Law Enforcement And Combating Drugs Case Study

Law Enforcement and Combating drugs, a case of the State Of Texas

It is of common knowledge that illegal drugs are a major problem in the United States; moreover there has been evidenced influence of drugs on law enforcement. However, few people actually grasp the real impact of drugs in our society. This may be because of hypocricy on drugs and even ambivalence particularly among the public that freely uses drugs and considers illegal use of drugs as a crime without victim. There has been an argument that drugs only cause harm to the users themselves and legalization of some drugs like marijuana would help reduce the cost of the drugs. Most citizens see no inconsistency between an abstract moral belief that drugs are harmful and should

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The border of Texas and Mexico is partially responsible for the amount of drugs being smuggled into the states. The state shares a 1,254-mile border with Mexico. This border area has a large portion open and incapable of being continuously monitored by border enforcement agencies. This is extensively taken advantage of by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) to smuggle illicit drugs into the United States. There is copious amounts of marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin shipped into Texas by Drug trafficking organizations. Substance abuse and addiction has been on the rise with drug cartels and drug trafficking organizations on the rise, the people of Texas also see illegal drugs in large numbers, as well as illegally used prescription drugs. 58 percent of Texas secondary school students in grades 7–12 had ever used alcohol (NIDA, 2013). Of particular concern is heavy consumption of alcohol, or binge drinking, which is the need of drinking five or more drinks at one time. Methamphetamine remains the major drug threat, according to half of the 18 DEA offices in Texas; there were 715 deaths due to methamphetamine in Texas in 2016, as compared with 539 due to heroin (Jane, 2017). Both heroin and Methamphetamine are dangerous drugs. The new methamphetamine epidemic Specifically in Texas, appears intertwined with increases in yet another problem: sexually transmitted diseases, including

Corruption of criminal justice personnel, by those involved in illegal drugs, principally takes the form of bribery. The bribe may be in the form of drugs themselves though it is mostly often in the form of cash. There is a vast amount of cash available to drug dealers and organizations hence the money used to bribe criminal justice personnel constitutes petty cash. The targets of corruption include all of those working in the criminal justice system: local police and sheriffs; state narcotics officers; State Customs, Immigration, and Coast Guard personnel; FBI, DEA, BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) personnel; local, state corrections personnel; local, state regulatory officials; and prosecutors and judges at all levels. There is lack of database from which to determine extent of drug-related corruption cases in Texas amongst law enforcement officers and these drug-related corruption cases are often identified as perjury or theft and not as a corruption act