th February 1925, some additional raw
materials such as coca leaves, raw cocaine and Indian hemp (cannabis) were
included. Also any other drug capable of causing harmful affects, according to
the finding of a competent body, could be added to the list. Under the Protocol
of 19th November 1948 the list was further extended by synthetic drugs that had
come into being by that time and had not been regulated by any of the
previously adopted international legal acts. The 1961 Uniform Convention
contained a much longer list of narcotics allowing for further subsequent
changes and additions.

The 1912 Hague Convention obliged the participating countries to
pass national legislation controlling the production, distribution, importation
and exportation of raw opium as well as measures scaling down production,
domestic trade and consumption of smoke opium, banning its import and export.
The Agreement of 11th February 1925 envisaged setting up a government monopoly
for opium production and monopoly associations for opium trade. The Geneva
Convention of 19th February 1925 introduced new measures, such as exercising
control over the activities of persons who held permits to manufacture, import,
export, sell, distribute and apply narcotics, as well as control over the
premises where these persons practiced their trade. The Convention also limited
the number of ports, cities and other populated centers through which the
import and export of drugs was allowed, and urged the adoption of domestic
legislation qualifying violation of these provisions of the Convention as
criminal offence. The Convention of 13th July 1931 formulated the following
additional measures: extradition of criminals for committing drug-related
crimes; setting up domestic government agencies to implement the Convention's
decisions and regulations, supervision over the trade in drug-bearing medicines,
listed in the Convention, and a clamp-down on illegal drug trafficking. The
Bangkok agreement of 27th November 1931 contained such amendments as limiting
retail opium trade to government agencies only. For persons under 21 years of
age visiting opium dens, was a criminal offence. The Convention of 26th June
1936 was the first to introduce the word "struggle" and provided for
a much wider range of criminal drug-related offenses. Under the Protocol of
19th November 1948, the signatories had to inform the UN about any substance
that had the potential of being abused in the future.

The 1961 Uniform Convention (with amendments) broadened
international legal norms, over new aspects of drug abuse. For example, it
established a special procedure for cultivating narcotic-bearing plants and
manufacturing narcotic substances, it established uniform rules for storing
drugs. These procedures bound the signatories to cooperate with each other and
with authorized international organizations in arranging and holding campaigns
against illegal drug trafficking, and in applying imprisonment and against
those guilty of premeditated drug-related crimes.

The 1988 UN Convention contained recommendations to define concrete
premeditated actions as crimes in national legislation. An extended list of
these crimes was included into the concept "illegal drug
trafficking." The Convention also listed such measures as medical
treatment of addicts, restoration of their working capabilities or social
re-integration under subsequent supervision. The Convention outlined
recommendations on using controlled deliveries at the international level on
the basis of mutual accords.

Purposeful Actions Against Drug Abuse:

Intensifying actions against drug abuse by revealing and attacking vulnerable
spots of narco-business through the help of new, more perfect law as the world
community increasing realized the danger of narcotics, it displayed a growing
ability to apply new international legal norms. As a result the world community
has been approving appropriate legal norms to check the spread of narcotics.
For example, on the basis of the 1912 Hague Convention the signatories pledged
to undertake measures to gradually stop the production, domestic trade, and
consumption of smoke opium, as well as to ban its import and export. The 1988
Convention registered the provision on controlled drug deliveries at the
international level on the basis of mutual accords. In accordance with the
statement by the Committee for Banking Rules and Banking Supervision of 12th
December 1988 and the decision of July 1989 by the heads of states and
governments of the seven leading industrial nations and by the European
Commission Chairman, measures were taken to prevent criminal use of the banking
system for laundering money obtained from drug trade.

The Universalization of Legal Norms:

The trend to ensure universalization, unification and
standardization of the international legal norms on narcotics first manifested
it self in the 1912 Hague Convention, the Convention of 19th February 1925 and
the Uniform Convention. These contained uniform lists of controlled narcotics.
The Convention of 13th July 1931 introduced the notions "production",
"refining", "processing", "reserve storage
stocks", "government storage stocks", "export-import",
"cultivation", "illegal trafficking",
"territory", "manufacture", "preparation",
"storage stocks", and "special storage stocks". The 1961
Uniform Convention and the 1988 Convention provided unified lists of socially
dangerous activities, qualified as criminal offenses.

Raising the Effectiveness of the International Legal Norms:

More and more specific and not just declarative norms ensuring
effective and lasting actions against narcotics have been introduced into
law-enforcement practice at each new stage in the international legal
regulation of narcotics. The adoption of these international legal norms is
paving the way for a real opportunity to oppose drug abuse.

Whereas the 1909 Shanghai Opium Commission failed to generate any
constructive measures against narcotics, the 1912 Hague Convention managed to
define the kinds of narcotics to be placed under international control. The
Agreement of 11th February 1925 provided for the establishment of monopoly institutions
to deal with opium and for the transfer of the smoke opium production to a
government monopoly. The Convention of 19th February 1925 extended the list of
controlled narcotics and introduced new restrictions. Appropriate provisions of
the 1931 Bangkok Agreement, the Convention of 13th July 1931, of 26th June
1936, the Protocol of 19th January 1948, the 1961 Uniform Convention (with
amendments), the 1988 UN Convention and documents of the European Community of
1988 and 1989 as discussed above, have also been raising the effectiveness of
the drive against narcotics.

Bringing into Line the International and National Legal Norms:

Increasingly international and national legal norms against
narcotics are brought into line as nations sign and ratify international acts.
This leads to the mutual enrichment of the international and national legal
norms aimed at blocking narcotics. On the one hand, the world community
elevates national legal norms to international level by instituting international
legal norms. On the other hand, nations ratify international legal acts thus
adopting them as domestic legislation. International and domestic legal norms
coincide almost completely sometimes, in such areas the list of narcotics and
drug-related actions considered a criminal offense, as well as the procedure of
filing criminal charges against persons committing drug-related crimes, and
their extradition.

The Rise in the Number of Countries Taking Part in International Conferences:

There has been an increase in the number of nations taking part in
international conferences on narcotics and in the number of nations signing
international legal acts. This is evident in the fact that 13 nations took part
in the Shanghai Opium Commission in 1909, whereas 73 nations attended the New
York conference, which adopted the Uniform Convention in 1961. Since then, many
nations have ratified the Uniform Convention and the 1988 UN Convention and
more are going to sign them.

Setting up Specialized Agencies:

The world community has created and keeps expanding the functions of
the specialized agencies dealing with narcotics, such as Permanent Central
Committee on Drugs of 1925, the Special Commission of 1928, the Control
Commission of 1931, the Commission on Drugs of the UN Economic and Social
Council of 1961 and the UN International Committee on Drug Control, and the
special operations group on financial matters of 1989 dealing with money
laundering resulting from drug trafficking. These agencies handle more and more
functions in response to the ever more sophisticated dissemination of drugs,
and money laundering resulting from drug trafficking.

The reaction of the world community to narcotics examined above
shows a deeper understanding of this dangerous phenomenon, along with the
increasing sophistication of measures against it. One can predict that this
tendency will remain steadfast and keep progressing.

Chapter IV. Measures to Suppress and Prevent Drug
Abuse

Measures to Prevent Drug Abuse Regulated by Law:

International legal acts are realized on a national scale. National
measures in turn are of the three basic types: suppression, prevention, and
rehabilitation.

Legal measures of suppression are coercive measures in regard to
crimes that have already been committed. They are a combination of criminal-legal,
criminal-executive and legal-administrative measures.

The criminal-legal measures must be fully compatible with the
criminal law and registered in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
They are expected to safeguard the public from the drug-related crimes by
inflicting punishment on persons who have committed these crimes and also, in
combination with it, in cases stipulated by the law, apply coercive measures of
medical nature or, if need be, a system of guardianship. These measures can be
divided into two groups: those referring to crime and those referring to
punishment. Measures of the second group, though they are envisaged by the
norms of the criminal law, seem to be closer to legal-executive measures, and
can therefore be grouped, with a certain degree of relativity, into the
legal-executive category.

The legal-executive measures include punishment, coercive measures
of medical nature, as well as the process of executing punishment and coercive
measures of medical nature along with putting under guardianship, if required.

Legal-administrative measures are covered by the norms of the
administrative law, establishing responsibility for the infringements of the
law and regulating compulsory treatment of drug addicts.

Measures to prevent narcotics are very diverse. Their aim is to
exert influence on various elements such as on persons using drugs, sowing and
raising drug-bearing crops, manufacturing, acquiring, storing and selling
narcotic substances and committing other drug-related crimes; on persons
committing crimes with the aim of getting the means to purchase drugs or those
undertaking criminal actions in the state of narcotic intoxication; and on
circumstances that are seen as causes and conditions of drug addiction, etc.
The preventive influence on all these persons may take three forms: persuasion,
compulsion and stimulation.

The last two forms can only be applied if they are regulated by law.

Measures to Prevent Drug Abuse Unregulated by Law:

In terms of goals these measures can be divided into general social
and special ones. General social measures have to do with society's social and
economic development, the rise in cultural, educational and moral standards of
all citizens. The economic development measures aim to increase the production
of material benefits, as well as of intellectual output making the nation
richer and the living standards higher. Social measures are apparent in
rational distribution of funds in increase the government provides for social
needs. Cultural and educational measures aim to promote the development of art,
literature, science and education; they draw an ever-greater number of people
into this process and ensure that they gain knowledge, know-how, and skills.
Measures aiming to raise moral standards are expressed in inculcating an
awareness of the need to abide by the social, particularly, legal, religious
and other norms and rules of conduct in society. All these measures are
designed to prevent crimes and violations, including drug-related crimes, and
drug abuse particularly.

Special are those measures that prevent drug abuse as such, and
crimes related to it, including those recommended by the international
organizations and fora.

These are, for example, measures to promote a healthy way of life
without consumption of narcotics and censuring the harm caused by narcotics and
drug-related crimes. These measures are implemented by means of: 1) education -
lectures, presentations at schools and other training centers, statements on
the radio, television or press; 2) training law enforcement officers and
medical personnel in the techniques of combating narcotics and drug-related
crimes by creating special educational programs and setting up special training
centers; 3) treatment and rehabilitation of addicts; 4) collection, analysis,
summary, and transmission of information about narcotics, particularly, about
new areas of drug-bearing plants, and methods of their production, illegal
channels for their exportation, as well as the methods for moving them, using
different kinds of transport; 5) preventing the sowing and the growing of
drug-bearing plants by replacing them with other crops and stimulating the
farmers and providing them an all-round assistance; 6) blocking the channels through
which narcotics are moved along; curbing the smuggling of drugs through the
joint efforts of customs and law-enforcement officers of neighboring countries
specializing in actions against narcotics; 7) supervising the fulfillment of
anti-drug laws regulating the sowing and growing of drug-bearing plants, drug
circulation, etc; 8) reducing the demand for drugs by preventing their transfer
from the legal to the illegal domain, including the use of a "daily dosage
method" which makes it possible to determine the correlation between the
quantity of drugs necessary for medical and research needs and the volume of
sale; 9) introduction of remote control devices to estimate the scale of
illegal cultivation of drug-bearing plants in remote places and creating obstacles
for laundering money and other property acquired as a result of drug
trafficking.

In terms of the time, frame measures against narcotics and
drug-related offenses can be divided into early warning, direct impact and
postpenitentiary prophylactic.

The early warning measures are expected to exert influence on
persons, who are not well-versed in drugs and their danger, and who are
informed on the subject but do not take drugs. The preventive influence on
poorly informed persons is made by disseminating knowledge. In this respect the
experience of the United States is worthy of attention and could be borrowed by
the Russian Federation. For as long as a quarter of a century, preschool
children, especially, the ones who attend day care centers have been educated
that any medicines, including drug-bearing ones are harmful for their health,
if they are taken without a doctor's prescription and the knowledge of the
exact dose. To achieve a more vivid effect an album for coloring pictures
featuring narcotics and health is used.

In Australia, there are centers for preventing drug abuse where
school students between 5 and 12 years old have 7 lessons a year forming a
certain attitude to narcotics, as well as an awareness of the danger of drug
addiction.

The influence on persons who are aware of the harm of narcotics and
do not take drugs can be achieved by "tearing them away," so to
speak, from their surroundings where drugs may be used or are used already.
This can be accomplished by conversation with individuals, their families, and
colleagues living in similar environment.

Direct impact prophylactic measures are expected to influence
persons taking drugs, including drug addicts. This impact brings or may bring
positive results when medical treatment is combined with the social
rehabilitation.

Postpenitentiary measures should influence persons who have served
prison terms for drug-related offenses by continuous treatment of drug
addiction, securing the results of previous treatment, and neutralizing a
possible unfavorable influence of their immediate surroundings, finding jobs
and also forestalling the repetition of drug-related offenses.

International, National and Regional Measures:

In terms of their level, the measures to prevent drug abuse can be
divided into international, national and regional.

International measures are the ones, which are carried out on an
international scale. They include a number of earlier listed special measures
to prevent drug abuse. Apart from that, they also include measures carried out
by the international agencies and organizations, such as 1) creation of
programs to prevent the advancement of narcotics; 2) assistance to countries in
implementation of the conventions provisions; 3) providing assistance in
bringing national legislation in line with the conventions; 4) training
officers specializing in actions against narcotics for law-enforcement and
other agencies of different countries; 5) supporting the scientific development
of laboratories in the members countries; 6) providing financial, technical and
other kinds of assistance to raise the effectiveness of national efforts
against drug abuse and ensure access to the international system of information
about narcotics. It should be noted at this point that the Russian Federation
adheres to the international measures because it has joined the world legal
effort aiming to combat narcotics.

National measures to prevent drug abuse are the ones, which are
carried out on the entire territory of the Russian Federation. Regional
measures cover the territory of a region, city or district. Any of the
mentioned general or special measures against narcotics can be used on a
national or regional scale.

It should be stressed at this point, that the last few years have
seen a sharp decline in the effort of law-enforcement bodies, government
agencies and other organizations to prevent offenses, including drug abuse and
drug-related crimes. This state of affairs cannot help but arouse deep concern.
In this context the approval of the national program for combating drug
addiction in the Russian Federation is a necessary step towards improving the
work of preventing narcotics and drug-related crimes, along with other
offenses.

Chapter V. Organized Measures to Counteract Narcotics

Par. 1. General Provisions for Counteracting Narcotics

The multiplicity of drug abuse necessitates a joint combative effort
involving a large number of participants who have a broad spectrum of powers
and who will act simultaneously in different directions, performing a variety
of functions. The joining of anti-narcotism forces can be achieved through a
flexible system of measures against this deplorable social phenomenon.

Organizing a System of Measures Against Narcotics:  

The multifaceted nature of drug abuse necessitates forming a single
united front with many participants acting simultaneously in different
directions, performing various functions with a wide spectrum of measures. This
can be achieved by the mobile and flexible system of measures and means. In
terms of overcoming drug abuse, organization is a system of measures to combat
drug abuse and means of their implementation with regard to the division of the
spheres of activity, responsibilities and hierarchical order.

Based on the social and economic reality, actions against narcotics
should comply with the national and international norms of law and with the
scientifically based principles of management. They should take account of the
new developments in medicine, pharmaceutics, psychology, psychiatry, pedagogy,
sociology, instrument building, and have substantial legislative, material,
informational, and research backing. They must have clear parameters of time
and space and, most importantly, professionally trained personnel.

At the same time, the anti-narcotics strategy must reflect the
irksome particularities and complicated nature of this phenomenon as it
combines two interrelated sides - that of illness and that of crime. This
defines our approach to drug abuse as a medical, as well as a social problem
and it determines what steps and means must be chosen.

Drug Abuse as an Object of Government Action:

Narcotics-related issues, including organizational ones, cannot be
isolated either from the social, economic, political, historical, legislative,
medical, and biological problems or from other social pathologies that call for
counteraction. The definition of drug abuse as a phenomenon of multiple factors
is not therefore accidental.

Therefore, efficient counteraction requires much organization and
precisely targeted moves.

Such a stance justifies the view of drug abuse as an object for
state action.

This approach makes a broad analysis of the wide-ranging problems
and ways to solve them possible. Besides, drug abuse helps to define who the
subject (subjects) of influence are, its (their) condition and functioning, the
influence its (their) structure projects, as well as choice of goals and
function. These properties also define clear goals and a reasonable choice of
means to attain them as well as to ensure an overall realization.

Observing the fundamental properties of drug abuse, researchers call
upon us to be ready for new and unusual capability of this phenomenon to adapt
to any conditions and manifest itself in new forms in most undesirable
circumstances. On this occasion A. Gabiani writes: "Hardly had they
banished the opium poppy, when the niche was quickly filled by common poppy.
When the entire hemp-growing regions were cut off from black markets, the
pharmaceutics flooded the market. The channels for natural drugs were blocked,
then the far more dangerous chemicals began spreading.»

The specificity of drug abuse, and its forms and degree of
proliferation, stress the need for a regular re-evaluation of its rapidly changing
state in order to promote the methods of counteraction, discard the outlived
methods, bring all techniques of exerting influence in line with the
legislation and day-to-day reality. Experience proves that an objective
assessment of any process demands for corrections to be made which take due
notice of reality.

A system of measures to combat narcotics presupposes that its
elements are mutually compatible and that the system itself can be a part of a
higher order -(law enforcement and crime-prevention systems, and social
administrative systems, as a whole). This means that not one subject or measure
in the counter-narcotics system may contradict the values accepted by the
society. The authority of the subjects must be sufficiently reflected in their
rights and duties.

It is essential that all elements of the anti-narcotics system have
enough potential possibilities to ensure its effective operation. The utmost
goal of the organization is, in this case, to transform the potential
possibilities into the real functions and make them serve as a system of
counteraction measures. For example, the professional duty of medical
institutions and doctors who provide treatment for drug addicts is manifested
as a certain function performed by the elements of the system of counteraction
to drug abuse.

A solution of the problems of drug abuse requires, on the one hand,
considerable efforts by national, international and other organizations and
their numerous divisions that act in different directions and focus on different
target groups of people, and on the other hand, it requires coordination and
accord in their activities.

The interaction of different elements of the system may be indirect,
through the understanding of common objectives. This, however, requires a link
in management. Such a link "is based on a certain program of action and
is, in itself, a method of implementing this program. There is always a general
structure of the process behind a developing operational system.»

General Provisions of Organizing Action Against Drug Abuse:

The above mentioned makes it possible to outline the following
principles of an efficiently organized effort against drug abuse in the Russian
Federation.

As the manifestations of drug abuse continue to grow and diversify,
a real counteraction is possible only in the framework of a well-tested and
scientifically based government policy which defines the forms, tasks and
contents of the government's contribution to this effort. The understanding of
drug abuse phenomenon should be reflected in the Concept of the government
policy towards narcotics. Its principal goal is to secure legislative and
organizational realization of anti-narcotics efforts, bring harmony and
coordination into the activities of different ministries and departments, draw
up a list of priorities and concentrate the available resources for their
synchronized deployment. No other document but such a Concept can lay the solid
foundation for the National Program of Counteraction against Narcotics. The Program
necessarily requires an approval at the highest level by the President, the
government and the parliament to make all of its provisions mandatory for
everyone.

The development of the National Program stands out as one of the
most important tasks among the anti-narcotics measures. It is essential to
invite experts in different fields of research, as well as the practitioners
from the concerned departments to participate in it. The list of participants,
the scope of their duties and the financing are to be endorsed by the
government. The authors of the Program have personal responsibility for
producing a profound analysis of the situation with drugs, and for the
efficiency of the recommended methods for combating drug abuse. They are also
responsible for providing research or organizational background during the
implementation of the steps they have recommended. The time frame and other
specifics of the program must be included in the resolutions of the government
and the parliament.

2. The main goal of the government policy in regard to narcotic
substances should be: a) to prevent their use for other than medical purposes;
b) curb the demand for them; c) and curtail their illegal manufacturing and
turnover. This goal is attainable in practical terms only through a set of
coordinated steps in politics, economy, legislation and public health. They
should be directed at perfecting the laws regulating narcotics. Methods should
be developed of an early identification of the persons who use drugs for
non-medical reasons, of their treatment and rehabilitation. Policies should be
developed counteracting the unlawful production and sale of drugs at the
national and international setting.

3. The mandatory measures of organizational, legislative and
material support of the government policy in the field of drugs fall into two
categories.

The first category implies the establishment of an
inter-departmental anti-narcotics system of measures, which will incorporate
the following elements.

Information support of the program. The departments involved should
set up a data bank to store information about the state of affairs in
narcotics, the proliferation of drugs, the accurate techniques of drug
identification, and other data - national and international - which will help
make decisions and implement measures against narcotics.

Research and technical support. Conducting fundamental research of
and quick response analysis on drugs, the development of advanced techniques
and technologies of halting narcotics should be implemented.

Administrative support. The President, the parliament or the
government should found a special committee entrusted with the overall
monitoring of the drug abuse in the republic. This agency also should map out a
uniform national strategy and tactics, direct and coordinate all the elements
of the struggle against narcotics, and set up subordinate regional committees
and commissions. As need be, it should be able to amend the state policy in
regard to drugs. This agency surely must include psychiatrists specializing in
the treatment of addicts, lawyers, psychologists, sociologists, teachers,
pharmacists, journalists and other specialists and experts, as well as
representatives from the ministries of public health, social welfare,
education, agriculture, foreign economic ties, industry and trade, transport,
telecommunications, foreign affairs, the interior, justice, finance, national
security (as well as of the foreign intelligence service), air, maritime, and
inland water transport, of the State Bank, Intourist, customs service, and the
Prosecutor's Office.

Material support. Financing should be provided for the National
Program to Counteract Drug Abuse in general and for its specific aspects. The
financing structure may include specialized funds.

Medical support. A mechanism of medical interaction on the issues of
drugs must involve all the agencies and departments concerned and their
separate branches.

Support from the system of education. It is necessary to train an
appropriate number of anti-drug specialists with due regard to the experience
gained by their foreign counterparts.

Accountability. Regulated accountability and control of all the
agencies and departments participating in the campaign against narcotics should
be established. The participants will be furnished with special sets of
documents and evaluation criteria. They will bear personal responsibility for
the final results.

The second category of mandatory measures defines the direction of
the effort against narcotics, sets out the target goals and names the
participants. At a minimum, the main direction should be of a simultaneous
offensive on the production, trade and consumption of drugs.

In the field of legislative regulation, a set of laws on combating
narcotics should encompass a) perfection of the effective legal acts on drugs,
b) the legally defined rules of identification, check-up and
voluntary/compulsory treatment of drug addicts, c) the rules of drug
identification, d) legislative support of international cooperation including
the obligations that arise from the international treaties and agreements, e)
elaboration of legal norms to fight drug-related money-laundering, f) and
bringing national legislation in line with the international laws.

In the field of medicine: the identification, medical treatment and
social rehabilitation of drug addicts presupposes improving the methods of
early diagnosis and treatment of addiction, the development of prophylactic
measures, a system of registering and monitoring drug abusers, the gathering and
analysis of information and information exchange between relevant departments.

In the sphere of combating drug-related crimes, it is essential to
suppress the illegal cultivation of plants containing narcotic substances,
improve control over the transportation of narcotics across borders, and curb
their clandestine manufacture. It is also necessary to control the
manufacturing, storage and trade in the chemicals and equipment, which may be
used in the illegal production of drugs. The stamping-out of such crimes
necessitates stringent regulatory mechanisms in the production, transportation
and use of narcotic substances for medical and research purposes, as required
by the international conventions, advancement of investigative methods,
improvement in the customs service, administrative and other forms of
curtailing crimes linked to drugs and limiting the illegal demand for them. The
circle of involved participants in actions against narcotics, especially in the
field of prophylactics and halting the spread of drug abuse should be enlarged
through unconventional forms and methods of work, such as invigorating the
efforts of religious and charitable organizations, private companies,
psychological aid centers, army units, and so on.

Understandably, the suggested list of efforts is not exhaustive.
Nonetheless, it puts the emphasis on the main directions and can be viewed as a
version of a multifaceted approach toward organizing a program of action
combating drug abuse.

The Experience of Countries:

The experience of countries that have developed national programs
against drug abuse can be very instrumental in drawing up a national
anti-narcotics program.

In 1982, the United States adopted a program against drug
trafficking and organized crime. Its implementation presumed mapping out a
special presidential policy and the participation of the governors of all the
states.

The USA:

The then US President Ronald Reagan sanctioned the allocation of an
additional USD 130 million to the Department of Justice budget for the
implementation of that program. These funds were distributed to the federal
law-enforcement agencies, the judiciary, penitentiaries and the police. The
administration envisioned an increase in the number of prosecutors, FBI agents,
and the personnel of anti-drug departments, customs services, the coast guards,
Internal Revenue Service, Immigration Naturalization Service, and other
departments.

More than a half of the allocation was set aside as salary and
bonuses for special service agents. The rest was spent on modernizing police
equipment, the renovation of the state and federal prisons, and enhancement of
the FBI technical capabilities in neutralizing criminals who can afford the
most up-to-date listening devices and surveillance equipment.

The program also made provisions for creating special regional task
force, and creating programs for participation in actions against drug abuse by
the state, as well as for more room in federal jails. Coordination committees
responsible to the Secretary of Justice were established in all of the 94
Federal judicial districts. The committees were obliged to make up plans for
fighting grave crimes at the county, state and national levels.

It was for the first time that a program envisioned deployment of
the armed forces against the spread of drugs. Their task was to detect and
detain traffickers, especially at the US-Mexican border and in the Caribbean.

A variety of drug prevention programs were developed at the regional
level, such as the program of aid to potential abusers and their victims in the
District of Columbia or the program against the abuse of drugs and alcohol by
adolescents in Maryland. Many of them, however, remained ineffective not
because they lacked professionalism, but more often because the moves lacked
coordination. Not rare was the shortage of financing, technical and personnel
support.

In 1989, the US adopted the national strategy against drugs, which
is executed by more than thirty federal departments, including the CIA.
American experts believe that the US share of the worldwide consumption of
drugs is more than a fifty per cent. They also consider drug trafficking as a
global threat which cannot be controlled by the efforts of a single country.
There must be international cooperation to settle this bedeviling problem.

Since the bulk of drugs originate outside the US, the Administration
put an emphasis on attacking drug dealers on their home territory and on
stepping up counteraction to the proliferation and sale of drugs inside the
country. The strategy evidently has flaws, as the situation shows no signs of
dramatic improvement.

Canada:

On May 25th, 1987, the Canadian government officially introduced a
national strategy against drug abuse. The strategy had resulted from long
consultations with provincial governments, different private organizations and
individual specialists. The goal of the strategy was to shape a unified course
of actions against the abuse of drugs in Canada.

The general supervision of its implementation was vested in the
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Other participants were the Royal
Mounted Police of Canada, the Directorate of the Penitentiaries, the Ministry
of Justice, the Customs Department and the Excise Tax Service, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Training and Youth.

The main goal was to work out a balanced line of action that would
meet the needs of all Canadians, bring down the impact of alcohol and other
stimulants on individuals, families and entire communities. The strategy
comprised six directions of action: 1)education and prevention, 2)control over
law abidance, 3) medical treatment and rehabilitation, 4) gathering of
information and research, 5) international cooperation 6) and national policy.
Over two-thirds of the resources were directed into the educational, preventive
and treatment programs to curtail demand on the banned substances.

The Royal Mounted Police had the assignment to help develop and
implement five initiatives on restraining the supply of and the demand for
drugs, namely 1) a program to curb the black marketing of drugs, 2) the
coordination of coastal guard patrol, 3) the gathering and processing of data
on drugs, 4) technical assistance to foreign countries and 5) an educational
program.

Canadian experts note that it is hard to measure the effects of this
program yet, but all the above measures contribute to saving lives and making
the nation healthier.

The United Kingdom:

The British government is acting upon a multifaceted anti-narcotic
strategy that it adopted in 1994. There are five strategic priority aspects in
it 1) cutting down drug imports, 2) raising the efficiency of law enforcement,
3) exercising effective deterrence measures and strict control inside the
country, 4) organizing preventive efforts, and improving the treatment and 5)
the rehabilitation of drug addicts.

The government strategy is based on the assumption that all the
problems of narcotics are inter-related. Therefore, parallel measures against
the supply and demand of drugs are necessary. It is intended to scale down
illegal imports of drugs by supporting international efforts against their
manufacture and trade, reinforcing the customs and police force, toughening
control over the legitimate production, and consumption of drugs for medical
purposes, deterring drug dealers by heavy fines and depriving them of their
illegal profits.

The struggle to curtail demand must follow two general lines -
keeping the new addicts from abuse and rendering aid to those whom have
developed addiction.

To ensure proper interaction of all the elements of this strategy,
the British government has set up a working inter-departmental group from among
the ministers and high-ranking executives. The parliamentary deputy home
secretary heads the group. Also participating in its work are officials of the
home office, the ministries of health, social welfare, and finance, the customs
service, the department of overseas territories, the environmental department, and
so on.

The new government-run intelligence service for drugs has replaced
the older drugs central intelligence. Police and customs officers staff the
government-run intelligence. Its duty is to gather, analyze and distribute
information obtained either abroad or at home.

The regional anti-drug departments have special support units. The
customs service has been reinforced by top-class specialists and top-notch
smuggling clampdown equipment. In compliance with the 1986 law on illegal drug
trade, the police and the courts have received broader authority as to the
identification, freezing and confiscation of drug dealers' profits. In 1988 the
UK and the USA signed a bilateral agreement on the confiscation of the
discredited bank assets.

The police and the customs service have formed a special financial
division to accumulate on a national scale, survey and pass down for further
investigation the data on financial issues, i.e. reports from the banks and
other financial institutions on monetary deposits of questionable origin.

The government has outlined the procedure for police operations
against the three categories of drug dealers, big, medium and small.

Great Britain upholds the international community's efforts by
contributing annually Pound Sterling 150,000 to the UN Fund for Drug Abuse
Control. As mentioned before, the UK also runs a program of assistance to
overseas projects.

Regarding the drug abuse situation, a review of the government
measures underlines that the government-sponsored policy works toward a closer
international cooperation, enhances the efforts of the law-enforcement
agencies, helps the younger generation realize the impact of drug addiction and
boosts the effort against this evil.

Mexico:

The drug control programs in Mexico differ from those in other
countries as Mexico is a hotbed of manufacture and export of opium, heroin and
marijuana and a major cocaine trafficking transit point to the United States.
Some Mexican states have traditional plantations of opium poppy, marijuana and
Indian hemp. Economic hardships often force the farmers into dealing with drug
dealers and prompt the growing of illegal crops, which produce profits higher
than the earnings from lawful businesses. The anti-drug programs, therefore,
focus on mass destruction of narcotic crops from the air or manually and the
involvement of army units in such operations, harsh penal sanctions, intensive
investigation of drug cartels and trafficking channels, and dissemination of
information among the public.

Growing cooperation with the USA on the basis of bilateral
agreements and a treaty of juridical assistance is an important element of the
anti-narcotic policy. It facilitates the identification of drug-related money
laundering in the financial and commercial institutions both in Mexico and the
US. The Advance Guard program presupposes operations to detect and destroy the
plantations of drug-bearing crops. Starting from 1986, units of the Mexican
Army and of the US Coastal Guard have been conducting operations to detain
suppliers of drugs in the Mexican territorial waters, to confiscate their cars
and arms, and to control flights in the border area as part of the American
Mexican operation Alliance.

Spain:

The national program against drug abuse in Spain deserves notice as
the Spanish laws permit soft narcotic substances. Despite the expectations and
arguments of the proponents of drug legalization, drug abuse in Spain does not
subside. Neither does the crime rate. The number of violent assaults to obtain
money for drugs is on the rise. The law-enforcement agencies' task has been set
as eradicating drug abuse, opening specialized medical centers for the addicts
who volunteer to undergo treatment, and combating drug addiction and
prostitution as the factors increasing the risk of AIDS infection.

The main goals of the Spanish program against drug abuse are to halt
the proliferation of the most heinous drugs like heroin and cocaine, organize
prophylactic measures among the young people of 16-to-18, promulgate popular
knowledge about medicine and treatment of drug addicts by way of educational
lectures, and advance public organizations' activities.

France:

The French national program against narco-business sponsored by the
Ministry of the Interior and Public Safety focuses on curbing the illegal trade
in drugs, and, in particular, the street vending of narcotic substances. The
document provides for the creation of special-task police units and a national
center to coordinate all police operations against drug abuse.
Narco-business-suppression training courses have been introduced at police
schools. Large police commissariats now have specialized branches to monitor
drug abuse. These branches render practical and financial assistance to various
organizations engaged in fighting against the abuse of narcotic and toxic
chemical substances.

The experience of foreign anti-narcotics programs can be adapted to
the requirements of the Russian Federation and help work out a feasible
National Program of Comprehensive Counteraction to Narcotics

Par. 2. Organization of Medical Counteraction to
Narcotics

The primary aspect of the entire anti-narcotics effort is a series
of medical treatment measures. They are carried out by different medical
institutions as actions against narcotics is inalienable from the activities of
public health services of all levels, including the medical service of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1975 the former Soviet medical authorities
detached the addictions treatment service from psychiatry. Thus the treatment
of drug and other addicts became a separate branch of medicine known as
narcology.

The efforts of the medical institutions make up a significant part
of the anti-narcotics strategy. Their goal is to bring about a decrease in the
demand for drugs. This is achieved by the treatment and rehabilitation of
abusers and, in the final run, is a positive factor of a general improvement in
the drug abuse situation.

The measures, which the health centers, are obliged to take, can
roughly be divided into two groups. Group One includes the properly medical
efforts in the treatment and rehabilitation of addicts. Group Two embraces
other organizational steps to keep narcotics at bay.

The international community also pays considerable attention to the
treatment of drug addicts. Article 38 of the Uniform Convention on Drugs states
that the signatory countries will take every possible step to prevent the
misuse of narcotic substances, ensure an early identification of abusers, treat
them, restore them to full working capability, re-socialize, and monitor them
after the completion of treatment (Paragraph 1). The countries will train
appropriate personnel (Paragraph 2), and will inform the population about the
hazards of drug abuse (Paragraph 3). The medical treatment of drug addicts is
also presupposed by Resolution II of the UN conference on implementing the
Uniform Convention on Drugs. Reminding of the provisions of Article 38, the
conference stressed that hospital treatment in a drug-free atmosphere is the
most efficacious medical approach to the issue. It recommended that
economically potent countries where drug abuse is a serious problem provide the
opportunities for such treatment.

The Treatment and Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts:

The issues of medical treatment/social rehabilitation of addicts and
other relevant measures are to a greater or lesser degree incorporated in the
public health programs of all nations and have found reflection in certain
regional programs. As a rule, these documents emphasize perfection of the
strategies and organization of drug abuse services on the assumption that drug
abuse is a social disease. The other important aspects are financing and
material/technical support, personnel, informing definite sectors of society on
the hazardous impact of addiction, research in the field of more effective
medicine.

Experts, however, warn against an overly simplified belief that
containing drug addiction boils down to the availability of medicines and
available hospital beds. The prophylactics of social illnesses like alcoholism,
misuse of narcotics and toxic chemicals cannot be built upon the same methods
as the treatment of serious infectious diseases. Alongside pharmaceutics, it
requires psychological aid and education which more and more often involves the
addicts' families and friends. It is naive to believe that medicines and
injections alone can bring about the desired results and that the selection of
individually suitable pharmaceutical preparations gives a clue to the problem
of treatment. Good results are yielded by a combination of psychology and
pharmacy. Therefore, the treatment for drug addiction consumes much painstaking
effort of a doctor, psychologist, educator and other specialists working with a
person who is likely to develop the illness or is ill already.

On the face of it, the issues of treatment and prophylactics
necessitate comprehensive programming and proficient organization. Their
solution lies in the medico-biological, medico-psychological and medico-social
spheres.

From the standpoint of government policy, public health institutions
have the exclusive authority to treat drug addicts by officially approved
methods, including compulsory treatment of the addicts who pose danger to
society.

According to the results expected in this field, health centers must
organize and effectuate a series of measures destined to establish firm grounds
for progress in the drug abuse situation.

In the first place, this means the early identification, diagnosis
and registration of the persons who use drugs for non-medical purposes and
hence stand in need of prophylactic and treatment. However, shortcomings in the
existing methods of express-diagnostics and in the expert check-ups of drug
addicts make establishing the degree and the type of drug dependence somewhat
problematic.

Identification, Diagnosis, and Registration of Drug Users:

The identified addicts may belong to different age and social
groups; their condition may have a different degree of narcotic neglect. This
fact may influence the choice, distribution and intensity of medical measures,
as well as their combination with other types of aid.

Of particular importance is the early identification of addicts
among the young and the adolescents. A timely medical interference, caring
participation and influence of parents, relatives, teachers, police officers,
and the atmosphere of friendliness can stop the youngsters' slump into illness.

When the consumers of different drugs have been identified, it is
exigent to inform the police to enable it to find the sources of drugs and
trafficking channels and execute other preventive measures.

Information is especially important if the drugs have been
manufactured illegally or their origins are unclear.

The following list of measures can help identify the individuals who
misuse narcotic substances:

medical check-ups of industrial labor staffs, school and college
students;

medical check-ups of inmates in jails and penitentiaries;

medical examination of the perpetrators of drug abuse for further
registration and treatment, including compulsory treatment;

specialized testing of certain professionals (the military, pilots,
drivers of all means of transport, police officers) for the bodily presence of
narcotic substances;

revealing the most dangerous forms of drug abuse that complicated
detoxification, revealing the cases of multiple drug misuse (the combined use
of more than one drug) and the cases of an intertwined abuse of drugs and
alcohol;

identification of addicts who carry the HIV and other infectious
diseases, elimination of the consequences of infectious transmission;

timely registration, treatment and rehabilitation of those who need
it.

Another way to improve the health servicing of drug abusers is to
organize:

fundamental research; development of efficacious pharmaceutical
preparations and novel methods of treatment for different types of narcotic
dependence, their speedy translation into public health practices; large-scale
contribution to research from Russian and foreign scientists (the Academy of
Sciences, medical, pedagogical, psychological and other research institutions,
application of practices adopted abroad);

accelerated training of highly qualified personnel (addictive conditions
psychiatrists, psychologists, educators, social workers) at medical colleges
and upper level courses, specialized training of medical attendants, nurses and
technicians. The study program should cover not only the novel methods of
treatment, but also the specifics of contacts with the drug addicts and methods
of readiness for treatment and prophylactic practice;

organization of new preventive-treatment/ registration clinics,
out-patient departments at industrial facilities and offices, emergency aid centers
and a wide publication of data on their mode of operation, anonymous and
commercial treatment centers for drug addicts;

extensive adoption by drug-abuse monitoring services of the
achievements in the medical science, psychology, pedagogy, pharmacy, and
special-purpose technology;

modernization of drug-abuse monitoring services, improvement of
material supplies and provision of the necessary personnel.

The post-treatment rehabilitation measures should include: a) the
creation of purpose-oriented government-run and charity funds, ex-drug abusers
support funds and diverse forms of work with them; b) development of
rehabilitation methods based on the effective analysis of the existing
rehabilitation procedures and of qualification levels of the personnel; c)
psychological assistance to the former abusers' families, relatives, and
friends who must be taught the techniques of exerting favorable influence on
the patients.

Equally important is the organization of other anti-narcotics
efforts taken by public health institutions.

The health of the nation is an important element of the social and
economic development of a country. From this angle, the popularization of a
rational way of life, the cultivation of respect for human health as the basic
value of society ranks high among the priorities of medical institutions.

Publicizing Information Against Drugs:

A skillful and persistent dissemination of knowledge about the
destructive impact of drugs and their detriment for the future generations is a
crucial activity of medical institutions in the struggle against narcotics.

It is advisable to find a particular audience and do masterly
presentations. Lectures and discussions are not the only means of knowledge
dissemination. Meetings with former drug addicts and presentations about broken
human lives have also proved productive.

To increase the prophylactic effects of popularization, it would be
useful to train the instructors on the methods and tactics of campaigning
against narcotics, design a system of mass anti-narcotic education, based on
medical science, provide the necessary teaching aids, control and stimulate
this activity.

Organization of Control Over the Use of Narcotic Substances:

Public health institutions have responsibilities in exercising
control over narcotic substances under international conventions, treaties,
agreements and other forms of international cooperation in combating drug
abuse. As mentioned earlier, their primary responsibility is to control the
proper use of drugs, the correct taking of their stock, their storage,
distribution and removal. The issue of special prominence is the storage of
narcotic substances at medical institutions and warehouses and the thwarting of
attempts to misappropriate them. Inspections often expose serious flaws in this
field.

To rule out a possible abuse, leakage or misappropriation of drugs,
the following list of measures is essential:

guarding narcotic substance storage facilities, fitting them out
with new equipment and fire/break-in alarm systems connected to the central
control panel or to the 24-hour operational medical personnel or guards mail;

proper protection of the points where drugs are stored in small
quantities for distribution as administered by the physicians;

tightened control over big-batch long-term storage facilities like
the warehouses of regional drug-store administrations, and strategic reserves
warehouses;

regular inspections at narcotic drug warehouses;

strict abidance by the rules of taking stock, storage and use of
drugs for medical purposes;

a timely exchange of information with the police on the above issues
and cooperation in drawing up the lists of drug storage facilities.

Experience suggests that a successful solution of the problem
depends on the depth of our insight into it. This is especially true of such a
complex issue as the treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts regardless of
what stage they are at. That is why the fullest and the most objective
information is essential for the medical and other institutions to organize a
counter-offensive against drug abuse. With that goal in mind, public health
centers should adhere to the following organizational guidelines:

gathering and analysis of information on the conditions of drug
addicts, tendencies in and results of their treatment and rehabilitation, and
types and means of using drugs and the impact they have;

interaction with other institutions and departments in concrete
forms of anti-narcotics activities in such large-scale operations as Poppy and
Doping, in check-ups and research;

control surveys prepared by the narcology service.

Organizational support for these guidelines could be achieved
through:

the establishment of a strict procedure for and the terms of turning
in, and registration of documents, supply of dependable information on the
actual situation with drugs and their sales and use for both medical and
non-medical purposes, on the individuals perpetrating misuse, supply of other
data essential for making specific decisions;

cooperation with other departments in holding joint selective
research and express-tests to obtain reliable information on the actual levels
of drug abuse, the damage it inflicts, the effects of treatment and other types
of aid to the addicts;

scheduled and unscheduled departmental and/or inter-departmental
inspections of how control over drugs is maintained, and how the rules of their
use and storage are observed;

analysis and broad publicity of the achievements of medical staffs
who have a record of positive results in combating narcotics, as well as
provision of incentives.

The scope of health institutions' duties also embraces revealing and
timely informing the relevant departments and the public at large on dangerous
tendencies in drug abuse, new varieties of stupefying substances, the
techniques of their manufacture and the means of use. The public health system
develops the adequate methods of prevention, treatment, and counteraction.

Par. 3. Enforcement of Legal Measures of Narcotics
Counteraction

The organization of legal enforcement of anti-narcotics measures
falls into three groups:

1) application of legal administrative and criminal legal norms
regulating the prevention and suppression of narcotics; 2) government legal
measures to set and refine law enforcement and other agencies combating
narcotics; 3) international anti-narcotics measures.

Group One includes compulsory treatment of drug addicts and measures
against drug-related crimes. Compulsory treatment of drug addicts is a
law-enforcement measure aimed at cutting down the non-medical use of narcotic
substances. It can be administered by the court to an addict who evades
voluntary treatment or who continues misusing drugs after a course of
treatment. If an addict commits a crime, the court metes out punishment in
combination with compulsory treatment.

Compulsory treatment of Drug Addicts:

Compulsory treatment is prescribed to all categories of abusers at
medical institutions with a specialized treatment procedure in the course of
work therapy. If criminal punishment is imposed, the treatment is executed at
the penitentiary during the term of imprisonment.

Placement of drug addicts to mandatory treatment centers is in the
domain of responsibilities of police departments. This activity goes hand in
hand with the following organizational measures:

identification of individuals perpetrating drugs abuse;

administering a medical examination, and a compulsory visit to a
medical institution in case of a refusal to undergo the procedure voluntarily;

compulsory hospitalization for complete check-up upon conclusion of
a narcologist (psychiatrist specializing in addictive conditions - translator's
note). Notification is given to the prosecutor's office and, if an underage
addict is hospitalized, to his or her parents.

timely and renewable registration of drug addicts at the
drug-patient monitoring clinics, and prophylactic registration of the
individuals whose misuse of drugs has not yet acquired the form of an illness;

supervision over the daily way of life of the registered patients
and checking their attempts to skip compulsory treatment, imposition of other
measures of educational, medical and legal influence;

issuance of documents for placing the addicts who avoid mandatory
treatment to rehabilitation and work-therapy clinics and specialized drug-abuse
Medicare centers; filing documents on treatment of evaders with the courts;

escorting of addicts to the places of mandatory treatment,
registration of individuals who were formerly sentenced for drug-related crimes
or fell under administrative liability for misuse of drugs;

individual prophylactic measures against addicts to whom corrective
labor has been meted out without a term of imprisonment, or whose sentences
have been suspended or deferred;

treatment of drug addicts at corrective labor institutions
simultaneously with serving a term, supervision over inmates' treatment and
behavior.

Organizational Law Enforcement Measures against Drug-related Crimes:

Other organizational law enforcement measures against
narcotics-related crimes are: locating the illegal plantations of
narcotic-bearing crops and identifying their growers, eradicating such
plantations, securing prohibitions to grow narcotic substance containing crops,
making special maps upon the inspections of gardens, private plots of land and
wastelands, cooperating with agriculture experts, army units and other
departments concerned, carrying out special task operations and disseminating
information on drugs.

It is of paramount importance to reorganize the system of guarding
government-controlled plantations of hemp and the like crops or create such a
system in the places where it is absent. This measure is closely linked to the
development of advanced methods of crop guarding, especially, in harvesting
seasons. Work by shifts and material incentives may prove effective. Good
results can also be obtained through the improvement of technical and chemical
means of protection.

To limit the access of the public at large to the areas of
government-sponsored drug- bearing crop plantations, it would stand to reason
to establish special passport and traffic control in such areas.

Organization of Measures to Suppress Drug-dealing:

The measures to suppress drug dealing are the most important issue
at present. Manufacture and trade in narcotics has become a branch of the
shadow economy. It is gaining momentum, creating production facilities and
channels of distribution. In a large number of cases the understaffed law
enforcement departments are unable to rebuff the onslaught of drug
manufacturers and offer sound alternatives to all aspects of drug abuse.

The illegal production of drugs that spill over the state borders
and continents is at the top of the world community's agenda. Particular
significance is attached to the clandestine drug laboratories.

In the wake of it, it is exigent to set up specialized police
departments, which will concentrate the officers of high professional
expertise, and to provide them with the necessary material and technical
support.

Foreign experts believe tangible results in eradicating clandestine
laboratories can be achieved if police operations to uncover the channels by
which the raw materials arrive and the end product is dispatched are synchronized
with the efforts to block access to chemical substances and equipment the
manufacture of drugs requires. This, however, is not easy as some drug
synthesis components such as acetic anhydride, ether, benzene, acetone are
extensively used in the industrial sector. Their industrial consumption is not
controlled in practical terms since, in most countries, legislation does not
regulate the production, storage and use of these chemicals.

Experts in Germany propose in this connection that the laws against drugs
should extend to cover these chemicals too. But the output and industrial use
of the above substances is so massive that the attempts to take them under
control within the boundaries of a single country have yielded no results while
entailing substantial expenditure on organizing the control service.

Another measure suggested is marking the packing of chemical
substances with special marks that would help the police identify the country
of origin and the manufacturer. Such a step, however, is unproductive as in
most cases the police does not get a hold of packing of the chemicals which had
already been used.

Experts consider as more promising the special laboratory tests of
the confiscated narcotic substances and chemicals used in the manufacture of drugs.
The tests can be more helpful in identifying the country of origin, elucidating
specific features of the technological process and other fundamental properties
of the chemicals.

For instance, specialists of the German institute of criminology
have designed on the basis of the American and Swedish experience methods of
identifying the places of origin of heroin through chromatographic testing.

Experts believe the most effective way to control the proliferation
of the substances used in drug manufacturing could be the marking of such
substances with dyes or radiation. The weak point of the method is a possible
impact the marking may have on the qualities of the chemicals and the end
products. Besides, it would contradict the legislation of many countries and
some international agreements. That is why the researchers of anti-narcotic
methods tend to pin hopes on the method of a different nature - self-control.
It encompasses a set of police-proposed measures that are effectuated by the
services directly involved in actions against illegal manufacturing,
trafficking and trade in drugs, as well as by all companies and individuals who
have a connection with the manufacturing, sales and use of narcotics and
auxiliary chemicals. According to this concept, the producers, suppliers and
consumers of chemicals report to the police all suspicious purchases. The
police, in its turn, work out detailed recommendation and criteria for such
cases. Examples of these criteria are above-the- statistic-average size of a purchased
batch of chemicals, a request from a new client, etc. Such kind of reporting
gives the police more opportunities to locate illegal laboratories, channels of
raw materials supplies and dispatch of the end product.

An imperative condition for putting in effect practical
anti-narcotics measures is stringent control over the narcotic raw materials
and their storage and limitations on trade in them.

It is important to note those drug-dealing affects the legitimate
turnover of narcotic substances. Violations of the rules of their storage,
manufacturing, and accounting continue increasing. There are misappropriations
and other offenses, including attacks on warehouses of narcotic preparations in
health centers, drug stores, etc. Executives do not take adequate measures to
safeguard narcotic substances and sometime become accomplices in crimes. A
possible explanation for this state of affairs is the breach of the rules
outlined above.

It is important to reveal violations of the effective rules of
manufacturing, storage, accounting, and sales of narcotic preparations,
invoking criminal liability when necessary. This necessitates joint steps by
the anti-drug units, licensing system of the internal affairs ministry, fire
detachments and units of extra-departmental guards.

The perpetrators of drug-related crimes' utmost secrecy calls for
the improvement in the procedures of investigation in strict compliance with
the criminal law procedures.

Crime Investigation Organizational Measures:

An important element in this process is the interaction between
detectives and investigators. The best and well-tested form of this interaction
is the setting-up of temporary or, as need be, permanently functioning
inquiry/investigation groups. These groups focus the efforts of all branches of
the police on drug-related crimes. The main directions of activities (with due
regard to the limits of professional competence of each member of the group)
are:

a) gathering and systematic analysis of all the incoming and requested
information on drug-related crimes and malefactors;

b) identification of criminal groupings and measures toward halting
their activities;

c) police actions to prevent and halt misappropriations of drugs and
other offenses in medicare institutions and other organizations;

d) police actions taken simultaneously with the investigation as
envisaged by the criminal law court procedure;

e) quality emergency investigation, completeness, objectivity and
timeliness of inquiry and investigation;

f) tactical planning and expedient conduct of search and technical
operations; professional conduct of operations; employment of investigation and
other technologies to supply the investigators with testimonies and eye-witness
accounts of the offenders' guilt;

g) professional analysis of the ways of using the results of search
and technical operations in investigation procedures.

Par. 4. Other Organizational Measures to Combat
Narcotics

Narcotics can be overcome only if approaches to anti-narcotics
activity are fundamentally revised, its concrete trends are mapped out and the
control over the end results achieved by each ministry and department,
responsible for curbing this social evil.

Up-to-date scales and forms of narcotics proliferation show that the
measures, applied within the framework of established structures, are not
particularly successful. There is no proper interaction between the ministries
and the departments, called upon to handle these matters; work is carried out
far too often formally without essential drive, consistence, and organization;
the system of preventive, therapeutic, and rehabilitative help remains
inadequate; and anti-narcotic campaign is ineffective.

For this reason, organizational medical and law enforcement steps
can and must be backed by measures to resist drug abuse in all spheres and at
all levels of state power to avoid their imbalance and flaws in the all-out
anti-narcotics crusade.

The practical experience of daily anti-narcotics activity calls for
a significant impact from the top government agencies.

It is at this level that measures should be adopted for creating and
implementing a single national strategy against narcotics. For this end, a
single permanent executive body, empowered to control narcotics and capable of
coordinating comprehensive actions daily against drug addiction and
drug-related crimes must be created. The formation of such a body, representing
all the ministries and departments concerned, will make it possible to organize
a prompt and permanent government action against narcotics, coordinate efforts
of government agencies, and other organizations, as well as individuals, and
maintain contact with international organizations.

Lawmaking measures:

It is important to revitalize government-sponsored efforts toward
hammering out a single anti-narcotics legislation, matching international
standards, including 1) a law on the `control over the legal distribution of
narcotics, strong substances, precursors, and 2) on the responsibility for such
offences as: drugs extortion; illegal actions with government-owned chemicals
and special equipment and their use to make drugs; 3) organizational forms of
perpetrating drug-related crimes; 4) various commercial and financial
operations on money laundering.

Due to the latter, it is necessary to give law enforcement agencies
more authority to get from banks and other institutions and organizations
necessary data on accounts and other financial transactions of persons,
suspected of unlawful actions with narcotics.

Besides, it appears reasonable to amend the current legislation by
expanding authority and creating appropriate conditions for law-enforcement
agencies (police) to a) conduct searches of luggage, including carry-on
luggage, of passengers at all kinds of transport facilities, b) check
controlled shipments and cargoes, c) check state purchases of drugs, d) conduct
medical examinations of citizens, e) set a more flexible procedure of placing
drug addicts for medical treatment, f) a more flexible system of administrative
detaining and arresting of citizens, and g) to practice more extensively the
protocol form of pre-trial materials preparation.

Organizational Measures at Government Level:

It would be expedient to carry out a number of organizational
anti-narcotics measures at government level. They include:

- creating a stable system of information for regional
law-enforcement agencies about treaties, agreements, and protocols, concluded
and signed by countries, governments, and departments, about procedures and
requirements of signing such documents, about Interpol National Central Bank's
opportunities to combat specific types of crimes, and about requests'
formulation requirements;

- putting the NCB on round-the-clock duty to meet local requests;

- speeding up the creation of effective border customs control and
adopting measures against the use of a country as a transit point to ship drugs
to other regions;

- toughening control over the production and supplies of
drug-bearing substances in chemical pharmacology and other areas, where they
are used for lawful purposes.

A positive solution should be found to the issue of opening more
medical centers, improving anti-drug addiction therapy, and manufacturing and
acquiring more effective medicines, which involves much government spending and
a search for sources of funding. Simultaneously, special government-financed
short and long term comprehensive medical programs should be worked out and put
into effect to block the consumption and sale of drugs; really re-socialize
drug addicts; stop AIDS from spreading; spare no effort toward revitalizing
non-governmental organizations' activity, aimed at reducing the demand for
narcotics.

Measures to Train Personnel:

One should bear in mind that in most cases, the first contact with
drug addicts, that is with seriously ill people, is made by the officers of law
enforcement (police) agencies who have neither practical nor psychological
skills of dealing with ill persons. But even a physician is required alongside
professional knowledge, to display ethical norms, which quite often are crucial
for the recovery of mentally imbalanced patients. For this reason, it is
especially urgent and important to draw up teaching aides and methodological
recommendations for law- enforcement agencies, not only on the tactics but also
on the ethics of dealing with drug addicts, especially young ones. It is
necessary to put the experience, gained by the police in anti-drug addiction
prophylactic actions, into practice as soon as possible.

Polish scientists identify three groups of young drug addicts: 1)
those who can but do not want to stop using drugs; 2) those who would like to
give up drugs but cannot do so on their own; 3) and those who do not want and
can not drop the ruinous dependence.

The principles of treating representatives of each of these groups
differ considerably. The experience of drug addicts' treatment shows that two
opposite trends dominate in the systems accepted up to date. The first prefers
tolerance, partnership, and medical treatment, excluding coercion and
punishment. The second envisages tough regimentation toward drug addicts.
However, there is one requirement that is common for both systems -
indispensable compliance with the principle of voluntary consent.

There are several varieties of pedagogics as industrial, military,
agricultural, and medical. The latter, also called orthopedagogics, deals with
upbringing children with defects. In the field of criminological prophylaxis,
essential is the role of resocialization, i.e. of the educational effect on
persons, poorly adapted to life in society. According to the criminological
literature, "the basic goal in penitentiaries, is to create conditions for
the social adaptation of persons after their prison term is over.» All these
sources of knowledge should be made instrumental in combating drug abuse.

At the government level, interdepartmental programs involving a wide
range of experts and the media should be worked out and implemented on
educational and prophylactic campaign among the population.

Foreign Experience in Prophylactics:

Foreign experience deserves attention in this respect. Poland, for
one, attaches great significance to public anti-drug addiction campaigns.
Specialists are convinced that drug abuse should be addressed by the public
organizations and individuals, among them - well known scientists, artists,
writers, and clerics.

The catholic church plays a special role. Maximilian Conbeg's
Society has all parishes offered to its program of temperance, urging them to
abstain not only from drugs but also from all unnatural desires. The program
has been backed across the board. Each diocese has priests specially trained to
render professional aid to drug addicts and to help them return to society.

The Catholic University offers a course of lectures, which are to
help drug addicts; the newly organized Drug Prevention Society has basic
activities coinciding with that of the government and its main tasks are to
treat drug addicts, return them to society and prevent drug-related crimes. The
Society provides therapy for drug afflicted persons, and recommendations on how
to regain the healthy way of life. The Polish Psychiatrists' Society has an
anti-drug addiction commission, pursuing mainly scientific objectives.

The Monar youth movement immensely contributes to the anti-drug
campaign sparing no effort to return drug addicts to society by interacting
with medics. Religious and public organizations are actively involved in
anti-narcotics campaigns in other countries, too.

At the same time, it is only within the framework of a
government-sponsored program that all issues, pertaining to the destruction of
drug-bearing crops, must be addressed. For that it is necessary to create
independent agencies, furnished with advanced equipment, aircraft, motor
vehicles and other means. Such agencies can be allowed appropriate functions
only after clearance by a team of ecological experts. Here in, strict criminal
responsibility must be enforced for carrying out such actions that destroy the
environment and harm flora and fauna. There must be compensation.

The solution of this issue depends upon the possibility of deploying
the armed forces. In the USA the army plays a key role in monitoring drug
trafficking routes. The Defense Department carries out the following measures
against criminal narco-business:

- searching for drug-bearing crops, secret laboratories, storages
and drug distribution points;

- discovering and destroying sources of producing drugs (cocaine,
marijuana, etc);

- putting under control all possible routes of smuggling drugs into
the country (by sea, by air, across land border);

- assisting state law-enforcement agencies in exposing the channels
of drug proliferation by using intelligence sensors and photo equipment in
border territories;

- coordinating operations to intercept ships and aircraft, suspected
of illegal drugs shipment;

- patrolling the coast by interceptor planes, ships, posting radars,
balloon systems to monitor low-flying objects, etc.;

- measures to get enlisted and non-enlisted army personnel cut drugs
consumption.

In 1990, the military, using search equipment, capable of locating
submerged cables and pipelines, discovered an underground tunnel at the border
with Mexico, a tunnel through which huge consignments of drugs were smuggled
into the USA. In the last few years, four anti-narcotics techniques have been
in focus: computerized systems, advanced means of communication, field
laboratory analyzers, remote chemical detectors (photo-acoustic and laser
spectroscopes for locating specific drug production sites.) Experts regard as
promising instruments for checking baggage and cargo containers. These
instruments operate on nonlinear radar principles.

Organization of Comprehensive Studies:

By combining the efforts of scientists and experts it would be
possible to avoid haste with setting up new creative teams and, instead, apply
to the database for information, learn its source and its author, and decide
whether it's simpler to use it rather than carry out studies anew. Such an
approach would be quite beneficial for those whose work has so far been wasted
and for those who urgently need scientific information.

This would also speed up the process of solving a number of drug problems
by cutting the time for scientific research and decreasing inevitable material
costs.

Functions of the Head Branch of the Anti-narcotics Agency:

Changes in the given situation call for an appropriate effective
response, a revision of the content and volume of work, correction of functions
carried out at the departmental level.

Particularly responsible is the role of the head branch of the
agency integrated in the Ministry of Internal Affairs which studies, analyzes,
sums up and monitors information on narcotics in the country, informs
appropriate institutions and departments about it, sets priorities in actions
against narcotics, adopts measures to attain them, and carries out other
managerial functions. This agency also arranges and takes part in concrete
anti-narcotics campaigns. These include measures to prevent the illegal growth
of drug-bearing crops (plan, organize, and carry out POPPY operations, etc.);
to curb theft of drugs and highly effective medicinal substances; discover underground
laboratories (develop, plan and carry out Doping operations); uncover the most
sophisticated crimes (by taking direct part in investigative and search actions
upon arrival on site, providing methodological, informational and technical
aid); expose persons and criminal gangs with inter-regional and international
narco-business links; join other services in carrying out preventive operations
at airports, railway stations, customs offices to detain criminals, check the
baggage, eliminate drug trafficking channels; upgrade work toward preventing
and exposing drug-related crimes.

The volume of applicable law measures at this level bears a
selective nature, being many inferiors to the volume of managerial and other
functions. It would be more rational and effective however to rid these
branches completely of any forms of direct involvement in preventing, exposing,
and curbing crimes and thereby extend managerial functions by raising demands
for professional leadership and service management by augmenting the staff
functions of these branches and limiting their role in exposing and curbing
crimes to appropriate qualified essential methods and effective control.

Perfecting Internal Affairs Ministry Work:

To make law-enforcement agencies anti-drug trafficking activity more
efficient, the Internal Affairs Ministry could:

- draft comprehensive anti-drug addiction programs;

- perfect the departmental normative basis, create methods and
analysis teaching aids and video-films;

- participate in the work to bring republican anti-narcotics
legislation in line with the international acts;

- create a normative-legal basis to ensure a mechanism for bilateral
and multilateral international cooperation;

- work out, create, and introduce in day-to-day activity a mechanism
of control over the emerging narcotic situation and coordinate reaction to its
changes;

- adopt measures to provide the branches with appropriate equipment
and special devices;

- create automated information-search systems with wide-ranging possibilities
to combat criminal narco-business;

- set out short and long term guidelines;

- determine resources for the target-oriented organizational,
informative, promptly investigative and material-technical support of areas
with widespread drug abuse and rampant crime;

- control the formation of local branches and their activities;

- organize interaction between law-enforcement (police) agencies,
serving at areas where drugs are grown, trafficked, and consumed;

- coordinate various branches' activity to carry out joint measures
toward exposing criminal gangs with inter-regional contacts and carrying out
prophylactic measures on air, sea, river, and auto transport;

- form computer data banks on drug trafficking at republican and
international levels;

- follow the USA and other countries' experience in setting up
special mobile units, armed with the most advanced military hardware and teach
methods and ecologically safe technologies of drug crops' destruction;

- promote law-enforcement (police) agencies' cooperation with
customs, national security agencies, army and border troops;

- educate territorial agencies on various methods of work;

- plan cooperation with foreign agencies in preventing drugs and raw
material for narcotics from being smuggled in from other regions practicing a
specific form of controllable supplies envisaged by the 1988 UN Convention and
exert control over such cooperation;

- organize and control scientific research and apply it;

- to study, sum up, and apply positive foreign experience;

One should bear in mind that the campaign against narcotics is part
of the universal action against organized crime. Efficiency at the local level
makes it possible to expose not only drug-related crimes but also felonies,
especially those involving violence and theft.

If all these organizational measures are put into practice, the
campaign against narcotics in the Russian Federation will be more effective.

Conclusion

The international community sees narcotics as one of the most
dangerous social evils. International legal acts, as well as national
legislations, including that of the Russian Federation, contain numerous norms
regulating actions against narcotics bound to suppress and prevent it. Moves
are made to perfect and update these norms so that they could counteract new
forms and methods of committing drug-related crimes. Naturally enough, legal
regulations trail after criminal thought in these and other criminal offenses.

To narrow the gap between the rapid advancement of criminal know-how
and the introduction of the new anti-crime legislation there is a need to
monitor the spread of narcotics, assess it, watch its dynamics, forecast its
progress and carry out appropriate research. Monitoring and research are to
help pinpoint the sensitive spots of drug abuse and work out new legal norms
and methods for dealing with them.

Highly important are the application of legal norms and the planning
of various measures aiming to oppose narcotics.

Private business has been made legal in the new social and economic
conditions. Under the guise of legally established private enterprises
underground drug manufacturing laboratories and drug trade hideouts (houses,
apartments) have begun functioning as unofficial operational reports confirm.
Illegal efforts to produce and sell drugs and the tendency for their
proliferation demand emergency antidrug legislation. Illegally-operating
drug-producing and drug-selling companies present a much bigger threat to
society than all other drug-related ventures do, now that they (a) spread new
varieties of and increasingly more hazardous drugs, (b) increase, drug
production and sales manifold, (c) promote an organized system of narcobusiness
and, consequently, the takeover of drug-trafficking by organized criminal
groups, (d) take monopoly control of drug-trafficking and reap super-profits in
this field, (e) take drug-trafficking operations beyond the national borders
and make use of their foreign connections for the acquisition, manufacture,
transportation, sending, smuggling and sale of drugs. Their activities prompt
many related crimes.

All this calls for moves to update the Russian Criminal Code with
articles on legal responsibility for the production and sale of drugs which
must be considered to belong to the categories of serious and most serious
criminal offenses punishable by ten to fifteen years of imprisonment and the
confiscation of property.

The climatic conditions on the territory of Russian Federation favor
the natural growth and cultivation of drug-bearing plants, which may be, or are
already, used for the purpose of drug production. This calls for the need to
constantly perfect methods of exposing and destroying such plants, both those
that are wild and those that are raised, which, in turn, calls for a wide range
of financial and organizational efforts.

Its geographic and geopolitical position makes the Russian
Federation a convenient trans-shipment point on the road from Asia to other
former Soviet republics and on to Europe. The Russian government, its
law-enforcement agencies, in particular, must, as a result, check illegal
attempts to take drugs across the national border, bolster up its customs
services and see to it that they upgrade their performance and work in close
cooperation with the territorial and traffic police and other agencies expected
to carry out programs of action against narcotics.

The newly gained independence requires that the Russian Federation
confront two problems directly related to narcotics and efforts to overcome it.

First of all, borders between Russia and other former Soviet
republics show the highest degree of transparency, i.e. border-crossing
presents almost no problem. Given the geographic and geopolitical position of
Russia, the transparency of the national border aggravates the problem of drug
smuggling and calls for the need to essentially fortify the border and better
customs control along it.

Secondly, there is the problem of international relations in the
field of narcotics and international efforts to deal with it. There are two
angles to this second problem. Now that it has gained sovereignty, Russia has
to assume upon itself the functions of establishing and maintaining
international relations, especially since it represents a sort of a link in the
chain that ties drug- producers and drug-consuming regions together.

The second angle of this problem lies in the fact that once being a
part of the Soviet Union, Russian Federation neither faced nor could possibly
face obstacles concerning the jurisdiction of its anti-crime effort, including
crimes committed on territories of different Soviet republics. Now that they
are sovereign nations, the former Soviet republics have national borders,
which, transparent as they are, make legal action against criminal elements
possible only in the context of international relations and in keeping with
international agreements. This, naturally, complicates the timely launching of
operational and investigative actions aimed at solving criminal cases including
those of drug-trafficking.