Laws and Social Effects of Drug Trafficking.
Since the 19th century, drug trafficking as been a problem in the United States. The drugs being smuggled into the United States started with marijuana to opium to cocaine. These substances have been smuggled and sold into the United States illegally. With this distribution of narcotics , it often ended in devastating consequences. ( Staff of history.com 2017) Chinese immigrants arriving to the Americas , mostly in California, in the mid- 1800’s caused a big trade and spread of opium. In 1914 , The Harrison Act was enforced to outlaw cocaine and opium, but these drugs still spread throughout the United States. In the 20th century, there were approximately
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Despite forty years of US-led international drug control efforts that prioritize eradication of production, interdiction of traffic, and criminalization of consumption, overall drug production, trafficking and consumption have remained consistently steady.” (Policy , D) “ “In 1971, President Nixon announced the U.S. “war on drugs,” which every President since has carried forward as a battle standard. Until recently, most Latin American governments have coöperated, and in return have received intelligence, equipment, and, perhaps most importantly, financial assistance. The overall investment has been huge—the federal government now spends about fifteen billion dollars on it each year—with the net result that drug use has proliferated in the U.S. and worldwide. In the drug-producing countries, where drug consumption was negligible at the start of the American effort, the criminal narco culture has attained ghoulishly surreal proportions” (Anderson, J. L.) “Transnational organized crime likes opportunities and little resistance. Bolivia currently provides both and finds itself at the heart of a new criminal dynamic that threatens national and citizen security in this landlocked Andean nation.” ( McDermott, J.) These three sources , “ The International Drug War, Can Colombia Solve Its Drug Problem Through Peace? , and Bolivia: the New Hub for Drug Trafficking in South America,” all tie together in someway. All three sources give something about how other countries in the World are affected by drug trafficking. Source one states, “Drug production, trafficking and consumption affects every country in the world.” (Policy , D) Source two states, “ “In 1971, President Nixon announced the U.S. “war on drugs,” which every President since has carried forward as a battle standard. Until recently, most Latin American governments have coöperated, and in return have received intelligence,
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Show MoreTo understand the War on Drugs one needs to understand the cultural landscape that made the war on drugs advantageous. Ronald
With a higher crime rate the sale of drugs became more popular, which gave the gangsters more motivation to sell. This process of supply and demand resulted in a huge spike in illegal drugs in the United
The supply of drugs would dry up quickly, however, if there were not an incessant, powerful demand for them in this country. America has an estimated $80 billion a year habit in illegal drugs, and the legal attacks on one kind of drugs (heroin in the 1950s, psychedelic substances and marijuana in the 1960s), only made consumers to turn to other substances (cocaine and its refined crystal "crack" in the 1970s and 1980s). The demand for illegal drugs is so great that removal of the source of supply in, say, Latin America, would only cause production to begin somewhere else. This is precisely what happened with opium and heroin, when production moved from Turkey to Southeast Asia and then to Mexico between 1950 and 1975, and with marijuana, which came largely from Mexico until the 1960s, but which is now produced domestically on a large scale. The lesson is obvious: "The problem really lies not with the drug-producing countries but with consuming countries like the U.S., which provide an avid market for their output."
The consumption of drugs have always been a part of society, from tobacco used by the native Americans to the coco leaf used by mayans, people exhibit a tendency to use narcotics. While drugs were used for medicinal purposes risks were still associated with them as they are today. As with most things, narcotics can be harmful, and even dangerous, while drugs do not usually cause a society to collapse, it does have a profound effect on how societies function as in the case of the 1900s. While there were positives to the initial inaction of prohibition it was more detrimental than beneficial.
In his article, “Toward a Policy on Drugs,” Elliot Currie discusses “the magnitude and severity of our drug crisis” (para. 21), and how “no other country has anything resembling the American drug problem” (para. 21). The best way to describe America’s drug problem is that it is a hole continuously digs itself deeper. America’s drug issues were likely comparable to other country’s at one point in time, but today it can be blamed on the “street cultures” (para. 21) that continue to use and spread the use of illegal drugs. These street cultures transcend the common stereotype of drug users, such as low income communities in cities or welfare recipients, and can be found in every economic class and location. They are groups of people who have
It has led to mass incarceration in the U.S., corruption, political destabilization and violence in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. It negatively affected the lives of millions of people all of this while America wastes billions of dollars every year only to create and fuel powerful drug cartels while the goal of the war on drugs seems less achievable than ever. Let us dive into the facts. According to the article “U.S. Prison Population Dwarfs
Restrictions and the Prohibition became a thing and many people in the late 19th and early 20th century were questioning the objections to non-medical usage and it soon became a hot debate. Drugs were used for everyday use within industrial workers and laborers. Drugs today are either known as Licit or Illicit ones because we know which ones are actually okay to use in everyday life and then the ones that hurt people. Caffeine is used today worldwide, and it is legal, but only some of the drugs are this way. We still have the illicit drugs that will always be that way such as cocaine and meth.
Four major drug control laws enacted by federal government since 1900 are listed as follows: 1906 Pure food and Drug Act – Consequently,” the new law did not possibly harmful drugs in patented medicines from being sold” (Levinthal,2012). Nevertheless, it only required that manufacturers classify specific drugs that might be delimited in these untested medicines. The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914: Nevertheless, “at first everyone was required to- importing, manufacturing, selling or dispensing cocaine or opiate drugs to register with the treasury department” (Levinthal,2012). However, they must pay a special tax and keep records. Theoretically, the Harrison Act did not make opiates and cocaine illegal.
For years, the United States and Mexico have been engaged in operations to halt the production of drugs south of the border as well as their shipment to the United States, which is world’s largest drug market. However, the genesis of the current Drug War is commonly traced back to the 2000s for a couple of reasons. Just days after taking office in December 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderon kicked off a veritable “war” against the cartels when he sent 6,500 soldiers and police into his home state of Michoacan to organized crime in this area. Mexican society is largely homogeneous and socially conservative.
Introduction Written and published in 2008 by Paul Gootenberg, History professor and Latin American studies at University of New York at Stony Brook, “Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global drug” retraces the pivotal stages of the illicit cocaine trafficking, starting from the boundless coca fields in Latin America to the chemistry laboratories in Europe up until the streets of U.S. cities. The aim of this book review is to provide the reader with a short but detailed insight of what is the main content of the book, by paying particular attention to its structure, objectivity and style. Scope & Organisation Adopting a meticulous chronological approach, Gootenberg describes the infamous and complex untold history of cocaine, analysing and
Essentially, although drugs have been held accountable for gang violence and other acts of violence that have occurred within communities, the illegality of drugs indeed may have aggravated the situation. In addition, it has become evident that one of the primary objectives of the war on drugs, which is to limit supply and demand, has been largely ineffective. CSDP (2007) “ According to the United Nations, profits in illegal drugs are so inflated that three-quarters of all drug shipments would have
According to Brianna Lee in Mexico’s Drug War, “more than 90 percent of cocaine now travels through Mexico into the United States, up from 77 percent in 2003.” Therefore, drug trafficking is at a higher Smith 2 rate than it was 12 years ago with just one illegal drug. With other illegal drugs that are trafficking added to this list the percentage would grow and the demand of illegal drugs will rise. We have to also keep in mind that this drug trafficking alone is only into the United States, imagine how high the demand of illegal drugs is in other countries coming from Mexico. The war on drugs has failed for many years, and is the reason drug trafficking is still highly rising.
Bolivian coca leaves would find their way into the cocaine market through the Peruvian traffickers (Miller, 2013, p. 188). According to Paul Gootenberg, illegalization of cocaine in South America facilitated the creation and spreading of a new culture rooted in the illicit cocaine trade (Gootenberg, 2012, p.
According to Jay S. Albanese, Transnational Crimes are crimes that involve more than one country in planning and executing. These crimes can be grouped into three categories: Illicit Goods (drug trafficking, trafficking in stolen goods or property, weapons trafficking, and counterfeiting), illicit services (commercial sex and human trafficking) and lastly, infiltration of businesses and government (fraud, racketeering, money laundering, and corruption) (Albanese, 2005). Drug Trafficking is listed in one of the three categories as an illicit good. Currently, Drug Trafficking is a global illicit trade that involves the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. With the seizures of heroin annually between 430-450 tons and the consumption estimated around 340 tons, it is no wonder that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes released a report on the points of origins are located near Asia (Drug Trafficking, 2008).
The U.S. leads all nations in opioid usage. Another 8 million use cocaine in the U.S. this number is 3rd overall across all nations. These statistics have lead me and many others to believe the war on drugs is anything besides a success. Opposing views claim, that the war on drugs has been rather successful.