The article presents the current issues and latest trends of the first public security policy priority – analysis is made of how public security is ensured in the field of public order. The research starts with the discussion of the legal basis for ensuring public order, primarily revealing the concept of public order as such and today’s main threats to public order. Further, analysis covers the problematic aspects of the legal protection of public order: the legal mechanisms of order protection are discussed, whether they are effective, if not effective, how the legal regulation in this field is to be perfected. Attention is also devoted to the problems of human rights protection while ensuring public order. Hereafter, an analysis is provided of the administrative aspects of ensuring public order, covering the setup of the state and municipal institutions, responsible for maintenance of public order, and problems of their activity organisation and coordination. Special attention in this work is devoted to the state-of-the-art problematic aspects of police activity organisation, to the compatibility of the functions and competences of the Public Security Service, analysis of strategic goals, to the research of the opportunities of municipality and local communities for their participation in maintaining public order. As a result in this research is emphasised the importance of decentralisation in ensuring public order; the main guidelines of modernisation in this field are presented. The authors applied general scientific methods of studying objective reality, peculiar to legal sciences: systematic document analysis, meta-analysis, structural-functional analysis, teleological, comparative, critical approach, generalisation and prediction.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union the control over the production and sales of narcotic substances in Latvia and Lithuanian decreased significantly. In 1992 the law that stipulated compulsory treatment for drug addiction was abolished. At about the same time relationships among drug addicts underwent a drastic change. In the 70’s and the 80’s drug addicts acquired and produced narcotics themselves but in the 90’s with the start of economic growth, organised crime started to flood the market of our countries with cocaine, Ecstasy, LSD and amphetamines which took over the traditional homemade narcotic substances.
The recent illegal market trends are connected with the flow of new psychoactive substances also through internet resources. Consequently the states intensified its legislative initiative in this field. In addition there is a current trend related to the use of smuggled controlled substances and new psychoactive substances, illegal cultivation of marijuana as well as the involvement our countries citizens in the trafficking of narcotic substances.
The problem of drug addiction has become very topical as an ever increasing number of youth who are involved in narcotics could become a threat to each and every one of us and security of society as a whole when they become addicted to their daily dose as the crave for the dose is so strong that they are ready to commit the most meaningless and cruellest crimes to get their daily dose. Today the use of narcotics is a threat to every young person irrespective of whether he/she comes from a normal or socially disadvantaged family.
The aim of the paper is to analyse the latest trends and the current situation in Latvia and Lithuania with regards to the possibilities of resolving drug addiction issues and put forward various solutions based on the forecasts for the near future. Analytical methods, theoretical studies and specific legal research methods shall be primarily used and applied.