Drug Trafficking in America

Drug Trafficking in America

Drug trafficking in America has become one of the most profitable markets in the world. Drug trafficking wouldn't be known as a big issue because it's not something that is mentioned on a regular basis in the daily news. The coverage that the issue has been getting may lead one to believe that it is more of a recent issue. The truth is that drug trafficking has been going on for centuries. The only difference is that distributors have gotten smarter about how to conduct their business. Drug trafficking makes up for nearly 40 percent of the United States crime rate. Drug trafficking brings in an estimated amount of $110 billion per year with most of the drugs coming from Mexico, Columbia, South America, and the Asia's. Drug trafficking is one of the more rapid growing industries in Mexico and the United States. Drug smugglers will go to any lengths to traffic their drugs and make money, using children and even dead bodies to transport their drugs from country to country. The U.S. government along with Mexico is putting together many plans to try and hinder drug trafficking as much as possible. The drug trafficking industry is becoming the leading cause of many violent cases as well as ruining people's lives once the drugs fall into the wrong hands. The question is how can we hinder or put a complete stop to drug trafficking before it is too late? Drug trafficking is not something that can be stopped entirely but programs and plans can be put into place to make it tougher to traffic drugs.

Mexico is the primary entry and exit point for most of the drugs that are brought in and out of the U.S. Little is known about when Mexico started becoming such a big contributor in the trade market. What is known is that Colombia and other South American states use Mexico as a "middle man" to distribute their drugs into the United States. More and more we see Mexico becoming more of a front runner in the drug trafficking industry. They have been able to start their own drug cartels and become a major buyer and seller of drugs. How the cartels work is that they may contain up to 200 members with other member beyond that initial 200 that are networked throughout Mexico and other countries to import and export drugs. It is often wondered how all of this can be possible with what is thought to be decent law enforcement across the board in Mexico and the U.S. A logical explanation would be that the cartels obtain so much money that they can use that as leverage or "power" over law enforcement agencies. It makes a lot of sense, it is not uncommon to read an article on this topic and see that many law enforcement officials have been terminated for their involvement with different cartels.

Most of the criminal groups smuggle heroin and marijuana in the United States, simply for the reason that it's the easiest to transport, makes a lot of money and it's very popular to sell. Meth, heroin, and cocaine are being used at an alarming rate; especially over the last several years. The violence rate connected with these drugs has dropped compare to the violence rate in the 80's but the use of these drugs has grown drastically since then. Overdoses and deaths related to drugs are more of an occurrence than violent related crimes associated to drugs. One of the more recent incidents (February 2001) in a small Mexican state called Sinaloa left 12 men and boys dead, due to a dispute between drug cartels over territory. Below are some facts that support the previous statement: (National Center for Victims of Crime, 2008)

* In 1997, 25% percent of federal and 29% of state prison inmates say that they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when committing a violent crime.

* In 2004, 32% of state and 26% of federal inmates made the same claim as mentioned above.

* In 1999, 564 murder cases were linked to suspects that used drugs.

It is apparent that drugs impacted people in the past and will only continue to rise in the future.

In 2009 the Obama administration put in place a plan (National Southwest Counternarcotics Boarder Strategy) to put a stop to the illegal drug trafficking in and out of the United States. The U.S. has also urged Mexico and other South American states such as Colombia to get involved. It is very simple, employ more personnel and stay in close contact with our partners in other countries, and those who ignore the laws will be persecuted. Only issue seems to be that state laws and government laws contradict each other and may allow for trades done within the states to go unpunished. The United Sates is focusing more on the trafficking coming from Mexico because it's closest to our borders.