CRIME PREVENTION

Crime Prevention: Efforts Of Law Enforcement And Other Criminal Justice Agencies And Organizations To Combat, Reduce, And Control The Spread Of Methamphetamine In The United Sates



Crime Prevention: Efforts of Law Enforcement and Other Criminal Justice Agencies and Organizations to Combat, Reduce, and Control the Spread of Methamphetamine in the United Sates

1- Introduction to the Issue

Methamphetamine production, use, and abuse are becoming widespread, affecting many Americans. Most methamphetamine production is occurring within the U.S. borders. This drug not only ruins the user's life but also has negative consequences on families, friends, communities, the environment, the government, and law enforcement agencies. Millions of tax dollars and countless man-hours must be spent each year to address control, prevention, and intervention of this devastating drug.

Bray and Mary (2000) mention that methamphetamine (chemical formula C10H15N) is a synthetic central nervous system stimulant and an incredibly potent and dangerous drug. Methamphetamine is noted for its extreme toxicity and severely addictive properties. Central nervous system stimulants work by speeding up mental and physical processes within the body. Many stimulants closely resemble the chemical structure of hormones that direct the brain into an artificial fight-or-flight state. By introducing methamphetamine into the body, the user can experience a high commonly referred to as euphoria. In a methamphetamine-induced euphoric state, the user will experience elevated alertness and attention, an increase in energy, raised blood pressure, elevated heart rate, and increased respiration.

Other effects may include restlessness, an irregular heart rhythm, psychotic episodes, tremors, headaches, increased impulsiveness, and aggression. When a user takes methamphetamine (Bray and Mary, 2000), it quickly enters the brain causing a rush of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin. Norepinephrine affects alertness and arousal. Serotonin in the brain helps control aggression and anger, sleep, appetite, and sexuality. Dopamine levels control behavior, movement, the ability to experience pleasure and pain, and the brain's motivation and reward center. The elevated level of these neurotransmitters is followed by a cascading effect as the amount released slowly diminishes.

Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant of the central nervous system. Ordinarily it is a white, odorless powder that can be taken orally, smoked, or injected. It was developed early in the twentieth century from amphetamine, which was synthesized in 1887. Methamphetamine, which is more powerful than amphetamine, was first manufactured in Japan in 1919. It originally was used as a nasal decongestant and bronchial dilator for people with asthma (Pennell, 1999).

Like its parent compound amphetamine, methamphetamine soon began to be used by people for its stimulating properties on the body and brain. During World War II, it was used extensively by both the Allied and Axis soldiers to fight fatigue on the battlefield.

Today, illegal use of methamphetamine is one of the United States' leading drug abuse problems. Methamphetamine is both highly addicting and highly destructive to its users. Methampethamine trafficking and abuse has been on the rise, causing a devastating impact on communities across the nation. Illegal production of methamphetamine accounts for almost all of the methamphetamine abused in the United States ...