Role of Criminal Justice System and Illicit Drugs. essays

Role of Criminal Justice System and Illicit Drugs. essays There is considerable debate about the role that the Criminal Justice system should play in the control of illicit drug use (Study Guide 1001CCJ 2003, p.69). The Australian drug policy currently operates within a prohibition model, which states that the production, distribution and use of illicit drugs are criminal offences (Cherney s drug problem, and there seems little doubt that combinations such as law enforcement, medicalisation and harm minimisation based alternatives will be the drug policy of the future. To begin, however, a brief description of the historical origins of prohibition is offered, followed by a review of the criminal justice systems goals in dealing with the control of illicit drugs. The prohibition of illicit drugs originated from a variety of reasons in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These included political economical, public health considerations as well as pressures from medical and moral groups (Study Guide 1001CCJ 2003, p.69). The rationale behind toughening illicit drug use in the 1960s and 1970s was, and continues to be primarily deterrence (Makkai 2000, p.64). De...