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The article deals with the issues of prospects for increasing the level of protection of interests in the field of customs security of Ukraine, including through the expansion of institutional capacity of the Sta Customs Service in the field of law enforcement. The author analyses the existing functional powers of customs authorities in the field of combating criminal offences related to illegal movement of goods and items across the border. The current state and mechanisms of implementation of measures to combat smuggling and other crimes at the border are investigated. The importance of granting domestic customs authorities the right to carry out operational and search activities and conduct pre-trial investigations in smuggling cases is considered in detail. It is noted that after the entry into force of amendments to the legislation criminalising smuggling of goods, almost all law enforcement agencies in Ukraine, except for customs, have the authority to counter smuggling. At the same time, they are the only ones who can directly detect the facts of concealment of goods, objects and substances from customs control or movement outside customs control. The author emphasises that the customs administrations of almost all European countries have the powers of criminal prosecution and the right to conduct operational and investigative actions, which significantly increases the effectiveness of combating such crimes. Accordingly, without similar powers, the customs service of our country cannot count on a full partnership. The author emphasises the requirements and recommendations of the World Customs Organisation regarding the formation of institutional capacities of national customs administrations with the inclusion of the widest possible and unified range of law enforcement functions in their powers. The expansion of procedural powers will enable the Ukrainian customs service to become an equal partner in the interaction and exchange of intelligence with similar services of other countries in the fight against commercial fraud and drug trafficking. It is emphasised that the ability to detect illegal acts related to smuggling of goods, including through the use of operational and investigative measures, will enable customs authorities to ensure prompt and high-quality investigation of criminal offences and prosecution of both direct perpetrators and organisers of crimes. Ways of implementing international standards in the field of law enforcement procedures to strengthen border security are highlighted. An additional argument for the expansion of such opportunities is that the prospect of membership in the European Union imposes on Ukraine the task of protecting not only its own customs interests, but also the eastern borders of the EU as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author points out that among the main priorities of Ukraine's domestic policy since independence has been the creation of reliable mechanisms for security, political stability, and democracy that would correspond to the relevant mechanisms employed in the European Union. The prospect of EU membership is defined at the constitutional level and is a strategic guideline for Ukrainian aspirations for transformation and a key goal for which reforms are being carried out within the Ukrainian state. The creation and implementation of such mechanisms is the standard that will allow Ukraine to join the EU's common security system, increase the effectiveness of control over the movement and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and bring international cooperation in the fight against organized crime, illegal migration, smuggling, terrorism, and drug trafficking to a new level. It is noted that Ukraine's intentions to integrate into the European space have necessitated significant changes in national legislation aimed at adapting to a wide range of norms and standards generally accepted in international and European practice. The sphere of public security protection deserves special attention from lawmakers, as human rights protection is an invariable «gold standard» that distinguishes a democratic state. Given the state-forming importance of the national police, its improvement is in the zone of increased attention from both the government and society. It is extremely important today to create an effective organizational model of police bodies capable of reliably protecting the interests of the economy and citizens, implementing such principles of reforming the Ukrainian police that would result not only in excellent work in detecting and stopping offenses but also in creating significant resources for preventing offenses. The author demonstrates the dependence of the functional orientation of police structures on the functional orientation of the state, in particular on the form of state-legal regime it implements, which directly lays the basic principles of the activities of law enforcement structures in the country and the principles of their reform. Therefore, the logical idea arises that the functional orientation of police structures may depend on the functional orientation of the state, in particular on the form of state-legal regime it implements, which directly lays the basic principles of the activities of law enforcement structures in the country and the principles of their reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the disclosure of legal due diligence as a system of business risk management when creating a virtual enterprise. Determining the full picture regarding the counterparty of the virtual enterprise is necessary in view of the importance of compliance with the requirements imposed by the regulatory and legal acts of Ukraine, adopted in connection with the large-scale military invasion, as well as the requirements of the EU regarding countering terrorism, illegal drug trafficking. The conducted research made it possible to come to the conclusion that due diligence is a systematic check of a business entity or certain assets, real estate objects based on professional analysis and assessment of information in order to identify and determine the degree of potential risks in order to make a decision on the feasibility of concluding the relevant contract and definition of its essential conditions. One of the types of such verification is legal due diligence, which consists in a legal verification of the legality of the company’s activities or the right to a certain asset of the opposite party. It is especially important to conduct it when creating a virtual enterprise, as it allows you to establish the identity of the future counterparty-participant of the virtual enterprise and, in turn, avoid the risk of establishing contractual relations with an improper counterparty. The stages of conducting legal due diligence are as follows: a) drawing up a plan for conducting an inspection with the definition of the necessary information and the procedure for obtaining it; b) obtaining information necessary for legal analysis; c) legal analysis and verification of the received information with the formulation of conclusions about the possibility of creating a virtual enterprise; d) formalization of the obtained results in the form of a written report. The legal basis for conducting this type of inspection can be a contract for the provision of consulting or legal services, as well as a contract between the company in respect of which legal due diligence is performed and the company that orders it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, illicit fentanyl is often trafficked as blue tablets mimicking the legitimate M‐30 oxycodone tablet produced by Mallinckrodt. The analysis of dyes extracted from seized fentanyl tablets could provide a useful tool for law enforcement to establish linkages between cases and could prove useful for attributing a seizure to a given trafficking organization. Fentanyl tablet seizures associated with a particular drug trafficking organization (DTO), either through investigative or intelligence information, were used as the sample set for this study. The blue dye from the tablets was isolated by solid phase extraction and then qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed via ultraviolet‐visible spectroscopy. This research revealed that the illicit tableting facilities use a different dye than several known pharmaceutical companies. The concentration of dye in individual tablets within a seizure proved to be very minimal, and the small sample size made it difficult to draw linkages from case to case. Analysis of the dyes could not effectively differentiate between the drug trafficking organizations in the tested population due to each DTO using the same dye; however, it is important to note that the dye found was consistent between illicit tablets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the activity of Japanese-language dark web sites by examining a Japanese dark web forum, the Onion Channel. While global crypto markets and English-language forums have been extensively studied, there has been little research on Japanese-language dark web sites. The number of posts and the variety of activities on the Onion Channel started increasing around mid-2012, exhibited steady growth until the end of 2016, and then showed a declining trend toward mid-2020. This study classifies activities on the forum into 10 categories. The forum was dominated by illegal and unethical activity. In particular, illegal drug dealing and cyberbullying were the two major illegal and unethical activities that took place there. The large presence of drug-related activity suggests that the forum on the dark web operated as a substitute for crypto markets. Textual analysis revealed that cannabis and methamphetamine were two major drugs that were likely to be sold, and those deals were likely to be completed face-to-face at a designated location. There was also a certain amount of illegal content, such as information related to fraud, identity theft and sales of false IDs, and hacking, as well as criminal conversations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent shifts in UK policy have seen certain populations, who were predominantly viewed as offenders due to their involvement in drug offences, increasingly recognized as victims of exploitation. Drawing on qualitative data from three studies, this article interrogates how this trend is playing out within contemporary drugs policing, focussing on officers' responses to people affected by: drug addiction, child criminal exploitation and 'cuckooing'. It examines the tensions that arise as these three categories of emergent drug victims conflict with officers' normative expectations of victimhood, perceptions of their role as police and existing operational strategies. It also reveals officers' attempts to (re)gain ontological security by policing the boundaries of victimhood and re-focussing on new categories of offender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addictive, illicit drugs pose a high threat of relapse. The deaths related to illicit drugs have substantially increased in the last decade. Globally, the illicit drug trade poses a significant challenge to public health and law enforcement. It is essential to utilize advanced analytical methodologies that can characterize illegal substances precisely to monitor these drugs. Surfaced-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has become a valuable tool, providing distinct capabilities for analyzing illegal substances. Surface enhancement enables far more sensitive detection and identification of illicit drugs by suppressing the fluorescence and enhancing the Raman signals. In this regard, a simple method with limited sample processing has been established to characterize illicit drugs that include methamphetamine (MAMP) (ice), bhang, marijuana (cannabis), opium, and diacetylmorphine (heroin). Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA) was employed for the identification of the characteristic SERS spectral features of these drugs. This article examines the potential application of SERS in the characterization of illicit substances, focusing on its ability to contribute significantly to law enforcement and forensic investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug trafficking is a crime that is constantly renewing and adapting to new technological advances. With the emergence of cryptocurrencies, many offenders have incorporated this technology in the development of their criminal activities. It is usually assumed that characteristics of this virtual currency such as its security and anonymity could favor criminality. This paper studies the acceptance of cryptocurrencies in online drug markets in Canada. The results show that most marketplaces refuse cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Furthermore, they suggest that this acceptance is based on criteria of business improvement and customer acquisition, with the market’s need to take advantage of the cryptocurrency’s features being less important. Merchants do not consider their use necessary to protect the development of their criminal activity and therefore most of them do not intend to accept them in the future. The extended TAM has shown to be valuable in elucidating conclusions regarding the acceptance of cryptocurrency in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racialization of the drug trade has been an ongoing feature of drug‐related moral panics for over a century. In the latter part of the twentieth century, public anxieties about ongoing economic changes made immigrants and Mexican drug cartels convenient scapegoats in the context of moral panics about cannabis and cannabis growers. In this research, I focus on the social construction of cannabis growers in the Emerald Triangle of Northern California, with a particular focus on the cartel grower construct. Through a content analysis of news media coverage, government and law enforcement reports, and field notes from personal communications with law enforcement officers and government officials, I identify racialized constructions of growers in the region. I also explore the relationships between local narratives and the broader cannabis discourse. In this “post‐prohibition” moment, this discourse impacts U.S. cannabis policy conversations and fuels anti‐immigrant rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trafficking of illegal substances is a global issue. Tamaulipas, a northeastern state in Mexico, is strategically located for drug trafficking to the United States by organized crime. In this study, drug seizure events conducted by the Mexican government in the main cities of Tamaulipas between 2017 and 2022 are analyzed. It was noticed that there was a decrease in events from 2017 to 2020, followed by a slight increase in 2021. Marijuana was the most seized drug, with cocaine and amphetamines following behind. The frequency of drug seizure events was higher in the border cities of Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and Matamoros due to their international commercial bridges with the USA. Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa showed a high amount of marijuana seized. In Matamoros, a coastal city, the quantity of cocaine seized was the highest. Results suggest that substances seized were intended to be illegally transported to the USA through Mexican border cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This forum discusses the concept of 'total peace' (paz total) and the notion of 'peace regions' (regiones de paz) recently coined by the government of Colombia to advance in the implementation of the Peace Accords signed back in 2016 with the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces FARC. Broadly drawing on a radical and critical geopolitics perspective, the forum's contributions offer a set of interpretations, exploring a wide range of different aspects, such as the relations with the previous concept of 'territorial peace' (paz territorial), the changing geographical dynamics of the armed conflict, the proliferation of unlawful armed structures and drug trafficking, and violent processes of capital accumulation. Moreover, specific themes such as environmental conflict, the political reintegration of the guerrillas, gender and differential approaches, and ethnic and peasant communities' perspectives are also addressed, without losing sight of the more general question of the country's territorial reordering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractPolitical opportunities have been considered as crucial in explaining the rise of social movements especially in authoritarian regimes. However, the concept has remained vague. This article demonstrates that it is possible to distinguish between two types of opportunities: structural and situational. While both enable mobilisation, the former consists of factors affecting social activism in general while the latter are events that enable mobilisation because they become part of the strategic repertoire of activists and generate emotions that motivate people to join the movement. This is illustrated in Singapore’s anti-death penalty movement which has grown significantly in recent years despite the increasingly sophisticated attempt to achieve “calibrated compliance,” an approach which combines coercion and concession. A situational opportunity emerged with the case of Yong Vui Kong which galvanised the movement and led to pressure from Malaysia. In this context, the government decided to slightly modify its mandatory death penalty for some offences including drug trafficking in 2012. After a successful last-minute reprieve of one death row inmate, activists decided in 2020 to consolidate their activities in the Transformative Justice Collective before, in 2022, a protest attracted an unprecedented 400 people against a planned execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jason Ruiz's book "Narcomedia: Latinidad, Popular Culture, and America's War on Drugs" explores the connection between drugs and Latinidad in popular culture since the 1980s. Ruiz critically analyzes various forms of media, such as movies, TV shows, and music, that perpetuate stereotypes about Latin Americans and the drug trade. He highlights the damaging effects of these portrayals, particularly in shaping public opinion and policy responses to the War on Drugs. Ruiz challenges these narratives and calls for a reevaluation of how Latinx individuals are depicted in media. [Extracted from the article]

Research on organised crime is as diverse and multifaceted as the criminal phenomenon itself, yet comprehensive academic insight on the process by which individuals become involved in organised criminal groups (OCGs) remains limited. Existing scholarly work has explored the involvement mechanisms into specific illicit activities (e.g., drug trafficking), the role of trust within co-offending relationships, and the potential for disengagement from OCGs. With consideration for the current research landscape, the present study examined involvement regarding OCGs through the lens of a conceptual 'process' by developing a framework using data obtained from interviews with police officers from three Australian law enforcement agencies and an analysis of transcripts from court proceedings in Australia. The study provided the first comprehensive examination of the involvement process of OCGs within an Australian context. The results of the study contributed to the development of an involvement 'process' conceptual framework which comprises the following three key stages: motivations and pathways to involvement, mechanisms for establishing co-offending relationships, and continued engagement with or disengagement from OCGs. The conceptual framework proposed in the present study should be viewed as an ideal process and provide the foundation for future research, with methodological replication in other jurisdictions contributing to a cohesive and comprehensive understanding of the involvement process of OCGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) have become synonymous with organised crime through engagement in criminal activities including illicit drug production and distribution, firearms trafficking, and serious violent crime. These crimes contribute significant social and economic harms in countries that feature a presence from these groups. The current paper uses network analytics to analyse the extent of co-offending within and across established clubs in Australia, including the relative involvement of senior, or office bearing, members. The majority of affiliates in this sample co-offended with another OMCG affiliate within the sample period, with office bearers, members, nominees and associates represented proportionally among co-offending networks to in the sample at large. However, within these clubs, criminal activities were conducted in small cliques or components of affiliates. This research supports the role of OMCGs as important facilitators of crime, and the role of co-offending in the criminal offending of affiliates. The findings hold important implications for understanding how offending is organised among OMCGs, differences between groups, differing levels of engagement from the club hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myanmar's political turbulence has provided suitable conditions for the growth of bustling drug production complexes. From opiates to amphetamines, the connection between drugs, conflict and power is a key regional dynamic with implications for its neighbours and beyond. This article discusses some security and socio-economic implications for India due to the explosion of amphetamine trade originating in the Golden Triangle region. Though the North-east has been extensively identified as the main corridor for the passage of Myanmar-origin drugs, this article explores an alternative view by focusing on West Bengal as a particularly vulnerable area as both a destination and transit area for amphetamines. I argue that in the densely populated border areas in West Bengal, amphetamines are being integrated into existing cross-border smuggling routes used for cattle, gold, minerals and illicit pharmaceutical drugs, with regional and national implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police collusion with drug market organizations is widespread around the world, but the nature of this collaboration remains poorly understood. This article draws on a unique data source to dissect the inner workings of police collusion: transcripts of wiretapped conversations, embedded in thousands of pages of court cases in which state agents have been prosecuted for collaborating with drug market groups. We catalogue and analyze the wide range of social interactions that constitute police collaboration with drug market groups and show that those interactions are often embedded in trust networks constituted by residential, professional, friendship, and kinship ties. Our findings signal the importance of reciprocal social ties surrounding police corruption and cast light on what we refer to as the clandestine hands of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bay of Bengal (BoB) region is becoming increasingly important in international politics due to its strategic location as a transit route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The BoB is bordered by India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, with a combined population of 1.7 billion and a GDP of $1.7 trillion. The region is a critical chokepoint for maritime shipping, with approximately 90,000 ships passing through the Malacca Strait each year. The BoB is also experiencing growth in the blue economy, with a focus on sectors such as fishing, offshore energy, shipping, and coastal tourism. However, the region faces challenges such as security issues, environmental vulnerabilities, political instability, and non-traditional maritime crimes. Piracy and armed robbery are prevalent in the BoB, and the region is a transit point for illicit trade, including narcotics and contraband. Irregular maritime migration is also a significant issue, driven by economic insecurity, conflict, and climate vulnerability. The BoB is highly susceptible to natural disasters and climate change, which affect ocean productivity, habitats, and biological processes. The region is marked by communal and ethnic conflicts, and there is a growing power rivalry between China and India. Regional organizations such as BIMSTEC have been established to address these issues, but their effectiveness has been limited. This special issue aims to explore the contestation for control in the BoB region, the role of regional organizations, and the [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the issue of violence against judicial officials in Central America, with a particular focus on Honduras. It highlights the dangers faced by individuals seeking justice and the high number of assassinations of judicial officials in the region. The article also explores the different motives behind these attacks, including targeting officials who prosecute or defend criminals, as well as human rights defenders. It emphasizes the urgent need for increased protections for judicial officials and the detrimental impact of violence on the rule of law and the judicial system. [Extracted from the article]

Objectives: Government officials use criminal records as proxies for past conduct to decide who and how to investigate, arrest, charge, and punish. But those records may be racially biased measures of individual behavior. This paper develops a theoretical definition of bias in criminal records in terms of measurement error. It then seeks to provide empirical estimates of racial bias in official arrest records for a broad swath of offenses. Method: I use official arrest and self-reported crime data from the Pathways to Desistance study to estimate Black-to-white and Hispanic-to-white crime ratios conditional on arrest. I also develop a novel, theory-based empirical test of differential reporting across racial and ethnic groups. Results: Compared to white subjects with the same number of arrests, I estimate that Black subjects committed 53, 30, 23, and 56% fewer property, violent, drug, and DUI offenses, respectively, and that Hispanic subjects committed 19 and 46% fewer drug and DUI offenses. The analysis finds relatively little evidence of differential reporting that would bias my estimates upwards, with the possible exception of drug trafficking offenses. Conclusion: The results provide evidence that Pathways subjects' arrest records are racially biased measures of their past criminal behavior, which could bias decisions of criminal justice officials and risk assessment algorithms that are based on arrest records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on observations and interviews with youth justice practitioners and young people involved in county lines drug dealing to explore the processes by which young people are identified as victims of child criminal exploitation (CCE). The findings reveal that interpersonal interactions between practitioners and young people, specifically young people's capacity to share information and accept intended acts of care, are vital in producing their status as CCE victims. Yet, a lack of appreciation for young people's divergent experiences of these interactions can create barriers to their realization. The article concludes by exploring the implications of these processes for contemporary youth justice practice, and by questioning the utility of CCE victim identification as a response to children experiencing harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of URVIO - Revista Latinoamericana de Seguridad Ciudadana is the property of FLACSO - Ecuador (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of URVIO - Revista Latinoamericana de Seguridad Ciudadana is the property of FLACSO - Ecuador (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of URVIO - Revista Latinoamericana de Seguridad Ciudadana is the property of FLACSO - Ecuador (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article links late Neoliberal Financialized Capitalism (NFC) with biopolitics, identity crises, and emerging death cults. It is argued that late NFC entails spreading violence in state and society, increasing premature and violent deaths in growing subcultures. Individualistic ideologies—which lower social strata now embrace as enabling myths—suggest renewed celebration of struggle for survival and death cults. From an institutionalist perspective, the regressive institutional change increases the predominance of ceremonial values and habits, which indicates a "triumph of imbecile institutions over life and culture" (Veblen, Thorstein B., The Instinct of Workmanship). Contemporary death cults convert violent dying into a consumable merchandise and a form of entertainment. We illustrate the normalization of violent death in the popular youth culture of Mexico's drug trafficking industry. Its musical genre, known as corridos sanguinarios, songs of blood, is analyzed. Our results show manifold ambivalences of contemporary death cults between social compliance and revolt, which may deepen our understanding of the socioeconomic, institutional, and political future under late NFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined how willing a non-probability sample of adults were to engage in hypothetical activities typical of County Lines, and whether involvement could be predicted by perceived risk factors. Of the 101 participants; 48% were willing to engage in activities that could lead to cuckooing, 63% to a coffee meet up, 50% to transferring money, 32% would accept free drugs, 56% would pay off a friend's debt, whereas only 1% were willing to engage in the control scenario (a phone scam). Actual occurrences of these scenarios were also documented and occurred in approximately 1% of the sample. Males and people with greater drug use scores were more likely to endorse engagement in a County Lines scenario involving drugs, whilst greater drug use scores were only associated with a lower risk of a County Lines scenario involving lending money to a friend. Our findings suggest that drug use may predict endorsement to engage in some County Lines scenarios. However, given a small non-probability sample was used in the current study, further development of methodologies to capture the likelihood to engage in County Lines activities are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Adab / Al-ādāb is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Reporting entities have been made jointly responsible for protecting the financial system against money laundering. However, because of privacy rules, law enforcement is not allowed to share details about underlying criminal evidence with private parties. Gatekeepers thus do not have background information on predicate offenses or other criminal acts associated with a transaction, nor do they know whether their clients are individuals who the investigative authorities designate as professional money launderers (PLMs). At the same time, gatekeepers unknowingly come across such clients who, because of their financial behaviour or other reasons, are subsequently reported to the authorities. This article examines what we can learn from these reported transactions. It combines police registrations of 264 PMLs connected to drug trafficking with Suspicious Activity Reports filed by reporting entities. It turns out that over 5,000 reported transactions are connected to 68% of the PMLs. The study also shows several differences between categories of PMLs although recurring money laundering themes are cash money flow, loans and real estate. A key finding is that gatekeepers report more diffuse financial conduct compared to the literature about PMLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article primarily aims to highlight the importance of digital evidence and its role in documenting drug trafficking and illicit drug consumption offenses. Additionally, it presents current challenges related to conducting digital searches and the need to adapt the procedural framework to the evolving phenomenon. Drug trafficking and illicit drug consumption have recorded alarming developments among young people in Romania, driven by the use of the online environment by trafficking networks and methods that do not necessarily involve direct contact between traffickers and consumers. The main conclusions focus on the continuous need to adapt the capacity of law enforcement agencies, improve knowledge related to conducting digital searches, managing digital evidence, and dealing with the confiscation of cryptocurrencies obtained by traffickers from drug sales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Mexico's "war on drug trafficking" through its affective and ideological dimensions. By ethnographically exploring two sites of official representations of organized crime in Mexico City—the Secretariat of Defense's Drug Museum and the Institute to Give Back What Was Stolen from the People—I analyze the strategies through which the Mexican state acknowledges and addresses criminality's charisma as a key challenge to its authority. In these official representations, the drug world becomes visible in partial and selective ways, such as through drug traffickers' confiscated possessions, which project ideas of extravagant capitalist consumption and transgressive social mobility. The state's inevitable failure to contain or redirect this criminal charisma is a symptom of a deeper problem. Such charisma is a key element constituting organized crime as a political actor that menaces state power. It does so not only through violence, but also by means of its capacity to align and organize publics ideologically by doubling and mimicking the state's forms of meaning‐making and valuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the issue of the existing mechanism of the European Union in combating drugs as a component of ensuring public health. Attention is focused on the EU legislation aimed at criminalizing illegal acts related to combating drug trafficking, in particular directives, strategic acts, etc. Attention is focused on EU measures to protect the health of people addicted to drugs, with noncriminalized measures, including: prevention, treatment and provision of care services; combating drug-related harm; psychoactive drug use disorders and mental health problems. Attention is paid to specialized agencies, bodies, structures of the EU related to the fight against drugs and the protection of the right to health. It is emphasized that EU measures correspond to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular: SDG 3 – Targets 3.4, 3.5, 3.8, 3.9 (3.b), 3.9 (3.d), SDG 15 – Targets 5.1, 5.2, SDG 16 – Target 16 .b, SDG 17 - Targets 17.9, 17.16. It is noted that the EU and its member states are adopting legal, strategic and operational measures to reduce the supply and demand for drugs in Europe, and to address security and health problems related to drug trafficking and use. It was noted that the policy of the EU, as well as the policy of the international community regarding drugs, was until recently based on drug control, primarily regarding the use and possession of drugs, the criminalization of drug trafficking, etc. At the current stage of the Union’s functioning, this vector is considered from the point of view of the impact on human health and the realization of the right to the highest attainable level of health guaranteed by international standards. It was concluded that despite the titanic efforts of all involved entities, the drug problem in the EU is not solved, there is a number of issues that require titanic efforts, which is also confirmed by the European Drug Report 2024. The existing problems encourage the unification of international efforts in combating drugs in order to preserve the health of the population of the Planet and future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Professor Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith's book "Challenged Sovereignty: The Impact of Drugs, Crime, Terrorism, and Cyber Threats in the Caribbean," which delves into the interconnected issues affecting the region. Griffith's work explores the challenges to security and sovereignty posed by drugs, crime, terrorism, and cyber threats in the Caribbean. The book is divided into four parts, covering topics such as the impact of drugs, crime, and terrorism on the region, as well as the need for collective action to address these issues. The author of the review praises Griffith's scholarship for shedding light on important social challenges in the Caribbean and emphasizes the significance of Caribbean-oriented scholars in academia. [Extracted from the article]

Dark Web has turned into a platform for a variety of criminal activities, including weapon trafficking, pornography, fake documents, drug trafficking, and, most notably terrorism as detailed in this study. This article uses an LDA-based topic modeling approach to identify the topics addressed in discussions on the Dark Web. The main purpose is to present an overview of jihadists' communication in cyberspace for the detection of unusual behavior or terrorism-related purposes. According to the findings, conversations in the context of recruitment and propaganda predominated at the forum. There was no direct evidence of terrorist collaboration at the conclusion of the investigation. This does not, however, imply that these sites are risk-free. Propaganda and recruitment tools feed the terrorist activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epilepsy is characterized by abnormal synchronous electrical activity of neurons in the brain. The blood-brain barrier, which is mainly composed of endothelial cells, pericytes, astrocytes and other cell types and is formed by connections between a variety of cells, is the key physiological structure connecting the blood and brain tissue and is critical for maintaining the microenvironment in the brain. Physiologically, the blood-brain barrier controls the microenvironment in the brain mainly by regulating the passage of various substances. Disruption of the blood-brain barrier and increased leakage of specific substances, which ultimately leading to weakened cell junctions and abnormal regulation of ion concentrations, have been observed during the development and progression of epilepsy in both clinical studies and animal models. In addition, disruption of the blood-brain barrier increases drug resistance through interference with drug trafficking mechanisms. The changes in the blood-brain barrier in epilepsy mainly affect molecular pathways associated with angiogenesis, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Further research on biomarkers is a promising direction for the development of new therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work we propose a simple model for the emergence of drug dealers. For this purpose, we built a compartmental model considering four subpopulations, namely susceptibles, passive supporters, drug dealers and arrested drug dealers. The target is to study the influence of the passive supporters on the long-time prevalence of drug dealers. Passive supporters are people who are passively consenting to the drug trafficking cause. First we consider the model on a fully connected network, in such a way that we can write a rate equation for each subpopulation. Our analytical and numerical results show that the emergence of drug dealers is a consequence of the rapid increase in the number of passive supporters. Such increase is associated with a nonequilibrium active-absorbing phase transition. After that, we consider the model on a two-dimensional square lattice, in order to compare the results in the presence of a simple social network with the previous results. The Monte Carlo simulation results suggest a similar behavior in comparison with the fully connected network case, but the location of the critical point of the transition is distinct, due to the neighbors’ correlations introduced by the presence of the lattice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses four books that focus on the political legacies and effects of civil wars in Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Colombia. The authors explore how civil wars impact state institutions and politics at the national and subnational levels in Latin America. They also examine the transnational factor of the international prohibitions on the drug trade and its influence on armed groups operating within and across states in the region. The books shed light on the challenges faced by Latin American states in dealing with armed groups involved in the drug trade and the implications for democracy, security, and justice in the region. [Extracted from the article]