The problems arising from the use of alcohol and drugs are numerous and have been a major challenge in the modern societies. The use of alcohol and drugs has been blamed for most of the problems that societies are facing today. According to National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Inc. (nd), the use alcohol and drugs are responsible for over 80 percent of all crimes in the US. Perhaps one of the institutions that suffer most from the use of alcohol and drugs is the criminal justice system. In as much as it is the task of this system to rehabilitate criminals, the problem of alcohol and drugs use comes in the way of its mandate. As a result, the criminal justice system is given multiple tasks in that it is forced to attend to the drug problems in place of rehabilitating the criminals. Eventually instead of reforming the criminals, the correctional facilities become a place for breeding worse criminals and drug cartels
Criminal offenders usually find solace in alcohol and drugs especially when taken to correctional services following successful arrests. The stressful prison life pushes the offenders to find alternative ways of continuing with their normal lives. In turn, they form illegal cartels in the correctional facilities where they trade in alcohol or illegal drugs. More so, they rely on the prison employees such as the wardens to facilitate this illegal trade. Thus, nullifying the efforts to help them become better citizens. The use of alcohol and drugs by the criminal offenders, in turn, impact negatively on their victims. The offenders under the influence of drugs and alcohol prey on unsuspecting victims and harm them by stealing from them. Some of the criminals go-ahead to cause serious bodily harm to the victims and their relatives
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The concerned stakeholders most especially those from then criminal justice system should put into place interventions to counteract the negative impacts of alcohol and drugs use. They can do this through enhanced screening of the employees going into the correctional facilities precincts (Powell, 2011). Doing this will ensure that illegal drugs are not brought into the correctional facilities and fuel the negative trend of breeding criminals. Additionally, there is need to extend the efforts outside of prison walls to deal with individuals who are into alcohol and drug abuse. Working with law enforcement officers and agencies will go a long way in preventing future crimes and thus reduce the suffering for the crime victims. More so, the criminal justice system will have reduced work, which will help it, focus on rehabilitating the criminal offenders in the correctional facilities.
References
National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Inc. (nd). Alcohol, drugs and crime. Retrieved on 28 February 2018 from https://www.ncadd.org/about-addiction/alcohol-drugs-and-crime.
Powell, M. A. (2011). A Comprehensive analysis of the drug-crime relationship . Graduate School Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Retrieved on 28 February 2018 from http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1059&context=gs_rp.
