Factors driving Illicit Drug Market

Factors driving Illicit Drug Market

Thesis Statement

The different contributing factors towards the development of illicit drugs are the socio-economic background, poverty, environmental conditions and cultural benefits, violence and family background. There is a great need that the development and usage of illicit drugs should be stopped and strategies should be developed to deal with the prevention of illicit drugs.

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the different contributing factors towards the development of illicit drugs and the measures which could be taken to prevent the use of illicit drugs. The paper also discusses the use and prevalence of cocaine in USA and how this has affected United States.

Discussion

In order to assess the dangers and the strategies to deal with the dangers of the illicit drugs it is necessary to be aware of the different contributing factors for the development of illicit drugs. The different factors contributing towards the development of illicit drugs are use of tobacco and alcohol at an early age, the environmental and cultural factors, social norms, family background, poverty and the violence. These are the main factors that force a person towards the consumption of illicit drugs. These factors cannot be classified as the complete factors; however, it can be analyzed that these are the major contributors towards the development of illicit drugs (Caulkins 2005).

The illicit drugs are the drugs which are not allowed for the non-medical reasons by the international drug control treaties. Since half a century, the international drug treaties have restricted the use of illicit drugs for non-medical reasons because of the higher unacceptable risks of addiction involved in it. The different contributing factors towards the development of illicit drugs are as followed:

1) Environmental conditions and Cultural Practices

Environmental conditions and cultural practices is one of the important reasons behind the increase of the illicit drugs usage. The environmental influence matters a lot behind the development of illicit drugs. There are increased chances of the drug consumption in the areas where there is no strict supervision. The areas with lack of supervision are more inclined towards the development of the illicit drugs. In such areas there is no such authority to make supervision of the drugs use; therefore, people use the illicit drugs without any fear to be caught (Reuter 2001).

The cultural factors also play a very important role in the development of illicit drugs. The areas in which there is a culture to consume the drugs and there is no such supervision because of the culture, the consumption and the development of illicit drugs is very high as it helps in generating revenue.

2) Poverty

Another important contributing factor behind the development of illicit drugs is poverty. Poverty is a factor that compels the parents to force their children to work. The rate of child labor is continuously increasing in United States which is the great reflection behind the increase in the poverty in country. Poverty is the main reason that leads people towards committing the ...