Heinz Duthel - Illegal drug trade--The War on Drugs: Drug trade generated an estimated US$531.6 billion in 2013

Copyright 2011 2015 Heinz Duthel

Revised Version 2015

All rights reserved.

Illegal drug trade

The illegal drug trade is aglobal black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture,distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drugprohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except underlicense, of many types of drugs by drug prohibitionlaws.

A UN report said the globaldrug trade generated an estimated US$321.6 billion in 2003. With aworld GDP of US$36 trillion in the same year, the illegal drugtrade may be estimated as slightly less than 1% (0.893%) of totalglobal commerce. Consumption of illegal drugs is widespreadglobally.

History

The Illegal Drug Trade hasemerged as a result of drug prohibition laws. During the 19thcentury, China retaliated with imports of opium and two Opium Warsbroke out. In the First Opium War the Chinese authorities hadbanned opium but the United Kingdom forced China to allow Britishmerchants to trade opium with the general population. Smoking opiumhad become common in the 19th century and British merchantsincreased. Trading in opium was (as it is today in the herointrade) extremely lucrative. As a result of this illegal trade anestimated two million Chinese people became addicted to the drug.The British Crown (via the treaties of Nanking and Tianjin) tookvast sums of money from the Chinese government through this illegaltrade which they referred to as "reparations". In his book"Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs In China", the SinologistFrank Dikotter argues that China's opium problem was greatlyexaggerated, explaining that while British politicians andProtestant missionaries grandstanded over China's opium problem,Britain was quietly consuming more opium per capita thanChina.

However in China there was anaverage of one death by starvation per year for more than amillennium until the late 1800s - where millions died of starvationin China. The opium was exported from India, which was controlledby the United Kingdom at the time and imported to China.

Legal penalties

In many countries, drugsmuggling carries a severe penalty, including the death penalty(for example, China and Singapore). In 2010, two people weresentenced to death in Malaysia for trafficking 1 kilogram/2.2pounds of cannabis into the country. On March 30, 2011, threeFilipinos were executed by the Chinese government for drugtrafficking.

In the USA, Federal lawstates that first time offenders be sentenced to a minimum term ofimprisonment averaging 1 to 3 years. These sentences have becomemore noticed in recent years.

Drug trafficking is widelyregarded as the most serious of drug offences around the world.However, sentencing often depends on the type of drug (and itsclassification in the country into which it is being trafficked)and where the drugs are sold and how they are distributed; forexample if the drugs are sold to or distributed by underage people,then the penalties for trafficking may be harsher than in othercircumstances.

Effects of illegal drug tradeon societies

The countries of drugproduction have been seen as the worst affected by prohibition.Even so, countries receiving the illegally-imported substances arealso affected by problems stemming from drug prohibition. Forexample, Ecuador has allegedly absorbed up to 300,000 refugees fromColombia who are running from guerrillas, paramilitaries and druglords, says Linda Helfrich. While some applied for asylum, othersare still illegal, and the drugs that pass from Colombia throughEcuador to other parts of South America create economic and socialproblems.

Violent crime

In many countries worldwide,the illegal drug trade is thought to be directly linked to violentcrimes such as murder; this is especially true in third worldcountries, but is also an issue for many developed countriesworldwide. In the late 1990s in the United States, for example, theFederal Bureau of Investigation estimated that 5% of murders weredrug-related. However, after a crackdown by U.S. and Mexicanauthorities in the first decade of the 21st century (part oftightened borders security in the wake of the September 11attacks), border violence inside Mexico surged, with the Mexicangovernment estimating that 90% of the killings aredrug-related.

A report by the UKgovernment's drug strategy unit that was subsequently leaked to thepress, stated that due to the expensive price of highly addictivedrugs heroin and cocaine, that drug use was responsible for thegreat majority of crime, including 85% for shoplifting, 70-80% ofburglaries and 54% of robberies. "The cost of crime committed tosupport illegal cocaine and heroin habits amounts to 16 billion ayear in the UK" (note: this is more than the entire annual UK HomeOffice budget).

Profits

Due to its illicit nature,statistics about profits from the drug trade are largely unknown.In its 1997 World Drugs Report the UNODC estimated the value of themarket at USD$400 billion, ranking drugs alongside arms and oilamongst the world's largest traded goods. An online reportpublished by the UK Home Office in 2007 estimated the illicit drugmarket in the UK at 46.6 billion a year

In December 2009, the UnitedNations' Drugs and Crime Tsar Antonio Maria Costa claimed thatillegal drug money saved the banking industry from collapse. Heclaimed he had seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crimewere "the only liquid investment capital" available to some bankson the brink of collapse during 2008. He said that a majority ofthe $352bn (216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economicsystem as a result. "In many instances, the money from drugs wasthe only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008,liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquidcapital became an important factor...Inter-bank loans were fundedby money that originated from the drugs trade and other illegalactivities... There were signs that some banks were rescued thatway". Costa declined to identify countries or banks that may havereceived any drug money, saying that would be inappropriate becausehis office is supposed to address the problem, not apportionblame.

Minors and the illegal drugtrade in the US

The U.S. government's mostrecent 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reportedthat nationwide over 800,000 adolescents ages 1217 sold illegaldrugs during the twelve months preceding the survey. The 2005 YouthRisk Behavior Survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC) reported that nationwide 25.4% of students hadbeen offered, sold, or given an illegal drug by someone on schoolproperty. The prevalence of having been offered, sold, or given anillegal drug on school property ranged from 15.5% to 38.8% acrossstate CDC surveys (median: 26.1%) and from 20.3% to 40.0% acrosslocal surveys (median: 29.4%).

Despite over $7 billion spentannually towards arresting and prosecuting nearly 800,000 peopleacross the country for marijuana offenses in 2005 (FBI UniformCrime Reports), the federally-funded Monitoring the Future Surveyreports about 85% of high school seniors find marijuana easy toobtain. That figure has remained virtually unchanged since 1975,never dropping below 82.7% in three decades of nationalsurveys.

In 2009, the JusticeDepartment identified more than 200 U.S. cities in which Mexicandrug cartels "maintain drug distribution networks or supply drugsto distributors" - up from 100 three years earlier.

Trade of specificdrugs

Cannabis

While the recreational use of(and consequently the distribution of) cannabis is illegal in mostcountries throughout the world, it is available by prescription orrecommendation in many places, including some US states and inCanada. Cannabis use is tolerated in some areas, most notably theNetherlands which has legalized the possession and licensed sale(but strangely not production) of the drug. Many nations havedecriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Due tothe hardy nature of the Cannabis plant, marijuana is grown allacross the world and is today the world's most popular illegal drugwith the highest availability. Cannabis is grown legally in manycountries for industrial, non-drug use (known as hemp) aswell.