Sociology of Law

Sociology of Law

The issue of drug abuse has plagued this country for a while. Some drugs, while not as harmful as others are still considered illegal. In Chapter 5 of the book The Quest for Drug Control, Politics and Federal Policy entitled "The Ford Administration: The White Paper on Drug Abuse," discusses the issues that the Ford Administration had with the very topic of drug abuse in this country. The authors state how there was a huge heroin epidemic in this country in the late 1960's. Not only were people living in the inner cities using and abusing this drug, but so were middle class citizens and also those soldiers returning home from the Vietnam War.

By the time President Ford was in office, the drug epidemic was out of hand and his administration was left to deal with finding a way to control this issue. As a result, they had to come up with some type of law that was harsh enough to discourage the use of illegal drugs. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Customs were involved because many of the illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana were being brought to this country from outside countries.

Not only was it important to impose harsh penalties on the use and selling of these illegal drugs, the administration had to realize that drug abuse is not something that can be overcome overnight. It is a disease and thus, many drug treatment facilities had to be established during this time in order to assist the abusing in being able to get and remain clean so that they could integrate back into society as productive citizens.

A Drug Policy Review Task Force had to be put into place to address the mounting issue. Drug abuse was not the most prevalent issue during this time, but it was important enough that it needed to addressed and looked at carefully. Many drug networks in Turkey, Mexico and France were addressed and banned as they were major sources of the illegal drugs coming into the United States. What the task force discovered was that the drug abuse situation remained a problem and most drug abusers that were treated returned to using drugs. They also found that many of the government agencies established to tackle this issue were ineffective and that the courts were too lenient on drug pushers and abusers.

Some of the problems that the task force ran into was whether drugs could or should be considered illegal. The biggest roadblock was whether or not marijuana should be considered illegal and if so, would possession carry the same penalties as possession of cocaine or heroin. By the time Jimmy Carter took office, the drug abuse epidemic has leveled off but was not completely eradicated.

This was an important time in American history because although drugs have always been around in some form or fashion, it had gotten out of control and needed to be contained. Many argue that since alcohol is legal that other drugs should become legal also. However, this is not the case. Marijuana, cocaine, heroin and a host of other drugs are still considered illegal in the United States and the use or selling of these drugs could mean that the individual involved will do some time behind bars.

In Chapters 5 and 6 of Law, Justice and Society entitled, "Crime and Criminal Law," and "Criminal Procedures," we find out what actually constitutes a crime and how criminal procedures are handled. Both of these chapters are relevant in the case of drug abuse. According to Chapter 5, there are five elements of criminal liability that make up a crime and must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The first is the criminal act itself and in the case of drug abuse, this would be the actual use of illegal drugs. The second is criminal intent meaning that the abuser intended to use the drugs. The third is concurrence which is the combination of the criminal act and criminal intent. The fourth is causation which factual and legal and the fifth liability is harm which can be to the person or to someone else.

Chapter 6 of the textbook deals with how criminal procedures are conducted. Certain issues such as the search warrant are discussed. This is extremely important in dealing with drug abuse cases because there can be no arrest made if no drugs are found. Generally, a search warrant is needed in order to perform the act, but there are certain instances where this is not the case. If the individual consents to the search, then no warrant is needed. Also, a vehicle may be searched if probable cause is found.