Drugs: Case study

Résumé du document

Drugs: we can find an interesting definition of this word in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English (1974): the first meaning of "drug" is a medical acceptation ("Substance used for medical purposes, either alone or in a mixture; substance that changes the state or function of cells, organs or organisms"); and precisely, in the last months articles, this meaning is more frequent than the second one ("Substance (often habit-forming) inducing sleep or producing stupor or insensibility, e g opium, cocaine"); thus, although we will admit above all the second meaning, we may also mention drugs as medicines.

Let's have a look at a juridical definition of drugs in this second meaning: "Illicit drug possession, manufacture and supply in the UK is largely legislated against by the Acts of Parliament. In the UK it is not strictly illegal to take drugs, only to unlawfully produce them, have them in your possession or pass them to someone else. Some drugs are known as controlled drugs because of their addictive nature or where they are known to cause other social harm. There are nearly two hundred named substances which fall under this category plus numerous chemical variations."

Extraits

[...] - 1887: techniques of detection are established. - 1906: the USA put forward the first restriction (Pure Food Act). - 1914: they put forward a second restriction (Harrison Narcotic Act). - From 1925 to 1975: few evolutions before the spreading of the amphetamine. - From 1977: uninterrupted rise of the cocaine traffic, of the consumption and of the deaths due to it. - 1985: the cocaine is classified as an illicit drug in the USA, but some psychiatrists go on considering that it has a therapeutic worth. [...]

[...] - 1910's: increase of the cases of addiction in the USA and in Europe. - 1920: in the USA, the House of Representatives puts a ban on importation, production and sale. - 1924: first illegal importations. - 1929: first report which takes into account “traces of intravenous injection. - During the Vietnam War: reappearance of heroin which spreads in several countries. - 1977: beginning of the competition between heroin and cocaine. - Nowadays: the heroin use seems to increase again, in the USA for instance. [...]

[...] - 1985: the Misuse of Drugs Regulations. - 1986: Drug Trafficking Act (completed in 1994), designed to ensure that drug traffickers do not enjoy the fruits of their crimes even if there is only a probability that they may have been involved in drug trafficking. - 1988: Roads Traffic Act. - 1998: the Crime and Discorder Act. - 2001: the Misuse of Drugs Regulations. * Main ideas of the debate: The current debate about drugs (such as cannabis or cocaine, that is not in the medical acceptation), deals above all with two essential elements: the laws and the question of decriminalisation. [...]

[...] - 1948: of the Japanese people between 16 and 25 years old are addicted to the amphetamine. - 1959: in reaction to the abusive consumption, Benzedrine is banned. - 1960's: spectacular consumption of amphetamine in the hippies' circle, who mixed it with LSD; beginning of the intravenous injection. LSD: - 1938: LSD is synthesized by Albert Hoffman in Basle. - 1943: Hoffman, after an accidental ingestion, discovers its pharmaceutical properties as a complement for psychotherapy or for an alcoholism treatment. [...]

[...] The world's consumption of illegal drugs doubles every five years. The traditional sectors of production (Middle East, South-East Asia and Latin America) represent some 15M ha are. If consumption remains limited in the producing countries, the biggest consumers are Western countries. The scale of drug misuse, in UK for instance, is escalating, but does this mean that existing laws are ineffective? According to the Government, the current legislation is very strict, especially the Drug Trafficking Act which is referred to as a draconian Act. [...]