Contemporary Issues in Criminology: Drug Misuse Report

This report examines the contemporary issue of drug misuse in the UK, focusing on its impact on crime and deviance. It highlights the misuse of medicinal drugs, particularly among the youth, and the associated social problems. The report delves into control theory to understand the need for social control to regulate drug abuse. It further explores the role of the UK government in addressing this issue, including relevant legislation such as the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016, as well as the strategies employed to control drug usage through education, healthcare, and social care. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of government intervention and social control to reduce crime rates and ensure the smooth functioning of society.

Running head- CRIMINOLOGY
Criminology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
Drug abuse is one of the most common issues that the community faces. The
abuse of drugs can lead to crime and deviance in society and is an essential concern for the
Government to control such an issue. It becomes necessary for the Government to implement
the social control policies relating to the misuse of the drugs used for medicinal purposes as
not only the adults even the youth are engaged with the abuse and the misuse of psychotropic
substances. The purpose of this research study is to illustrate the issues that society faced
regarding the misuse of medicinal drugs. Further, this research provides the policies that the
UK government uses to control the usage of such drugs and restrict the misuse of medicinal
drugs.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................1
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Issue................................................................................................................................3
Control Theory...............................................................................................................4
Role of Government.......................................................................................................5
Conclusion......................................................................................................................6
Reference........................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The contemporary issue regarding drug problems or the misuse of drugs in medical
usages is not new. It has continued from past years and even involves the use of such
substances by the young generation. So the usage of such psychoactive elements has not been
a new phenomenon in the society includes the association of unlawful usage of the drugs
made for medical use that is consumed by the youth, particularly young men residing in the
urban areas. An increasing rate of the usage of such drugs seems to have engaged a distinct
figure over the past centuries. Over the preceding duration, conventional unlawful drug
marketplaces in the urbanized countries have revealed signs of control, while the
development of unlawful medication use has sustained to convoy socio-economic
changeovers in evolving countries. The usage of drugs can change the functioning of the
mind and can develop an addiction that might result in severe problems and the emergence of
crime in society (Drug 2016). Usage of the drugs might be any kind of illegal or psychoactive
substance or any medicine that is used for the maintenance of an addiction. The primary aim
of this report is to understand the issue and social control in the criminal justice system.
Further, this report illustrates the role of the state in crime and social control. It provides a
detailed structure of the government policies that are used to combat the situation of the
contemporary issue faced by the people.
Issue
The United Kingdom has the maximum level of drug practice and amongst the
maximum intensities of frivolous drug medications in European countries (Roemer and
Krysan 2014). The issue concerning to the misappropriation of drugs progressively worsened
over the previous section of the twentieth era: the number of heroin users enlarged from
approximately “5,000 in 1975 to an present evaluated 281,000 in England and nearly 50,000

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in Scotland.” Since the opportunity of the time, drug tendencies have shown symbols of
balance. The principal problem is not due to the occasional drug usages but also in bulk
relating to other issues such as illness, death, and other social problems. There were
approximately 1,644 recognized drug overdose deaths in the UK. The UK is considered as
the second-highest proportion relating to the drug relating mortalities in Europe. The level
users having HIV in the UK is far inferior than most other equivalent European nations, with
about 1.6% of inoculating medicine consumers being HIV positive. As per the reports, the
estimated amount was seen as nearly 327,000 problem drug users in England. These people
were engaged in the conduct of crimes (Erickson 2015). Issues relating to the drugs are
excessively focused in parts of difficulty. Problems such as drug dependency, drug-related
deaths, contagions, crime, and mental disease bunch together in areas that are mainly socially
deprived. Even the medications play a vital role in the substance abuse of such prescription
opioids. We are a drug intaking society whose overall view is that every disease has a cure
and that this key lies mainly in the use of remedial agents. These medicinal uses are often
misused and instead used as a drug that creates the disbalances in society. The Government
has formulated various legislations and strict laws in order to regulate the sale of such
medicines without proper prescription so that the control level can be maintained in society.
Control Theory
Theories of social control are amongst the eldest sociological elucidations responsible
for human behavior. Indeed, a crucial devotion for Emile Durkheim, who is regarded as one
the establishing founders of sociology. The primary role of this theory is to maintain the
social control order in society so that the issues that relate to the abuse of the medicinal drugs
can be eradicated (Blackwell and Kane 2015). The social control in the society can be
achieved through the legislations and the governance that restricts the usage of the medicinal

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drugs unlawfully. Medicines are considered as one of the critical aspects and are necessary
for the wellbeing of society. So, in order to regulate the abuse, a proper legislative structure is
required to be followed in order to maintain the usage of the substance that can save a life as
well as can be responsible for taking away many lives upon the usages. So, in order to
understand crime and deviance, social control is one of the bases of the phenomena within the
field of criminology (Lynch, and Stretesky 2014).
Role of Government
The legislative structure concerning the abuse of drugs, comprising the “Misuse of
Drugs Act 1971” and the “Psychoactive Substances Act 2016”, followed by the UK
government. The UK decentralized the management in order to develop its methods relating
to dealing with such prescribed drugs or other kind of drugs. Some of the strategies control
strategies such as education, healthcare, and social care (Connor et al 2014). This
Government is stable and concerned in order to guard development and persons from the
evils of drug abuse; we must act on the first occasion in order to avert folks from the use of
drugs in the principal dwelling and prevent growth to more damaging use. Building on the
proof set out in the ACMD report, Deterrence of alcohol and drug dependency, we set out the
act required at local and national level to safeguard an operative worldwide method to
stopping drug use, collective with beset accomplishment for those maximum at risk. In this
instance, legislation such as the Misuse of Drugs Act, 1971 regulates the manufacture and the
supply of the prescribed drugs, and the sanction imposed upon the breach of the act could
result in imprisonment for 14 years or more or life imprisonment. Another act, such as the
Psychoactive Substances Act, 2016, was responsible for banning the illegal supply,
manufacture, and possession of such psychoactive substances (Reuter and Stevens 2017).
“The Office of National Statistics (ONS) gathers and yearly circulates data on drug-related

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and drug misuse deaths. There were 2,503 drug misappropriation deaths concerning illegal
drugs listed in England and Wales in 2017.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is stated that the usage of such medicinal drugs shall be regulated and
restricted by the intervention of the government bodies so that other people do not misuse it.
Social control is very much necessary in order to maintain law and order and the smooth
functioning of society. Such policies by the Government can help in the reduction of the
crime rates in the society and are a necessary measure in order to control the crime and
deviance level relating to the misuse of the drugs that are used for medical purposes or other
purposes.

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Reference
Blackwell, B.S. and Kane, K., 2015. Power‐Control Theory. The Encyclopedia of Crime and
Punishment, pp.1-3.
Connor, J.P., Gullo, M.J., White, A. and Kelly, A.B., 2014. Polysubstance use: diagnostic
challenges, patterns of use and health. Current opinion in psychiatry, 27(4), pp.269-275.
Drug, C.I., 2016. The Contemporary Drug Problem. Lancet, 379(9810), pp.55-70.
Erickson, P.G., 2015. Social Regulation of Drugs: the New'Normal'?. Radical Criminology,
(5), pp.193-217.
Lynch, M.J. and Stretesky, P.B., 2014. Exploring green criminology: Toward a green
criminological revolution. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..
Reuter, P. and Stevens, A., 2017. An analysis of UK drug policy.
Roemer, T. and Krysan, D.J., 2014. Drug development: challenges, unmet clinical needs, and
new approaches. Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine, 4(5), p.a019703.