The drug scourge facing the Americas has spread and created disaster, but in the end, it might come to an end through legalization. It is critical to examine several key components to fully understand how drug cartels, specifically South American, work and how there is the possibility of stopping this grand diffusion that has mostly taken place in this last half century. The inner workings of the cartels are complex and essential to their success and spread. Part of the process is how drugs get shipped to different parts of the world. The way that drug lords have worked, has brought success and richness to them and the cartels they lead. There have been attempts to stop the drug scourge, but all have failed. In the end, the only way to end this problem and break down cartels is to legalize the drugs that are presently illegal.
The dominating area for drug trafficking and production has shown to be Latin America. Colombia is one of the only countries in the world that produces three drugs based on plants: marijuana, cocaine and heroin. According to the US National Drug Intelligence Center, since October 2006, Colombia is the source of approximately 70 percent of the world's coca leaves and cocaine, making it the principal world producer (Krauss). Since the early 1980s, the illegal drug trafficking business in Colombia has been mainly controlled by its two large cartels, the Medellín and Cali cartels (Krauss). Mexico has also been a dominant and leading exporter of illegal drugs. Of what the U.N. estimates, Mexican drug lords are in charge of 142 billion dollars a year business in cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and other illegal drugs (“Americas”). According to the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcem...
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The business process of the Mexican drug cartels is not easy, but is a very simple method. Step one is the drugs are produced in Mexico. Step two is the drugs are smuggled across the boarder. Step three is the drugs are distributed to the drug dealers in the U.S. Step four are the drug dealers sell the drugs and U.S. cash dollars are made. It is a simple four-step method, but the process of the four steps comes with a lot of trouble, risk, and violence.
When the Mexican drug cartel first started out in the 1950’s and 60’s there were not many cartels, but since then there has been a dramatic increase in the number of cartels and the cartels have had a significant impact on the U.S. Throughout the drug cartels’ existence, an estimated 60,000 drug cartel members have been killed fighting other drug cartels for territory. Mexico is a main supplier of marijuana and methamphetamine in the U.S. and nearly 90% of the cocaine that enters the U.S. transits through Mexico. The top Mexican drug cartels take in between 19 and 29 billion dollars annually from U.S. drug sales.
The Mexican drug war began in the 1960s, with America’s love for illegal drugs fueling the fire. Narco-violence has claimed the lives of thousands of citizens in recent years. Drug cartels have become comparable to Mafia figures, and have resorted to Mafia-style violence to prove to the Mexican government that they remain in control. The violence caused by drug cartels is rumored to lead Mexico to become a failed state. George W. Grayson, regular lecturer at the United States Department of State, has made more than one-hundred and twenty-five research trips to Mexico, and is considered an expert on U.S.-Mexican relations. A recent book by Grayson, Mexico: Narco-Violence and a Failed State, describes the depressing situation provoked by drug cartels, and debates the controversial argument of whether Mexico will become a failed state. Narco-violence in Mexico will be analyzed by the severity of the drug problem and the executives’ influence on the drug war, to determine if Mexico will reach the status of a failed state.
The cocaine commodity chains play a big role in the history of illicit commodity chains in North America. The origins of the chain begun in the Andes when the drug was found in coca leaves discovered in the 1800’s. In the first paragraph of my essay I’m going to touch on the history of the commodity chain, however my main focus will be on the growth of the chain in North America between 1950 and 2000, the geographical regions, spatial logistics and organization.
The crack and cocaine epidemic of the United States has shaped America’s basis on the war against drugs. In the early 1980s, the majority of cocaine began to be shipped to the United States, landing in Miami originally coming through the Bahamas and Dominican Republic (UDOJ)”. The foreign origin from the drug made it easier for dealer to quietly return to the United States with the drug and also its receipt. “Soon there was a huge amount of cocaine powder in these islands, which caused the price to drop by as much as 80 percent (UDJ)”. Thus making it more assessable for shipment to America.
FITZPATRICK, Michael (2001). “The Lessons of the Drugs War”, Spiked,. Online at: , consulted on March 30th, 2004.
In Jeanette Schmidt’s article, Transporting Cocaine states, “Colombian cartels would pay the Mexican groups as much as $1,000/kilo to smuggle cocaine into the United States” (Schmidt, 2). The Colombian cartels would then pick up the drugs and resume distribution and sales efforts, making personal profits that are unrecorded. In order to seize these individuals who are growing in power and numbers, the U.S. must control the connections between Mexico and Columbia. Mexico is the biggest transporter amongst Columbia and the U.S. because it shares a border with the U.S. This increasingly poisonous drug trafficking leads to drug dealers...
. “The illegal drug market in the United States is one of the most profitable in the world. As such, it attracts the most ruthless, sophisticated, and aggressive drug traffickers.” Throughout the years drug trafficking has been a major issue in America. These issues have impacted our economy, security, which promote new laws and policies throughout the U.S. and among our boarders. Drug Trafficking has created conflict with other countries such as Mexico. “…criminal groups operating from neighboring Mexico smuggle cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, amphetamine, and marijuana into the United States. These criminal groups have smuggled heroin and marijuana across the Southwest Border and distributed them throughout the United States since the 1970s.” (Policy Almanac).
Concerned authorities have focused essentially on criminalization and punishment, to find remedies to the ever-increasing prevalent drug problem. In the name of drug reducing policies, authorities endorse more corrective and expensive drug control methods and officials approve stricter new drug war policies, violating numerous human rights. Regardless of or perhaps because of these efforts, UN agencies estimate the annual revenue generated by the illegal drug industry at $US400 billion, or the equivalent of roughly eight per cent of total international trade (Riley 1998). This trade has increased organized/unorganized crime, corrupted authorities and police officials, raised violence, disrupted economic markets, increased risk of diseases an...
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Small, D.( 2001) The war on drugs is a war on racial justice. Social research, 68(3) 896-902.
The United States has a long history of intervention in the affairs of one it’s southern neighbor, Latin America. The war on drugs has been no exception. An investigation of US relations with Latin America in the period from 1820 to 1960, reveals the war on drugs to be a convenient extension of an almost 200 year-old policy. This investigation focuses on the commercial and political objectives of the US in fighting a war on drugs in Latin America. These objectives explain why the failing drug policy persisted despite its overwhelming failure to decrease drug production or trafficking. These objectives also explain why the US has recently exchanged a war on drugs for the war on terrorism.
Wolf, M. (2011, June 4). We should declare an end to our disastrous war on drugs. Financial Times. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/docview/870200965?accountid=14473
Shannon, Elaine. “The War on Drugs: A Losing Battle.” Time.com. Time Magazine, 3 Dec. 2010. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. .
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