The Three Levels of Drug Crime Prevention Essay

The Three levels of drug crime prevention

Bang! Bang! Bang! “Say hello to my little friend” (Palma). The message portaited in the 1983 film Scarface is not how society should behave. Imagine a world in which every neighbor is a drug cartel. The walls in your house are littered with bullet holes appearing to be a piece of Swiss cheese. That world should never exist, it can be prevented.The Three Levels of Drug Crime Prevention Essay Sample

Drug use can be very harmful to anyone who uses them, especially young adolescents. The use of drugs can stunt the cognitive capabilities of these adolescents. A study done in 1986 “found many risks factors for drug use. They are poor self-esteem, psychological distress, low religious beliefs and participation, poor relationship with parents, sensation seeking, early alcohol use, adult or parental drug use, deviance, and peer drug use”(Newcomb et al, 1986).A weakening capability to solve problems, critical thinking, and the rendering of poor social skills can all come from abuse.The situations when the cognitive thinking process is disturbed can lead to making poor choices. Drug abuse is also very harmful to the outer appearance of abusers. It can lead to the appearance of extreme aging and body sores. Refer to figure 1 to see physical changes caused by the abuse of drugs.

Figure 1: This figure represents the negative physical effects drug abuse can cause, this individual suffered from an addiction to crystal methamphetamine (RTR 2013).

There are three different levels of prevention of drug abuse. Each one of them is unique and has its own process of influence. Hopefully with they will be able to impact the abuser and be rid them of their illness. The first level called primary prevention, deals with law enforcement related prevention. The secondary level deals with programs in the community. The last level which is tertiary deals with influence, especially those from the families and friends of the user. The Three Levels of Drug Crime Prevention Essay Sample

The third and most important level of prevention is called tertiary.Generally speaking tertiary represents influence from your family as well as your friends. The term peer pressure is something that most children, especially in the teenage years of life, are taught to avoid.  I learned first of peer pressure when I was just small lad. I was taught that I should never do anything against my own will or if I didn’t want to do that act. I also never wanted to force anyone else to do something that my friends were not comfortable with. I like many other children looked up to my parents to map the world with my own views. I feel like most children are very susceptible to their parents influence because they have a bond with each other that is found nowhere else. “During all of adolescence, the study found parental influence was steady, neither significantly increasing nor declining” (Criminology 1999). The Three Levels of Drug Crime Prevention Essay Sample

Another huge indication of how drug abuse occurs is from influence by peers and especially friends. I feel that parents should make efforts to know who their children are spending time with. Some suggestions for parents to get to know their children’s friends would be to invite them over for dinner, play dates, and possibly have slumber parties. Another example and something that should always be done is to contact the parents of the child and make a connection through their family.  A study done in 1973 “found that peers have a larger effect on drug use than parents do. Fifty six percent of adolescents that use marijuana use when their parents never used marijuana. Only 17 percent of adolescents that use marijuana when their parents have used, but their friends have never used marijuana. This shows that an adolescent will not become delinquent unless such delinquency exists within the peer environment around him or her” (Kandel D, 181).

I feel like the third level of prevention is the most important and effective. I believe this to be the most successful because children rely on their parents to help create their first world views, they may try to bounce ideas off of their guardians in order to form their understanding of  how and why to think about the world in certain ways. “Parents model behaviors for their children, engage in activities with them, monitor their children’s behavior, and provide support and encouragement that can result in behavior change” (International journal of behavior 2007).  Even if the ideas are rejected by the child they will still have effects on at least a small part of their decision making. It is always important to think before you act. With that being said it is easy to see that a child’s home and surrounding influences have the greatest effects.The Three Levels of Drug Crime Prevention Essay Sample

The second level of prevention is called secondary prevention, its focus is contained mainly to that from the community and its ability to provide help for one another. This is different from the other levels because its focus is not on the enforcement of the laws and regulations from a judicial perspective. Examples of secondary prevention would include the following: public forums where the members in a community can come to learn more about the prevention of drugs and how to lower their neighborhood risk, elementary school through high school awareness classes, and neighborhood watch programs. In secondary prevention the public holds the reins on lowering their risk. A public forum could be something as simple as a local church holding meetings once a week to teach the public the useful knowledge about drug abuse, or mentioning the issue in their services. Therapy treatment saw that “brief interventions can help adolescents move away from drug use” (Whitten, 2013).

Creating a community that is aware of these issues is important. The help of the resources in your community can greatly impact the lives of these young children, even with just a short intervention treatment which was accompanied by the parent of an individual allowed for the child to see the path that was moving away from drugs and towards a brighter and sober future.

The most crucial and effective aspect to secondary prevention strategy is raising awareness at a young age so that the children grow up understanding the negative effects drug abuse can possess. I remember going through courses all the way from elementary school through high school in which we would take a break from normal class activities to learn about how getting high from smoking marijuana is dangerous and how one of the biggest teenage fatality rates comes from drinking and driving and to avoid those situations. Other “youth programs” (AIC 2003) like the YMCA are very similar programs to the ones ran through public schooling. I feel like teaching kids when they are not predisposition to drug abuse, are a great prevention tactic and should be continued.The Three Levels of Drug Crime Prevention Essay Sample

The last previously mentioned example of secondary prevention was neighborhood watch programs. A community watch program contains volunteers from the community who take turns patrolling the area for juvenile and delinquent behavior. You can start a community watch by first gathering the community together and discuss some issues you may have. The community should also look at the resources in their area that could be very useful in lowering the risk. Counseling offices and the local sheriff’s department are the most important resources to utilize. Locating counseling offices are a great way to spread support. Anyone should be able come into contact with counseling services which can then try to help. There are also grants and programs that are willing to donate resources and money to your watch programs; you should apply for those to get a stronger and more successful community.

The first of the three levels of crime prevention, and also the weakest is called a primary prevention strategy. Primary prevention aims to locate drug abusive behaviors early and hopefully deter and individual from reoccurring activities. It does this by asking and ennforcing citizens to abide by laws and regulations or face penalties and criminal disciplinary treatment. Some of the programs may include training police task forces on how to deal with those situations. Refer to figure 2 for an image of police regulated drug programs.

Figure 2: This image shows how the war on drugs by police can be costly with the use of specially trained drug crime units (Fantz 2012).

These programs also include jail and a probationary organizations. Imprisonment is used to place individuals in confinement and let them reflect on the choices they have made. Usually following imprisonment a parole or probationary officer would be placed in your life as a quardian. I feel like probationary officers can be a great influence to a person who has just spent time in jail. They can act as your friend, and teach you how to return to normal and healthy life, I like to think of them as a kind of life mentor. They know that you have made a mistake and they are trying everything they can do to place your feet in the right direction.The Three Levels of Drug Crime Prevention Essay Sample

I feel like primary prevention is not as successful as the other levles. The reason why it poses a problem is because drug abuse is a mental health issue. However, primary prevention can be effective with younger individuals as being deterrents, things such as an MIP (minor in possession) and MIC (minor in consumption) act as such things. There is a lengthy legal process where an individual can try to eliminate one of those charges from otherwise being permanently scripted into their criminal record. Disappointing their family and facing judgment or scrutiny should help steer the individual away from the dangerous habits they have created.

Each level is unique. They can work together to strengthen the possibility of decreasing abuse. The police may order you to do something, the community may need you to volunteer, and your family and friends may influence you choices. Drug abuse is very dangerous; it affects you physically and mentally. Try to locate your resources and use them accordingly. If you follow the suggestions I have given you, your city will be a better place to concede.The Three Levels of Drug Crime Prevention Essay Sample