Drug Trafficking in United States

Drug Trafficking in United States

Introduction

Reducing the demand for drugs in America is a crosscutting theme that is at the top most priority of the President's Obama strategy. President Obama aims to reduce the threat of drugs and their consequences by working aggressively to reduce drug use in the United States through prevention and helping Americans. Similarly, the government already suffers accessing addiction treatment, therefore, in this scenario, the government not only improving public health and safety in the United States, but at the same time reducing an important source of revenue for violent transnational criminal organizations.

The violence that prevails between transnational criminal organizations in Mexico has recently caused increasingly intense tension among the two nations that he legalization of narcotics as the "holy remedy" the situation. U.S. still against legalizing drugs because the evidence shows that the common problem of narcotics is a serious threat to public health and safety and that the drugs addiction is a disease that can be prevented and treated successfully. Currently, the use of drugs, both legal and illegal, is the main source of social, health and safety unrest. Studies show that chances are that the policies that make drugs more accessible to local market cannot eliminate drugs from the black market or improve situation of public health and safety (Bauder, 2008).

Discussion

The contemporary transnational trade in illegal drugs can be examined in several ways. The drugs may be grouped into four primary categories: opiates, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, and cannabis. Alternatively, the illegal drug trade can be categorized by regions of the world, as many drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) use the same drug trafficking route to move more than one type of product. Finally, although less commonly, the DTOs can be examined to gain understanding of production cycles and distribution methods.

Role of U.S. Department of Justice

Although studies agree that cannabis is the most popular illegal substance in terms of the global consumer market, there is a question as to whether the drug can be labeled transnational. The United Nations declined to classify marijuana and related substances as transnational criminal products because their consumption is usually confined to what is available through local domestic production. However, the U.S. Department of Justice identifies Mexican DTOs as key producers and traffickers of cannabis, even when the actual plants are grown within the continental United States. Additionally, based on drug seizure evidence put forth by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Canada and Mexico are also major marijuana producer countries.

According to analysts, two illegal drugs most widely trafficked on a transnational level are heroin and cocaine. Opiates (heroin, morphine, and opium) possibly rank as the most trafficked substance because poppy cultivation for opium spans four regions: North America (Mexico), South America (Colombia), southeastern Asia (Myanmar), and southwestern Asia (Afghanistan). Estimates suggest that, in 2009, Afghanistan was the source of almost 90% of the world's opiates, although Mexico and Myanmar are also considered to be top production countries (United States, 2007a).

Large Scale Efforts

Cocaine, on the other hand, is produced from coca plants grown exclusively in the ...