Illegal drug use, illegal prostitution, and money laundering

Abstract

Adolescents and young adults represent a large percent of drug users. Illegal drug use results to adverse health effects and antisocial behaviors. Industrialized countries experience a high use of illegal drugs where young adults use and become addicted to alcohol and cannabis.  Social economic factors drive young adults toward the use of illegal drugs since they live a poor life due to lack of employment and job insecurity. Various researches and studies have found that illegal drug use is related with criminal activities. For example, drug use contributes to behaviors such as prostitution, domestic violence among many. Prostitution is also a big problem facing developed countries.  Prostitution is a sexual act where both men and women view the act as a sexual activity not only for pleasure but also for benefits in terms of cash and compensation. In modern society, young adults have engaged in antisocial behaviors of selling and buying their bodies for sexual purposes. However, prostitution is not a free choice but rather it is a coercion and lack of better options in life. Finally, money laundering is an illegal activity where criminals earn money by illegal means and makes it to become legitimate assets. The activity itself it is a crime since criminals obtain money from illegal sources and conceals the sources making it appear genuine. Money laundering leads to microeconomic effects to the economy, political and financial stability.

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Money laundering, prostitution and illegal drugs are issues affecting the global community. Money laundering is an illegal activity where money is generated by illegal activities such drug sales, fraud and more. An important point to note is that money laundering is an activity where criminals have markets as well as demand and supply. Criminals supply legal money to support the illegal activities. First, criminals conduct tax evasion where legal transition is not linked with tax pay or in other words tax evasion is investment for economy. Other problem is illegal drug use where young people are the victims. Users engage in crimes such as shooting, drug trafficking and they end up being incarcerated. Prostitution is an activity which is rejected by modern societies and people involved in such an activities are seen like they are violating the social norms since they sell their bodies to make profit. However, women who are prostitutions lack an alternative and they prefer to sell their bodies to sustain life.  Men use women are sexual tools and they demand for sexual satisfaction. Other problem is illegal drug use which is a problem young people. Majority of adolescents have engaged in drug   use such as cannabis, tobacco among many for recreational use. However, the drugs are associated with adverse effects since majority end up committing crimes and others suffer from psychological effects. Illegal drugs, prostitution and money laundering are common issues in Western society and they have led to detrimental effects to the well-being and community.

 

 

 

Illegal drug use

In modern world, the use of illicit drug has increased in a higher rate and it has brought adverse consequences which affect the health, community and economy (Redonnet et al, 2012).  It is important to understand that illicit drug is non-medical drugs which are forbidden by international law. Example of illicit drugs include; cannabis, cocaine and other opioids.  Illegal drugs are associated with premature mortality though the level of mortality is measured with respect to the dose taken and route of administration. In other words, frequency and  use of high quantity increases the risk of mortality. According to WHO, use of illegal drug becomes harmful when the drug cause physical and psychological harm. In addition, drug dependence is characterized by a string desire to use an illegal drug, continuation in using drug despite adverse effects, withdraw syndrome and other indicators. Among the illegal drugs, cannabis is used by a large number of young adults in developed societies. According to Redonnte et al (2012), socioeconomic position is an indicator of high risk of drug use. The article states that a study conducted in France showed that young people who lacked employment were drug users. However, lack of employment may be contributed by low level of education   which is a path for poor social integration. In the study, it was found that 17years old adolescents had prevalence of drug abuse for 12 months as follows; young adults who abused tobacco were 29%, binge drink were 49% and cannabis users were 25% (Redonnet et al, 2012). In addition, even adolescents who had a higher level of education were involved in drug use due to low labor force.  Main findings from a commmuniuty sample in France showed that young adults were associated with tobacco smoke, alcohol use and cannabis use. An important point to note is that the factor which caused the high use of drugs is low socioeconomic position.

            According to various researches and studies, there is a possibility that users of illegal drugs will engage in criminal activities. Even though criminal activities are influenced by different factors such as social influence, antisocial personality, low educational attainment and more, the common risk factor which drives a person toward committing a crime is drug use.  Illegal substances force the users to commit different types of crime namely; psychopharmacological- crimes which are committed when the user is intoxicated or when the users are influenced by mental illness (Redonnet et al, 2012).The second type of crime is compulsive economic crime- a crime committed to access drug such as cocaine either through stealing or prostitution. The user develops a psychological dependency and the addiction forces the user to commit a crime. In addition, users are motivated to commit a crime by personality trait such as antisocial personality disorder which develops lack of ethics and deviate to social norms. Other point to note in antisocial personality disorder is that it is associated with disregard patterns which compel a person to deviate the social norms (Redonnet et al, 2012). In other words, drug use has detrimental effects to emotional and physical growth especially when the user is introduced to youth delinquency position-an environment where users develops antisocial behaviors.  Generally, drug users engage in criminal activities in multiple ways. For example, they engage in behaviors related with manufacturing illegal drugs and distribution. Users also change behaviors such as violation of laws, prostitution, theft and rape (Redonnet et al, 2012).

 

 

 

 

Illegal prostitution

 In U.S today, men, women and children have entered in the commercial sex industry where they sell and buy bodies with an aim of making money to sustain their lives. Prostitutes are also referred to as whores, harlots, sex workers and more. The act of buying and selling body is referred as illegal. Prostitution is also viewed with an insight of sexual exploitation where the act is seen as an old oppression where social forces are placed on victims (Jakobsson & Kotsadan, 2013). In addition, victims are seen as if they are unable to make an informed choices since majority are from socially disadvantaged community.

 According to MacKinnon, there is an incompatibility based on public thinking about trafficking and prostitution. Almost all people believe that trafficking is an illegal act where people use coercion and force to sell other people to be used as sexual tools. However, when it comes to prosecution,  majority believe that prostitution is an illegal act while others believe that prostitution (commercial sex worker) is  a profession where women and men have freedom  to do what they want with their bodies (MacKinn, 2011). However, MacKinnon does not support this idea since she believe that  prostitution cannot be called a profession since  a certain study showed that 89% of sexual workers said that they desire to leave the job and  do other constructive things which would  make a meaningful life. This is an indication that majority of sexual workers find themselves in such jobs due to coercion and financial instability. In other words, they lack other option and they are also unable to make an informed decision.  For example, women of the Nat caste are forced to enter ion the prostitution. Note that sexual workers do not choose for themselves but it is due to cultural variance. In addition, sexual workers cope with harsh conditions where they are expected to offer full satisfaction to customers and they also suffer from sexual transmitted diseases (MacKinn, 2011).  Other important point to note as MacKinnon puts it is that prostitution is influenced by gender inequality.  To support this idea, note that there are male and female prostitutions but when comparing both you will find that majority of sexual workers are females and they are treated as sexual objects by men. Despite the fact that some critics argue that prostitutes have the freedom to do what they want with their profession, MacKinnon argues that their freedom or consent is not an inward choice but rather it is coercion. In fact, customers (‘John’ as MacKinnon name them) are involved in an illegal act of raping when they commit the act with a prostitute. To address this problem, there should be an implementation of Sweden System for the purpose of criminalizing pimps and customers. This method is effective as it removes the inequality which exists between women and customers and more importantly releases women from the captivity of sex work (MacKinn, 2011).

Money laundering

 Money laundering  is a criminal  act which is encountered in both developed and developing nations where criminals introduced falsifying financial documents  from illegal activities such  illegal trade in drug, prostitutions  and more (Irwin, Choo & Liu, 2012). Money laundering has led to devastating effects to the national economy. Financial systems are experiencing insecurity due to illegal act in the purchase of property and illegal use of banking system.  Criminals in money laundering are interested with invetsiment so that they can recycle money from developed country to undeveloped country where economic policies are weak. Money laundering affects the economy since they are causing a regressive income which affects the structure of consumption (Irwin, Choo & Liu, 2012). Money laundering gives large funds which affects the demand which influences speculation and inflation. However, it is important to note that money laundering rooted from market globalization which led to financial flows and single markets. Note that globalization has led to an increase of competition where companies are competing for profit.  Financial markets established the deregulation which has put restrictions on anti-money laundering. Money laundering brings a huge amount of fund which makes a world economic output of 2%-5% (Irwin, Choo & Liu, 2012). Note that most of the fund is derived from drug trafficking, fraud among other organizes crimes. An important point to note is that money laundering is an activity which gives rise to criminal activities. This is because; criminals’ actions are needed for money laundering to occur. In other words, criminals conduct acts such as drug trafficking, terrorisms and other crimes to generate money. Indeed, criminals organize crimes which cause damage to society and economy. Societal damage leads to loss of civil liberties and economic damage affects the competitive powers (Irwin, Choo & Liu, 2012).

Since this is a global problem which affects the world economy, various regulatory measures have been passed to combat money laundering. One of the Acts passed to curb this issue is Anti-money laundering which involves laws and regulation which prohibits the criminal act of generating funds. The Financial Intelligent Unit is responsible in enforcing anti-money laundering laws. The department works together with   other law enforcement agencies in combating money laundering (ZELENOVIĆ, VUNJAK & MIROVIĆ, 2015). The department together with agencies is supposed to address the issue in regional and national levels and effectiveness is accomplished through provision of skills and knowledge from training workshops. Training will help the agencies to increase commitment and cooperation. The purpose of Anti-money laundering is to maintain integrity and instability to the economy prevent foreign investment and international capital flow (ZELENOVIĆ, VUNJAK & MIROVIĆ, 2015).

 

Conclusion

            The research has provided a deep knowledge on prostitution, illegal drug use and money laundering. These are issues which affects the worldwide and which need effective measures in order to prevent future problems. Issue which is associated with detrimental effect to worldwide communities is illegal use of drugs. Research has found that majority of users come from low socioeconomic background and effective measures should designed to address barriers which affects the marginalized group. Prostitution is an illegal act of engaging in sexual activities for the purpose of making money. MacKinnon has viewed the issue with a new perspective where she has stated that prostitution is not a free choice as people think. However, the act is influenced by coercion and to address this issue, effective measure such as the Sweden System which is designed to deal with pimps and customers should be implemented. Criminals use financial institutions to conduct the criminal act of money laundering. However, the problem is dealt with by implementing various measures. For example, Anti-money laundering is an effete measure since it established laws which prevent generating dirty money. AML is capable of providing effectiveness on cost and in the attainment of objectives.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

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other illegal drug use among young adults: The socioeconomic context. Drug and Alcohol

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MacKinn A. Catharine. (2011). Trafficking, Prostitution, and Inequality. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil

Liberties Law Review [Vol. 46

 

Jakobsson N., &  Kotsadan A.(2013). The law and economics of international sex slavery: prostitution

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ZELENOVIĆ, V., VUNJAK, N., & MIROVIĆ, V. (2015). MONEY LAUNDERING IN SERBIA. Economic

Development / Ekonomiski Razvoj, 17(3), 347-366.