CRM333 Research: Drug Trafficking Organization Violence

Drug Trafficking and Organization Violence
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Drug Trafficking and Organization Violence
Abstract
This paper tries to analyze the relationship between drug trafficking and organized crime. The traditional approaches to drugs has been based on “war on drugs” and has provided narrow insights to the whole issue calling for a wider and comprehensive approach. Therefore, deciding to discuss the issues from “organized violence” is a wise decision since it is more comprehensive than the traditional approach. The media and academia disciplines still struggle to understand the nature of violence that has been witnessed in Latin America and Caribbean countries for more than two decades through the traditional “war on drugs” approach. The phrase “war on drugs” was coined by President Nixon in 1971 and since then there has been dramatic changes across the well hence the need to change the way the whole issue is being approached.
Introduction
Most Latin American leaders have argued that U.S.A is the major reason was drug trafficking exists in their countries. Their argument is that if American would not have been having a large population of drug addicts or users, their countries would not have been producing the large quantities of illegal drugs such as cocaine for export. Consequently, the powerful and well-financed drug trafficking organizations would not be existing in the region. For the past two and half decades, the so called cartels have sprung up in the region and they tend to control everything. These cartels have diversified from drug trafficking only to human trafficking and even smuggling of weapons into other countries.
Drug trafficking and organized violence/crime have been described as “new risks” to both internal and international security and stability. Although they are not new, they have become globalized and complex. It is evident that non-state actors and internal and international security issues are related; therefore, it is important to understand the two risks before even starting to address them. Politi (1997) asserted that the two risks have become an obstacle to nations due to various reasons. First, its effect on different factors of internal and international issues, but the government evolutions should not fall victims of these risks to destroy the social, political and cultural order. Second, establishment of democratic governance is crucial in developing democracies and countries. These evolutions might be fragile to the risks and if the developing countries fail in the transition process, they will face more adverse challenges such as illegal immigration and violence within their boundaries and they will be forced to spend more resources in peacekeeping trying to mitigate the problem. All countries are vulnerable to these risks, in other words, no country cannot be affected. Organized crimes are the facilitators of drug trafficking, smuggling of weapons as well as human trafficking which has been describes as the “new form of slavery”. Fourth, these risks affects both ordinary citizens and political choices. Lastly, due to these risks, the strategic features of non-internal actors are being underlined by international actors such as United Nations (UN) and other international security organizations.
Drug trafficking may contribute to violence in different ways in source, transit and consumer countries. First, it finances terrorism activities. Second, it contributes to chaos in producing, transiting and consumer countries. Sometimes, the drug traffickers causes the chaos in a deliberate way in order to create a conducive environment for their activities. Third, corruption starts in all levels of government institutions which weakens the capacity of the society to address these risks. Fourth, it provides useful materials and services for the drug trafficking and organized crime organizations and supports the infrastructure of acquiring illegal weapons, money laundering, production of illegal identification documents that have the capability of serving drug-trafficking and violence agendas. Last, it creates attention from the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to advance other illegal agendas (Kleiman, 2004).
Organized Crime/Violence and Drug Trafficking
Organized Crime
Organized crime has proved to be a major challenge as well as a complex phenomenon that is linked with terrorism. There are various definitions of organized crime but no common agreed definition yet due to the dramatic changes that are being witnessed across the globe in which it appears. All the involved authorities including academicians are far from agreeing on a common definition for this phenomenon. However, according to the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, “Organized criminal group shall mean a structured group of three or more persons, existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences established in accordance with this Convention, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit…” From this definition of a criminal group, in his article Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime: Connected but Different Calderon (2015), has defined organized crime as “the criminal activity that, through violence or threatening people, seeks to extract illegal or legal rents of the community.”
Organized crime operates in several forms and in criminal activities. As Hugo Brady (2007) explains, four main types of groups that poses great danger exist in the society. First, big domestic groups. Second, ethnic violent groups such as Moroccan and Turkish immigrants have been formed in various countries. This group is responsible for much of human trafficking and drug trafficking in countries where they have established themselves and they have establish a strong relationship to their home countries. Third is the disorganized crime group which has no formal organization or location. An example is the Nigerian organized crime groups. They only meet when they want to commit a crime. Some of its members have never even met either in person or communication of any sort. Lastly is the illegal motorcycle groups that operate in a global scale and through strictly organized codes. They have formed an international organization and are involved in a range of criminal activities that range from human trafficking, car and weapon smuggling as well as drug trafficking.
Drug Trafficking
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has defined drug trafficking as “a global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sales of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws.” Calderon (2015), has defined it as “the smuggling of illegal substances from producing regions to consumer markets.” As stated earlier in the introduction, most of the drug producing countries are accusing USA for the practices in their own countries. This is because USA is the largest consumer of illicit drugs in the world. Illicit drugs have created the largest “black market industry” in the world which is estimated to be between $200-$750 billion in a year with the current decade recording the highest number of users in the American history.
Despite the numerous efforts by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and other authorities, drugs continue to enter into the United States. Per year about $181 billion are lost in terms of legal costs and health care costs. More drug-related offenders are being sent to prison. In 2012, more than 330,000 prison inmates were accused of drug-related offenses. In 2013 more than 30% of offenses were drug-related where 22,215 drug trafficking cases were reported.
Role of Technology
The world seem to be happy with the benefits that has come with advanced technologies. People are able to communicate over long distances without their messages being revealed to third parties, thanks to improved technology. Drug trafficking and organized crimes has also increased due to this improvements in technology. The same advantage of communication with extreme privacy is also being experienced with drug traffickers and organized crime groups across the world.
Technology has improved the way the drugs are being packed in a way that they cannot be detected when being smuggled into the consumer countries. Consequently, technology has improved the way the drugs are being produced and prepared. The preparation labs have been improved like other laboratories around the world.
Role of the Internet
The internet has made the world look like a small village. People can do business through the internet without visiting the physical locations of the product that they are buyi...