STAGE 1. Assessing needs
What steps should be completed?
Step 1: Explore the magnitude, characteristics and consequences of drug use
Drug use can have significant legal repercussions that are translated into action by the police, judicial and prison services. The use of certain drugs is considered a criminal or administrative offense in many countries and producing, distributing and marketing illegal drugs has significant criminal repercussions. Some drug users are also involved in criminal activities as a result of the behavioural changes caused by certain drugs, or to provide the means necessary to acquire drugs.
Many offences are related to the use of illicit drugs and/or alcohol so in Latin American countries, for example, use of cocaine hydrochloride, base paste or basuco by adolescent offenders has reached very alarming levels, above those that exist in non-offending adolescents of the same age. There is also a clear relationship between alcohol abuse and violent crime. The relationship between drugs, violence and crime is evident but complex, and involves both the effect of drugs on users, and the conditions of drug production and the drugs market1.
It may be helpful to take into account the following guidelines when collecting information on the legal complications of drug use:
© COPOLAD. Cooperation Programme between Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union on Drugs Policies.
