Drug Trafficking Essay

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Drug trafficking is the largest and most extensive illegal activity of transnational organized crime. By definition, drug trafficking, “occurs when psychoactive substances are moved across international borders in violation of international law.” The laws were formulated and ratified by members of the United Nations after the three major international drug conventions that were held in 1961, 1971 and 1988. Prior to these conventions, there were no distinctions made between legal and illegal substances. The conventions attempted to regulate the distribution of drugs by controlling their production and identifying the most dangerous. They also tried to streamline efforts to combat drug trafficking and included the regulation of plants grown as the raw material for illegal drugs, and chemicals used to create illegal drugs, through the creation of the International Narcotics Control Board. Despite the efforts of these international initiatives, illegal drug trafficking remains the most lucrative enterprise for the criminals and the most confounding and difficult issue facing the countries involved.
In the United States, heroin trafficking and the heroin epidemic is reaching alarming proportions. According to statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2011, 4.2 million Americans aged 12 or older had tried heroin with the average age being 22. Drug overdoses and subsequent drug overdose related deaths have risen steadily in the 21st century. On average there are around 38,000 fatal overdoes in the United States every year. Nearly 80 % of these are from heroin or other opioid-based drugs, such as oxycodone and fentanyl. The ease of availability and purer forms of heroin, along with a steady decline in price is ...

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...ugh education and treatment have lagged behind other actions. A confounding issue relates to the fact that different government agencies address different aspects of the problem and they all compete for the same pool of resources. International Legal Officer, Stephanie Erin Bowers, believes that the current administration has an opportunity to break with the drug fighting strategies of the past and take a modern approach that prioritizes the causes of drug trafficking. The methods to fight drug trafficking have traditionally focused on the symptoms of drug trade through force. Ms. Bowers believes the United States needs to focus on the reduction of demand and control the flow of weapons over the border, which are purchased by the cartels. As long as demand exists, drugs will continue to flow into the US regardless of the deterrence that security forces apply.

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