Essay Sample on Drug Trafficking in the US & Europe: Who's Winning?

Introduction

The United States is not the only country where drug trafficking has dominated. Countries like Europe are slowly taking over the fame of drug trafficking from the Americans. Various campaigns have been made in an attempt to fight drug trafficking in America. Even after all these efforts, America continues to be an attractive place for drug traffickers.

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There is a ready market for illegal drugs in the United States. A report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime of 2019 shows that in 2008, there were more than 18 million cocaine users in the world (Drug trafficking, 2019). Out of this, North America accounted for more than 40 percent of the cocaine used. The drug traffickers use teenagers and other unsuspected people to smuggle drugs in the dark streets of the United States. Poverty and depression can indirectly be a significant contributor to the ready market in the United States. A depressed individual uses cocaine because it boosts their energy, which helps them to forget their depression. Thus, as the number of depressed individuals continues to rise, it is expected that cocaine abuse will also increase.

The violence and sex life advocated in the media make America a right place for drug trafficking. Social media and other advertising industries portray American people as lovers of leisure and pleasure (Puyana et al., 2017). For example, hip-hop songs tend to promote drug abuse and sexual immorality. Young people who watch such songs and advertisements will want to start selling drugs so that they can be like famous musicians. As a result, foreign drug traffickers, especially whole-sellers, see this as an excellent opportunity since there are enough distributors of the drugs.

Many of the violence and organized crimes in Mexico and Central America can be attributed to drug trafficking in America. Lack of proper methods of settling dispute causes destruction. Since there is no law defining business transactions during drug trafficking, any disagreement between the involved parties leads to destruction. According to Puyana et al. (2017), one 9 out of 10 deaths in Mexico are related to drug trafficking either directly or indirectly. Also, many people die at the border as they try to bring drugs in America. For example, a lot of people are shot by police at the border as they try to migrate to America to sell drugs illegally. This is mostly the case with the Mexican border. Mexicans fight over ships and other means of transport that are used for drug transportation. A lot of kidnapping is reported on the ports as drug traffickers take ships by force to transport drugs.

Drug trafficking is closely connected to human trafficking. According to Shelley (2012), drug traffickers use the enslaved people to smuggle drugs across borders. As long as there is a drug trafficking market in America, Mexico, and Central America will continue to experience human trafficking. It is sad to note that drug dealers can use slaves to transport drugs due to corruption. Corrupt police on the borders allow the drug traffickers to get to America freely. Once they get to America, drug traffickers can do whatever they want with their slaves.

The high rate of school dropout creates more chaos. Due to drug trafficking demands in America, many Mexican children drop out of school so that they can participate in the black market. Thus, the number of illiterate people in the community increases (Astorg and Shirk, 2010). An ignorant community is unable to solve disputes in a peaceful manner. Also, the dropouts engage in other criminal actives as they try to look for money to start drug trafficking. Some of these illegal activities may be organized crimes. The same students are known to engaging in confrontation with the police officers who have left many young people dead. As the demand for drugs increases in America, more children are continuing to drop out of school in Mexico.

Conclusion

To sum it up, the war on drugs must be intensified. The availability of market and corruption on American borders is the major contributor to the rising number of foreign drug traffickers. The social media played a role in shaping public opinion on the availability of the drug trafficking market in America. The black market in America has mostly contributed to the violence and criminal activities in Mexico and Central America. Students in Mexico continue to drop out of school so that they can seize the golden opportunity of drug trafficking.

References

Astorga, L., & Shirk, D. A. (2010). Drug trafficking organizations and counter-drug strategies in the US-Mexican context.

Drug trafficking. (2019). Retrieved 3 December 2019, from https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/drug-trafficking/index.html

Puyana, J. C., Puyana, J., Rubiano, A. M., Montenegro, J. H., Estebanez, G. O., Sanchez, A. I., & Vega-Rivera, F. (2017). Drugs, Violence, and Trauma in Mexico and the USA. Medical Principles and practice: international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre, 26(4), 309-315. doi:10.1159/000471853

Shelley, L. (2012). The relationship between the drug and human trafficking: A global perspective. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 18(3), 241-253.