The majority of Americans are not well informed on the illicit drug problem (Lyman & Potter, 2007, p. 1) which is giving the federal and state government a run for their money. The United States has been spending a lot of money on this issue for decades in an attempt to curb their alienation into society because of their knowledge of its impact on social integrity and dignity. Thus, the knowledge on the sources of illicit drugs is of great importance in helping the federal and state governments to control the spread and access of illicit drugs by Americans. Thus this paper seeks to examine the two key sources of illicit drugs and the challenges they pose to the federal and states government in their campaign against them. These two major sources of illicit drugs are Colombian and Mexican drug cartels.
Lyman and potter (2007, p. 220) argue that Colombian traffickers have not been dilapidated by the increasing influence of the Mexican crime syndicates and that they still control the manufacture of the immense majority of cocaine in their continent and most of the large-scale cocaine market share in the eastern united states. This drug cartel transports their cocaine from their undercover laboratories situated in the jungles in the southeast region of Colombia through Mexico and the Caribbean, using private aircraft, containerized cargo, go-fast boast, and commercial maritime vessels. Further, the authors (2007, p. 221) assert that the transportation methods are diverse, and to circumvent interdiction endeavors traffickers often change their course as well as their modus operandi.
The geographical situation of Colombia has proven an enduring drawback to the Colombian drug cartels as opposed to their Mexican counterparts. The Colombian drug cartels encounter numerous challenges during the preliminary stage of the money-laundering steps that Mexican organizations do not face. Colombian drug syndicates have previously depended on a holistic collection process. They have accumulated currency in different strategic locations, applied different techniques such as bribery and smuggling to establish the cash into the United States banking system, and consequently repatriate it to Colombia. This organization has a device as a means of circumventing the high risks linked with direct deposit in the United States. They have switched to the basic money-laundering process; the bulk transfer of cash. The immense scale of commercial trade between the two countries helps camouflage and ease the trafficker’s dealings.
Noteworthy, Colombian drug cartels popularly exploits a form of money laundering called the Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE). They use BMPE to launder billions of U.S currency drug cash every year by exploiting the panama’s Colon Free Zone (CFZ), which act as an essential connection in the trafficker’s money-laundering cycle.
On the other side, Mexico serves both as an important drug transshipment and producer nation, as well as a channel and storehouse for the laundering of drug turnover produced in the U.S. in regard with this conviction the authors affirms that the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels have developed an intimate working relationships. In fact the law enforcement officials realized during the start of 1990s, that the Mexican traffickers played an active role in assisting Colombian drug dealers in the transshipping of cocaine via Mexico to the U.S. and for money laundering dealings.
The Mexican drug traffickers employ the same money laundering technique like their Colombian counterparts. However, with respect to movement of the illicit drugs they directly smuggle them into the U.S across border, and don’t need the Caribbean to introduce the illicit drug into the U.S market. According to Lyman and Potter (2007, p. 222), the Mexican drug cartels often utilize tractor trailers and cars with concealed compartments to smuggle drugs from Mexico into the U.S. and then use the same vehicles to repatriate the proceeds from the street sales. The Mexican traffickers majorly used overland smuggling techniques to move illicit drugs from the inside of Mexico to the U.S.
The authors (p. 222) further affirms that drug cartels based in Colombia move their turnover from illicit drug sales in the interior of the U.S to New York, Miami, and Los Angeles for bulk shipment out of the U.S. Also, both drug cartels often use vehicles with concealed compartments to convey huge amounts of U.S. currency into Mexico. This has led to an increase of financial seizures along the roadways of the U.S. The Mexican drug traffickers do not rely on New York, Los Angeles and Miami port for repatriation of the illicit drug proceeds.
These drugs cartel just like terrorism pose a significant threat to Americans, and the government of the United States. These organizations pose the greatest threat especially to the adolescent whose lives are literary flashed down the drain by illicit drug (Kuhn, Swartz & Wilson, 2008). This group forms the basis for a countries future success. To the ordinary citizen they a pose risk of infection of HIV through injection. Illicit drug promote crimes which leads to loses of personal assets and governments revenues channeled to support prisons to keep away criminals from society. Also, proceeds from illicit drug are money misguided which would rather have been invested in improvement of civilization. This can be equated to lose resulting from terrorist bombing of lucrative skyscrapers like the case of the Twin Towers bombing. Therefore illicit drug campaign should be accorded the same intensity like that for terrorist organizations.
Reference List
Kuhn, C., Swartz welder, S., & Wilson, W. (2008) Buzzed: The straight facts about the most used and abused drugs from alcohol to ecstasy (3rd ed). New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co.
Lyman, M.D., & Potter, G.W. (2007).Drugs in society (5th ed). Cincinnati, OH: Anderson Publishing.