Bulletin on narcotics
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Drugs can cause behavioural impairment of the driver's ability to operate safely That impairment of driving ability can be documented, and biological fluids can be tested for drugs. Most countries have legislation that covers driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Some countries have introduced zero-tolerance laws (per se laws), which prohibit the operation of a motor vehicle while an illicit drug or its metabolite is present in the body, whether or not impairment is manifested. ⋯ Among drivers suspected of driving under the influence of drugs, there is a high percentage of licit and/or illicit drug use, as the statistics for Finland in the present article show. The drugs of most concern are amphetamine and amphetamine-type substances, cocaine, cannabis, opiates and benzodiazepines and other sedative-hypnotics. The handling of drugs and driving cases are presented, and a summary of areas for further study are provided.
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Bulletin on narcotics · Jan 1993
ReviewDrug injecting and HIV infection among the population of drug abusers in Asia.
Opium has been produced and consumed since the nineteenth century in the areas of Asia currently referred to as the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle. In the 1970s and 1980s, most countries from Afghanistan to Japan experienced a heroin epidemic of varying degrees of severity. Opium and heroin abuse appeared to be more severe in countries and areas where those drugs were produced, an exception being Hong Kong, which has had a large population of heroin abusers for more than two decades. ⋯ Great caution should be exercised in interpreting prevalence because of vast differences in methods of assessment. Given the vulnerability of intravenous drug abusers to rapid transmission of HIV infection, the prevention of drug injecting is of paramount importance in arresting the spread of the epidemic. Efforts to contain drug abuse, though difficult, are a principal means of achieving that end.
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Bulletin on narcotics · Jan 1992
Law enforcement approaches and measures used in countering illicit drug problems in Thailand.
The Government of Thailand, which has long recognized the serious threat posed by illicit drugs, has implemented stringent law enforcement measures aimed at suppressing illicit drug trafficking by dismantling clandestine laboratories, intercepting essential chemicals, effecting significant seizures and eradicating illicit crops. In addition, the Government has taken steps to initiate the enactment of legislation providing for the confiscation of proceeds derived from illicit drug trafficking activity. Furthermore, it has maintained and strengthened its already close bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the field of drug abuse control.
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Bulletin on narcotics · Jan 1992
Patterns of drug trafficking and countermeasures: the personal view of a veteran.
In the present paper, a law enforcement official with nearly 40 years of experience in combating drug trafficking provides insight that may prove useful to persons in other organizations and/or cultures. He examines, in particular, the development, at the national level, of drug control legislation, a drug law enforcement strategy and a drug intelligence unit.