Detailed research however allows for a broader list of specific social aspects. They include: ideological and cultural, law enforcement, medical care and preventative medicine, labor and education, family and leisure time, and material resources. The specific ill effects of narcotics and their unfavorable social consequences can be seen in any of the categories listed above. For example, in the ideological and cultural area they express themselves in the development of a specific drug ideology; in the law enforcement area there is an increase of crime. In Medicare and preventive medicine, there is deterioration in people's health and an increase in the number of handicapped children. In industry and education - a decline in labor efficiency and poor results at schools and other educational centers is evident. One can also point to accidents and to deterioration of relations among staff. In the family relations, a loss of understanding occurs. All this requires setting up special schools, preventive centers, drug departments at medical institutions, rehabilitation centers and new antidrug programs.

To sum up the above-cited social aspects of drug abuse one may state, that it is harmful in physical, moral and proprietary ways. This harm is caused by the proliferation of the narcotic sub-culture as it draws more victims into it; secondly, by drug-related crimes; thirdly, by crimes committed for the purpose of getting means for buying more drugs; fourthly, by crimes committed under the influence of drugs; and, finally, by the spending needed to carry out various programs aimed at eliminating drug abuse.

Legal Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The legal aspect of drug abuse is also a part of the social aspect. Crimes and other law-breaking acts covered by the totality of legal norms involve the illegal cultivation of drug-bearing plants, the preparation, storage, transportation, trafficking, sales, and theft of drugs, the use of drugs without doctor's prescription, and the violation of laws regulating the handling of narcotics. This also covers the situation when suitable conditions are created for taking drugs and those in which more people are persuaded to use drugs or when people have to commit crimes in order to obtain means to buy drugs. Crimes committed under the influence of drugs, as well as crimes that are committed for the purpose of getting money to purchase drugs are included as well.

These crimes should be viewed as part of the notion of drug abuse since they are caused by the desires of drug users to boost drug-inspired activities or their level of intoxication. The legal aspect of drug abuse also includes those relationships regulated by law and arising from the non-medical use of drugs.

Criminological Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The criminological aspect of drug abuse includes a part of this phenomenon that poses an extreme danger to the public, i.e. is linked to the above-cited crimes, their state, level, structure, dynamics, cause-and-effect, criminal's personality, and prevention measures, among others.

Economic Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The economic aspect of drug abuse is associated with its affect on economy, such as large sums of money in possession of drug dealers, a decline in labor productivity of drug addicts; an increase in spending on law-enforcement engaged in combating drug-related crimes; and a drain on national budgets due to preventive and rehabilitation measures to combat drug addiction. Experts claim, for example, that in the former USSR, the cost of illegal drug trafficking within the "narco-business-shadow economy" amounted to billions of troubles.

Biological Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The biological aspect of drug abuse is associated with the notion that it is "a disease manifested by a constant and insurmountable craving for drugs (morphine, for example) causing euphoria in small doses and stupor in large ones. The regular use of drugs arouses a desire to increase the dose. The abstinence syndrome usually accompanies withdrawal.

Narcotics damage the internal organs of drug takers, destroy their nervous systems, their state of mind, and bring about their social degradation.

Since drug addiction is a disease, there is a need to find a cure for it. Hence, the need to have qualified medical personnel, special drug rehabilitation centers and branches offices, effective medicines and curative methods.

Ecological Aspect of Drug Abuse:

The ecological aspect of narcotics is associated, on the one hand, with the natural existence of drug-bearing plants, and on the other, with their man-made cultivation. These plants are a source of obtaining and preparing narcotic substances. From the ecological point of view there is a need, first, to do away with the spread of wild drug-bearing plants, and second, to ban their man-made cultivation. The economic, biological and ecological aspects are subjects for research by experts.

Drug-related Crimes:

It is possible to define drug abuse as a negative social phenomenon touching upon the social, legal, criminological, economic, biological and ecological areas accordingly. One part of the phenomenon is drug addiction, as a disease, and other, embraces all the law-breaking actions related to drugs: those carried out to secure means for purchasing drugs or those committed under the influence of drugs. Such law-breaking actions cover the use, preparation, purchase, storage, transportation, parcel mail, sale and theft of narcotic substances; attempts to force other people to use drugs and the creation of conditions conducive to such use; attempts to sow and grow drug-bearing plants; attempts to violate the established rules regulating the production, purchase, storage, control, sale, transportation or parcel mail of narcotic substances; and, drug smuggling. The law-breaking actions also cover various mercenary crimes (violent crime) that are not drug-related but are committed in order to buy drugs subsequently (theft, robbery, plunder, fraud, blackmail and others) and also violent crimes committed under the influence of drugs (e.g., hooliganism against individuals). This notion reflects the essence and the confines of the drug use and serves as a guideline for determining its scale and developing strategies against it. Yet the true scale of this phenomenon is obscured by a high degree of latent drug-induced diseases and law-breaking drug-related actions.

Narcotics and Crime:

The above-listed law-breaking actions are crimes proving an interrelation between drug abuse and crime. Drugs and crime are not only closely interrelated, but actually blend fully, and in fact, becomes what is known, as narco-crime. But to merely establish this fact is not enough. The danger drug-related crimes pose to the public surpasses the danger coming from other crimes. Drug-related crime is largely interrelated with various other kinds of crime and even merges with one of its most dangerous varieties such as organized crime. This becomes clear studying the dynamics of drug-related crimes. Central here are the drug users who represent a consumer of narcotics, and the ultimate target of drug trafficking - the sale of drugs. When people become dependent on drugs they concentrate all their efforts on getting drugs at any cost. They engage in criminal activities ranging from the cultivation of drug-bearing plants and the preparation of "stuff", to its sale.