Drug Trafficking: Economic, Legal and Social Impact
Drug trafficking is a serious issue that has existed for many years. Globalization has only helped to increase the illegal drug trafficking from one country to another. Globalization has also transformed the world economy by spreading ideas and technology across the borders which created new markets and expanded others (Jenner 901). The ease of transportation across the borders and the growth of global communication systems has help the expansion of the global illegal economy (Felbab-Brown 1). United States is the largest user of illegal drugs therefore it is important for our government to monitor and manage our borders in an attempt to stop drug trafficking into the United States. All
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Cooperation from foreign governments and the U. S. law enforcement is a must in order to be successful. The drug war began in Mexico in the late 1960’s and the beginning of the 1970’s. The United States pressured the Mexican administration to decrease the amount of drugs crossing the border into the United States (Lindau 182). The use of military troops in Mexico to assist with management of drug trafficking has expanded over the last 10 years (Lindau 184). Globalization is a complex network of illegal markets from drugs, arm trafficking to smuggling of human for prostitution and slavery. The black market or illegal drug industries are the product of globalization (Jenner 902). Drug trafficking organizations have a lot of money, therefore they are resourceful and able to take the pressure from law enforcement (Patterson 65). Terrorist groups gains three aspects from their involvement with the illegal economy. The terrorist get increased physical capabilities (such as money and guns), freedom of action (strategic abilities) and political capital (relationship with the local residents) by participating in the illicit markets. This allows them to have so much strength and power it makes it difficult to win the battle against terrorist (Felbab-Brown 6). Some representatives of the state work with the outlaws, which is termed state criminalization which suggests some type of corruption. …show more content…
In some cases paramilitaries have chosen to take a more low-profile such as threats and forced disappearances. In many countries the profits are large enough that they will use any means even using authorities to break the laws (Sanchez-Moreno 5). Criminal groups all over would start seeking other criminal sources if they can’t continue to trade illicit drugs (Sanchez-Moreno 6). The illicit drug market has suppliers, consumers and distributors of the goods just like other markets but with one difference, violence. Since illicit drugs are usually an underground black market there is no court or other legal process to resolve conflicts which leads to violence (Jenner 906). Mexico has the most headlines with regards to violence when it comes to drug markets (Jenner 907). Cartels will do anything to make money just like their Columbia predecessors. It was reported that in 2008 that 6,290 drug trafficking related murders happened in Mexico which is approximately forty-one percent more deaths than the casualties from the War in Iraq (Jenner 908). United States had over 31,000 deaths from drug related issues in 2007 which is about double the U.S. murder rate. This is why the United States is more concerned about the domestic problems than the international crisis of drug trafficking (Jenner 911). Organized crime can have negative effects on the public
A drug cartel is a combination of drug manufacturing and drug transportation organizations under one person’s leadership. While there is numerous drug cartels around the world the Mexican cartels have arguably more power than most in regards to territory and membership. This power has allowed them to have main control in not only Mexico but in the United States as well making them a key player in the drug trade. In 2006, the Mexican government challenged multiple drug cartels such as the Sinaloa cartel, The Los Zetas, and the Gulf cartel, beginning the Mexican Drug War. This war has gone on for the past ten years and is still continuing today, causing the death of 10,000 people a year on average. The Mexican Drug War is having a negative impact
According to Goldstein’s Tripartite model there are three major contributions to framing the drug-violence relation. The Mexican Drug Cartel they use the systemic model, it is within the context of supply and distribution that violence occurs in the drug trade. Violence is used to ensure protection and sharing of territories, sales, and stock. It is seen as an organizational management strategy. Violence is used by dealers and drug traffickers in retrieving debts owed to them.
The Mexican drug cartel has been estimated to have been profiting thirty billion dollars a year – yes, BILLION. The United States has also been estimated to generously have taken part in ten to anywhere up to possibly twenty-five of that thirty billion per year! That kind of money can make almost anyone contemplate if college is the right path for them. It also gives you a small understanding as to why some of these underprivileged people would even want to be involved with such a risky industry. As a horrible artist by the name of Macklemore once said “follow the formula: violence, drugs, and sex sells”, it’s only fitting that such a lucrative business like the cartel would be involved in all three of these things, right? The cartels involvements with violence, business industries, and political corruption have all affected the economy in Mexico.
Globalization can be defined as the “development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free-trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping of cheaper foreign labor markets that transcend nation-state boundaries”. As the world becomes a more integrated society we are more readily able to share goods, services, ideas, and technology. Furthermore, we are able to move more freely between nations. With this freedom there comes prosperity for people, companies and entire countries as we can now gain access to things we never had before. But as we expand our ideas and make it easier to cross borders, those with malicious and deceptive intentions are slipping through and committing heinous crimes that all too often go unnoticed.
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...
The Influence of the Mexican Cartels in the United States Visiting a tourist attraction in Mexico, tourists do not realize the gruesome reality that Mexican civilians face on an everyday basis. Dead bodies cover the streets, the echo of gun shots ring through the streets daily, and seeing the cartels terrorize businesses. The rise of Mexico’s violence in the past decade has marked the country and made its way to the United States. The United States has ignored the problem for many years, since they always referenced Mexico’s drug crisis as a non-emergent issue. In the past decade the U.S. government has seen an increase in violence and consumption of illegal drugs due to the Mexican cartels.
The cartels are now in control of most of the drug trades and are successful. The Mexican border gives them the power to go everywhere they desire, making them a relentless force. “To date operation Xcellrator has led the arrest of 755 individuals and the seizure of approximately 5 U.S. Currency more than 12,000 kilograms of cocaine, more than 16,000 pounds of marijuana, more than 11,000 of methamphetamine, more than 8 kilograms of heroin, approximately 1.3 million pills of ecstasy”(Doj 2). Mexican cartels extend to central and southern America. Columbia is the supply of much of the cocaine exported to the U.S. Colombia is under control of South American gangs, they do business with the Mexican cartels to transport drugs the north. The Northern Mexican gangs hold the most control because the territory is very important (Wagner1). They are many different types of cartel in Mexico it also signifies that there are killing each other so their cartel can expand an...
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.
Over the last several decades, violence has consumed and transformed Mexico. Since the rise of dozens of Mexican cartels, the Mexican government has constantly been fighting an ongoing war with these criminal organizations. The cartel organizations have a primary purpose of managing and controlling illegal drug trafficking operations in Central America and South America to the United States. Violence on a massive and brutal scale has emerged due to the nature of the illegal drug trade. Because the drug trade is vastly widespread, cartels are often fighting one another and competing in business. Mexican authorities count at least 12 major cartels, but also talk of an untold numbers of smaller splinter groups. (Taipei Times). Five cartels from Mexico have risen to become the extremely powerful amongst all the drug organizations operating in Mexico. The Guadalajara Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, and the Gulf Cartel. These organizations, along with other distinguished Mexican cartels, have plagued Mexico with violence, terror, and fear due to the essence and nature of illegal drug trafficking.
Drug trafficking is a prohibited, global trade that involves the production, the distribution, and the sales of drugs. It is a topic that has become a very large issue all over the world. It also has had a very big effect on many different countries because they often depend on the business that the drug trafficking creates. Since it has become such a problem, there have been many different efforts to put a stop to drug trafficking by different enforcement agencies. A website about drug statistics, drugabuse.net, indicated that the Drug Enforcement Agency or DEA, as it is well known as, makes over thirty thousand arrests each year dealing with the illegal sales or distribution of drugs. It is also believed that Mexico’s economy would shrink by over sixty-three percent if they lost their drug trafficking industry. There are many different tribulations like this that drug trafficking has created. Many people see it as such a vital asset to some countries, so it has emerged as an extremely big business that brings in a boatload of money. Just like any other immense problem, drug trafficking has its causes and effects
Sex trafficking, Prostitution & Drug Use Laina Marquina The College of Saint Rose. Abstract The trafficking of young women and children for prostitution and sexual exploitation is one of the most significant human rights abuses in contemporary society.
Over the last decade, Southwest border violence has elevated into a national security concern. Much of the violence appears to stem from the competing growth and distribution networks that many powerful Mexican drug cartels exercise today. The unfortunate byproduct of this criminality reaches many citizens of the Mexican border communities in the form of indiscriminate street gang shootings, stabbings, and hangings which equated to approximately 6,500 deaths in 2009 alone (AllGov, 2012). That same danger which now extends across the border regions of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California has the potential for alarming escalation. Yet, despite the violence, evermore-brazen behavior continues to grow, as does America’s appetite for drugs. Even though drug-related violence mandates that law enforcement agencies focus on supply reduction, the Office of National Drug Control Policy should shift its present policy formulation efforts to only drug demand reduction because treatment and prevention efforts are inadequate and strategy has evolved little over the last three decades.
...ion and drug smuggling has been on the rise the past few decades and our current approach is not confronting the escalating issue at hand. America’s safekeeping at our borders is not robust enough to deter these illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. Our border wall and security checkpoints must be strengthened immediately.
Drug trafficking has been a massive concern between the borders of Mexico and the U.S. “since mid 1970s” (Wyler, 1). Drug trafficking is “knowingly being in possession, manufacturing, selling, purchasing, or delivering an illegal, controlled substance” (LaMance, 1). A dynamic relationship exists amongst Columbia, Mexico, and the U.S. the informal drug trafficking economy. This growing informal drug economy leads to many individuals creating a substantial living through this undercover market. These individual drug cartels monopolizing the trafficking market are a growing problem for the U.S economy and need to be located and controlled. If this trafficking continues, the U.S. informal economy will crush the growth of legal industries. The trafficking and abuse of drugs in the U.S. affects nearly all aspects of consumer life. Drug trafficking remains a growing issue and concern to the U.S. government. The U.S. border control must find a way to work with Mexico to overpower the individuals who contribute to the drug trafficking business. This market must be seized and these individuals must be stopped.
Many people know of cartels and drug trafficking, however, they do not realize how serious of a problem it is becoming. Every day there are hundreds of drugs transported into the United States from Latin America, mostly coming from Mexico and Columbia. These cartels are becoming smarter and more creative with their ways of smuggling drugs. They have become ruthless and will do whatever it takes to get their supplies into the country. To better understand how cartels work, you must understand their ways of transporting drugs and how creative they have become with it. Cartels will go as far as using tunnels, boats, planes, vehicles, donkeys and mules to transport all of their drugs.