Education as a tool for preventing illicit drug trafficking: Theoretical and legal, administrative and criminal aspects
Author(s): Igor Magdalina*, Vitalii Zavhorodnii, Ihor Khokhych, Dmytro Moroz, Vitalii Pokaichuk
Abstract
Aim: The article presents a comprehensive study of education as a tool for preventing illicit drug trafficking through the prism of theoretical and legal, administrative and legal, and criminal law approaches..
Methods: Using the systemic method, education was considered as a component of a comprehensive mechanism of state policy in the field of preventing illicit drug trafficking. The formal-legal method was used to study the regulatory and legal regulation of educational activities, drug prevention and legal liability for illicit drug trafficking. The comparativelegal method was used to determine the possibilities of using foreign experience in educational prevention. Using the structural-functional method, the functions of the main subjects of preventive activities were determined. The criminological approach allowed us to consider education as a means of influencing the determinants of drug crime.
Results: It is substantiated that modern counteraction to illicit drug trafficking cannot be limited to the application of criminal law prohibitions, the activities of law enforcement agencies and bringing guilty persons to legal responsibility. An important place in the relevant mechanism should be occupied by preventive activities of the state, the central element of which is the formation of a legal culture, awareness of the risks of using psychoactive substances and the development of safe behavior skills.
Conclusion: It is proven that education simultaneously performs legal, social, preventive, informational and educational functions in the field of combating illicit drug trafficking. From an administrative and legal point of view, educational prevention is implemented through the system of public administration, the normatively defined powers of state authorities and local governments, educational institutions, law enforcement agencies and other entities. In the criminal and legal aspect, education is considered as a means of preventing the criminalization of behavior and reducing the determinants of crime associated with illicit drug trafficking.
The need to transition from fragmentary information campaigns to a systemic model of educational prevention based on interagency cooperation, evidence-based prevention programs, digital tools, early detection of risky behavior and respect for human rights is substantiated.