THE LAW ABC ABOUT DRUGS in USA

A first offender who is caught in possession of controlled ( illegal) drug, and admits that he \ she has committed a criminal offence, may receive a formal warning from the police or a formal caution. If a person between the age 10 and 17 commits further criminal offences, including selling or smuggling drugs, they could be charged by the police and dealt with by a Youth Court (USA).

Keeping drugs for another person and handing them back could result in a charge for unlawful supply. If you take illegal drugs from someone to prevent them from committing an offence, you must either destroy them or take the drug to the police as soon as possible.

The Misuse of Drugs Act divides illegal drugs into three classes and provides for maximum penalties as follows:

Drugs Class A:

Amphetamines ( Speed) / if prepared for injection/

Cocaine & Crack

Ecstasy

Heroin

LSD

Magic mushrooms

Drugs Class B :

Amphetamines ( Speed)

Cannabis

Drugs Class C :

Anabolic steroids

Benzodiazepines

Maximum penalties:

Drugs Class A: Possession: 7 years of prison and\ or a fine; possession with intent to supply, or supply: life imprisonment and \ or a fine;

Drugs Class B: Possession: 5 years of prison and \ or a fine;

рossession with intent to supply, or supply: 14 years prison and \or a fine;

Drugs Class C: Possession: 2 years of prison and \ or fine;

рossession with intent to supply, or supply: 5 years of prison and \ or a fine.

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Ex. 13. Translate the text into English with the help of a dictionary:

Боротьба з нелегальним обігом наркотиків та їх вживанням

Законодавства багатьох держав світу розглядають пристрасть до наркотиків скоріше за патологічне явище,ніж злочин.

Так, у Франції , Італії, Швейцарії, Люксембурзі прийом наркотиків забороняється, але в Італії ця заборона тільки констатується законом, а покарання за його порушення не передбачено. У Великобританії та Ірландії кримінально караним є тільки прийом опіуму. У Бельгії кримінально-правова заборона розповсюджується на групове вживання наркотиків.

Суворість санкцій за злочини з наркотиками є різною. Так, у Великобританії строк позбавлення волі, що призначається за виробництво наркотиків, коливається у межах від 5 до 14 років, у США –від 1 до 15 років.

Ex. 14. You have to prepare a discussion with teenage students about drugs. Find more detailed information about the commonest types of drugs:

CANNABIS

Cannabis sativa, the hemp plant, grows wild throughout most of the tropic and temperate regions of the world. It is a single species. This plant has long been cultivated for the tough fiber of the stem, the seed used in feed mixtures, and the oil as an ingredient of paint, as well as for its biologically active substances, most highly concentrated in the leaves and resinous flowering tops. The plant material has been used as a drug for centuries. Cannabis products are usually smoked in the form of loosely rolled cigarettes "joints". They may be used alone or in combination with other substances. They may also be administered orally, but are reported to be about three times more potent when smoked. The effects are felt within minutes, reach their peak in 10 to 30 minutes, and may linger for 2 or 3 hours.

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MARIJUANA

The term marijuana is used to refer to the cannabis plant and to any part or extract of it that produces somatic or psychic changes in humans. A tobacco-like substance produced by drying the leaves and flowering tops of the plant, marijuana varies significantly in its potency, depending on the source and selectivity of plant materials used.

HASHISH

The Middle East is the main source of hashish. It consists of the drug-rich resinous secretions of the cannabis plant, which are collected, dried, and then compressed into a variety of forms, such as balls, cakes, or cookie-like sheets.

HASHISH OIL

The name is used by illicit drug users and dealers but is a misnomer in suggesting any resemblance to hashish other than its objective of further concentration. Hashish oil is produced by a process of repeated extrac-tion of cannabis plant materials to yield a dark viscous liquid. In terms of its psychoactive effect, a drop or two of this liquid on a cigarette is equal to a single “joint" of marijuana.

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Hashish

Mari

Hashish oil

LSD (LSD-25, lysergide)

LSD is an abbreviation of the German expression for lysergic acid diethylamide. LSD was first synthesized in 1938. Its psychotomimetic effects were discovered in 1943 when a chemist accidentally took some LSD. As he began to experience the effects now known as a “trip,” he was aware of vertigo and an intensification of light. Closing his eyes, he saw a stream of fantastic images of extraordinary vividness accompanied by a kaleidoscopic play of colors. This condition lasted for about two hours.

LSD is usually sold in the form of tablets, thin squares of gelatin (“window panes”), or impregnated paper (“blotter acid”). The average effective oral dose is from 30 to 50 micrograms, but the amount per dosage unit varies greatly. The effects of higher doses persist for 10 to 12 hours.Tolerance develops rapidly.

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LSD blotter paper

HEROIN

First synthesized from morphine in 1874, heroin was not extensively used in medicine until the beginning of this century.

Pure heroin is a white powder with a bitter taste. Illicit heroin may vary in both form and color. Most illicit heroin is a powder which may vary in color from white to dark brown because of impurities left from the manufacturing process or the presence of additives, such as food coloring, cocoa, or brown sugar. Pure heroin is rarely sold on the street. A "bag"-slang for a single dosage unit of heroin - may weigh about 100 mg usually containing about five percent heroin.

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Condoms for transport in stomach

COCAINE

The most potent stimulant of natural origin, cocaine is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxylon coca).

Pure cocaine, the principal psychoactive ingredient, was first isolated in the 1880s. It was used as an anesthetic in eye surgery for which no previously known drug had been suitable.

Illicit cocaine is usually distributed as a whiter crystalline powder, often diluted by a variety of other ingredients, the most common of which are sugars such as lactose, inositol, mannitol, and local anesthetics such as lidocaine. The frequent adulteration is to increase volume and thus to multiply profits.

The drug is most commonly administered by being “snorted” through the nasal passages. Symptoms of repeated use in this manner

may resemble the congested nose of a common cold. The intensity of the psychological effects of cocaine, as with many psychoactive drugs, depends on the rate of entry into the blood. Intravenous injection or smoking produces an almost immediate intense experience. Cocaine hydrochloride, the usual form in which cocaine is sold, while soluble

in water and sometimes injected, is fairly insensive to heat.

“Crack”, or cocaine base in the form of chips, chunks or “rocks”, is usually vaporized in a pipe or smoked with plant material in a cigarette or a “joint”.

Cocaine-paraphernalia (cocaine snorting kit)

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ECSTASY

One of the most popular of synthetic drugs today is perhaps ecstasy. At first it was considered to be harmless but later on it proved to be extremely harmful for health. It is not completely removed from the body. The expressive word « ecstasy» only designates a whole group of narcotics from the category of amphetamines. They are strong psycho - stimulants. Ecstasy is comparatively cheap which makes it even more dangerous.

PEYOTE AND MESCALINE

The primary active ingredient of the peyote cactus is the hallucinogen mescaline. It is derived from the fleshy parts or buttons of this plant, which has been employed by Indians in northern Mexico from the earliest recorded time as a part of traditional religious rites. The Native American Church, which uses peyote in religious ceremonies, has been exempted from certain provisions of the CSA. Peyote, or mescal buttons, and mescaline should not be confused with mescal, the colorless Mexican liquor distilled from the leaves of maguey plants. Usually ground into a powder, peyote is taken orally. Mescaline can also be produced synthetically. A dose of 350 to 500 mg of mescaline produces

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illusions and hallucinations lasting from 5 to 12 hours.

PSILOCYBIN AND PSILOCYN

Like the peyote cactus, Psilocybe mushrooms have been used for centuries in traditional Indian rites. When they are eaten, these “sacred” or “magic” mushrooms affect mood and perception in a manner similar to mescaline and LSD. Their active ingredients, psilocybin and psilocyn, are chemically related to LSD. They can now be made synthetically, but much of what is sold under these names on the illicit market consists of other chemical compounds.

Ex. 15. Work in pairs . Exchange the information.

Student A. reads the text about cocaine, and student B reads the text about LSD;

student C. reads the text about ecstasy, and student D. reads the text about heroin;

student N. reads the text about cannabis, and student F. reads the text about the peyote cactus, Psilocybe mushrooms ;

IT IS INTERESTING TO KNOW

Drug users have their own lingo to hide their addiction from outsiders and to avoid being detected by law enforcement officers. Their terms change frequently.

	Drug lingo
Angola black	маріхуана з Анголи
Aunt Emma	морфій
Aunt Hazel	героїн
Aunt Mary	маріхуана
Bernies	кокаїн
Big Harry	героїн
black bomb	гашиш
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black shit	гашиш
blue cheese	маріхуана
broccoli	маріхуана
candy man	наркоділер
carry the M-monkey	наркоман-кокаїніст
Corina	кокаїн
crying weed	маріхуана
double dimples	ЛСД
dynamiter	наркоман-героїніст
fu	маріхуана
God's medicine	маріхуана, морфій
great tobacco	опіум
haircut	героїн
heater dealer	озброєний ділер
iron house	в’язниця
Jane Boy	споживач маріхуани
jojee	героїн
kukuge	маріхуана
lingo	жаргон
Madeleine	гашиш
Mexican horse	коричневий героїн з Мексики
number seven	смертельне передозування
red oil	гашишна олія
riding the witch's broom	наркоман-героїніст
San Francisco rainbow	таблетка ЛСД
silver bike	шприц
snow flake	кокаїн
Texas tea	маріхуана

Ex . 16 . Discussion :“The drug problem” . The words, phrases, text and figures may help you:

Addiction, AIDS, boredom, cures, hard/soft drugs, drug scene ,thefts, to buy drugs, freedom, lawlessness, legislation, merchants of death, middlemen, needles, public opinion, young people, emotional problems, smuggling, street price, withdrawal symptoms, to obtain money, drug prices.

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