Criminological Characteristics of Drug Addiction in the Republic of Kazakhstan: Basic Concepts, Signs and General Approaches to Their Assessment

The relevance of the study is due to the need to consider such antisocial social phenomenon as “narcotism”, which includes two components - “drug addiction” and “drug business”. The researchers came to the conclusion that the concept of narcotism itself has not yet acquired an unambiguous or more or less well-established semantic status, and does not have wide recognition in international legal acts and documents of authoritative international organizations. In foreign vocabulary, the concept of "narcotism" is difficult to differentiate and separate from the concept of "drug addiction". Therefore, it is necessary to achieve the highest possible consistency in approaches to understanding the essence of this phenomenon. The content of the article is aimed at identifying the key point denoting the main core around which complex processes are taking place in the desired field related to the concept of drug addiction. Reflecting and arguing, the authors, in essence, were based on an analysis of a well-known range of historical, theoretical information, international legal and national regulatory documents, using the methods of critical analysis, synthesis and comparison of theoretical and legal sources. This made it possible to consider the phenomenon under study from the standpoint of different conceptual approaches. The article revealed that drug addiction affects the widest range of social problems - from deviant social behavior to national security issues. The attention is focused on the fact that drug addiction from the position of law is characterized as an antisocial social phenomenon associated with the illegal consumption and distribution of drugs, their appearance and the existence of goods and services in consumer circulation. A basic definition has been formulated that outlines the scope or distribution of narcotism. It was concluded that “narcotism” should be a differentiated designation of a negative social phenomenon and contain a description of the whole diversity of social manifestations and processes that are directly related to drugs that are in a state of contradiction with the interests of society. In turn, drug trafficking, while remaining the largest component of drug addiction, is its most dynamic part. The last sign is largely associated with a direct effect - the drug business, which is a generating or producing principle in narcotic drugs. The materials of the article are of practical value for researchers and law enforcement officials dealing with the problems of drug addiction and narcotism.