Warming up.

Some countries have legalised marijuana consumption. What is your opinion about suggestions that marijuana should be legalised?

Should doctors be allowed to prescribe marijuana? What would be the advantages and disadvantages?

Do you think marijuana is the most dangerous drug?

What do you think of the idea that people have the right to do whatever they want with their bodies?

Who is the victim in the crime of taking illegal drugs?

Should people be punished in any way for using drugs? How should they be punished?

Should there be punishments for dealing in drugs? How should they be punished?

What would be the advantages and disadvantages of making all drugs legal?

     Read the following text. Do you agree with its view on the problem dealing with drug trafficking combating and preventing?

Make sure you understand the meaning of the following words and word-combinations:

to worsen inexorably

changing distribution patterns

to employ the finest brains

to employ the most modern equipment and technology

to assist in laundering money

to remain unharmed

drug barons

forthcoming

eliminate incriminating witnesses.

frequent seizures

high degree of political will

analysis

law enforcement measures

to go hand in hand

drug education initiatives.

various penalties on drug users

The fight against drugs

The drugs problem continues to worsen inexorably from year to year. International drugs cartels are becoming more aggressive and more expansionist in attacking new markets with new drugs with ever changing distribution patterns and with increasing skill in concealment and in handling the money from their sales. Even more worrying, they are using their increasing resources to interfere in the democratic and economic processes of countries by political influence and by taking over key sectors of business and financial services.

The annual street sales value of illicit drugs in the US only is now estimated to have reached over 500,000 million US dollars a year. This is a sum larger than the national budgets of many countries.

Increasingly we see drug cartels collaborating with terrorist groups, using drugs to purchase their weapons. The political, social and economic stability of nation states is, therefore, being affected by the drugs trade. The main victim of drugs is and will continue to be those young people who are ensnared into taking drugs and becoming addicted to them. However, whilst crime at street level may continue to be more immediately apparent as a threat to our daily safety, it is the steady enlargement of the power of big time criminal organisations which feed for growth on drugs trafficking that is the main threat of our time.

The international drug trade is highly organised. Traffickers are able to employ the finest brains, whether these be legal, financial, logistical or those of chemists. They employ the most modern equipment and technology to produce, transport and distribute their drugs and to assist in laundering the money from them. The biggest drug traffickers are now able to run and finance their entire operation without coming into contact with the drugs themselves and in many cases living, thanks to satellite communication, on yachts or in lands where the law effectively cannot touch them. They remain unharmed because they can rarely be linked to specific drugs smuggling operations or where they are, no proof can be established as to their guilt. Due to their limitless wealth the drug barons can buy protection from criminal prosecution or, in the event that such protection is not forthcoming, use violence to eliminate incriminating witnesses.

The flood of heroin from Asia, cocaine from South America, cannabis from North Africa and synthetic drugs from European bases is unstoppable. Bigger and more frequent seizures by customs may indicate greater success in tracing drug shipments. More often than not these seizures are an indication of an increased flow of drugs. The real success or otherwise of a country's drugs seizures can only be truly measured when the elements of street price and purity are added to the equation. If prices are low and purity high, greater seizures will only confirm a greater availability of drugs.

All member and applicant countries of the European Union must be fully committed to international co-operation against drugs trafficking and the growing menace of international crime. A steady move must take place to multi-lateral co-operation throughout the European Union in matters such as extradition, penalties, powers of pursuit, sharing of information etc. Timetables must be set, but in the meantime, bilateral agreements with every country on these important matters should be put in place. This will require a high degree of political will which is not yet sufficiently evident.

The main bodies dealing with cross-border drug trafficking are Interpol and Europol. About 60% of all enquiries coming to Interpol relate to drugs and about 80% of the one million or so messages transmitted by this organisation involve Europe. Interpol is necessary because it operates in an international capacity and has members from across the world. Europol, on the other hand, is destined to operate as an EU body hopefully to obtain information about drugs and drug trafficking and with the ability to analyse it and to initiate, if not carry out, investigations resultant upon this analysis.

To improve the situation in the area of drug trafficking fighting the following steps should be taken:

1. There should at an early stage be a full-scale review of drugs in prison across the EU and the effects that these have on inmates. Recommendations should take into account that law enforcement measures must go hand in hand with drug treatment and drug education initiatives.
2. There should be a complete review of different sentencing practices and the effects of various penalties on drug users. The aim should be to establish which practices yield best results and should be recommended for wider use.
3. There must be a uniform policy for sentencing the major criminals in the drugs trade. This must include effective extradition.

Questions to discuss.

1. What should happen to babies who are born addicted to drugs?
2. What kind of drugs are the most popular in your country?
3. What kind of "legal" drugs are the most popular?
4. Why do people take drugs if they know it is bad for them?
5. Who do you think pressure people to do drugs?
6. Why do people buy drugs?
7. Can you legally use drugs in your country?
8. What happens to an addict who goes into a rehab center?
9. What is the influence of drugs in your community?
10. Do you agree that"once an addict,always an addict"?