Drug Trafficking Across International Borders - Term Paper Example

International Efforts to Combat the Trafficking of Cocaine, Heroin and Cannabis Introduction Drug trafficking across international borders entails the movement of illegal substances across such borders. Mostly, willing buyers and sellers collaborate to successfully execute this process. According to Wu et al. (2005), this is the riskiest phase of the illicit drug trade. Heroin, cocaine and cannabis are the most trafficked illicit drugs around the world, the National Crime Agency (2014) estimating the amount of heroin, cocaine and cannabis being trafficked into the UK at between 18 and 23 tonnes, 25 to 30 tonnes and 270 tonnes respectively. Whereas heroin and cocaine are categorised as Class A drugs, cannabis is categorised in Class B (the UK Government 2014). According to Boivin (2013), international drug trafficking could be attributed to an interplay of geographic, economic, political and cultural factors. Over 40% of trade in cocaine, heroin and marijuana occurs in peripheral countries, with the 2006/2007 United Kingdom Threat Assessment of Serious Organised Crime indicating that criminals drawn from particular ethnicities, Turkish and Columbian traffickers common in the UK case, are largely involved in trafficking. Interestingly, a majority of countries postulated to benefit from the trade in drugs rarely appear among the top global economies. Drug trafficking, and indeed drug abuse, has been associated with negative socio-economic effects among nations (Lyman 2014). Therefore, drug trafficking has been fought against by the international community for many years now. Cocaine heroin and cannabis are among the most common forms of drugs that international focus has been given to prevent cultivation and distribution. Even with such efforts, drug trafficking still remains a rampant practice in a majority of countries across the world. Whereas governments have institutionalised programmes aimed at dismantling the illicit trade, no meaningful reduction in the trade has been experienced. Thus, this paper evaluates some of these efforts to determine their effectiveness. Efforts to Combat Trafficking Nations around the world have adopted critical strategies to combat international trafficking of drugs. According to the Maxwell Knowledge Group (2007), four pillars have been adopted in a majority of these cases. As borrowed from the UK Drug Strategy, these pillars encompass prevention of young people from being drug users, reduction of crimes related to drugs, increasing the number of those who could access drugs and reduction of supply of illicit drugs. Combined together, these four efforts seek to eliminate drug trafficking across international borders. Acknowledging that drug trafficking affects nations across the world, international cooperation has been used to combat the crime. The UK, among many other nations, has been on the forefront, cooperating with international partners to this effect. The United Nation through its United Nations International Drug Control Programme, UNDCP coordinates international assistance and promotes efforts geared towards curbing drug trafficking since 1991. The UK has joined the Dublin Group, a component of the UNDCP, where it joins other EU countries to coordinate policies in producer and transit countries. Other partners include the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, CND, G8 and the Financial Action Task Force. The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Trafficking explicitly aims at fighting against the drug markets and the distribution of illicit drugs, including heroin, cocaine and marijuana (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2012). The Convention developed a framework which all member states were expected to adhere to so as to combat drug trafficking through the improvement and strengthening of international cooperation among the involved authorities. This way, information would be shared across the member states and subsequently used to break the drug trafficking rings. At the national levels, countries have been keen to legislate stringent laws to deter trade in illicit drugs as a way to combat drug trafficking. With this regard, the Maxwell Knowledge Group (2007) gives the example of Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Serious Crime Bill 2007 which consider drug trafficking as a serious crime and allow for seizing for finances and all other proceeds received through the illegal trade. The UK Government (2014) sets out a penalty of up to 7 years in prison and an unlimited fine, or both for being in possession of cocaine and heroin, but an even more stringent life prison and/or an unlimited fine for supplying and producing the drugs. For cannabis, up to 5 years in prison and/or unlimited fine an up to 14 years in prison and/or unlimited fine has been set for being in possession and supplying or production respectively. These legislations also allow for seizing of assets of drug traffickers and prosecution of those involved in money laundering to curb drug trafficking. Furthermore, there have been global efforts to reduce demand of illicit drugs. To do so, governments provide drug education and effectively advise citizens on active resistance to substance misuse. Primarily, this could be delivered through drug education in learning institutions. Local authorities have also been charged with supporting the vulnerable families so as to reduce the chances of their involvement in drugs. The Public Health Grant and the Early Intervention Grant which are overseen by the Directors of Children Services and Directors of Public Health are among the initiatives that the UK government uses to curb demand for drugs in the nation (Quah et al. 2014). The continued support of drug rehabilitation centres has also been undertaken in many nations to reduce drug dependence. Such efforts play a critical role in curbing the demand for drugs and as such reducing drug trafficking in effect. Lastly, nations have been keen to protect their borders against the entry of illicit drugs, this being an approach to restrict supply of drugs. DrugScope (2013) cites a example of the National Crime Agency set up by the UK government which would work with the Border Agency to stop drug importation from overseas. Key priorities have been given to cocaine and heroin although these agencies with these agencies made to appreciate the changing landscape of drugs and the new drugs in the market. Using Crime Maps, these agencies see the kinds of crimes reported in an area and device appropriate deterrent approaches. Such efforts have extended to capture the sale of drugs through the Internet. Evaluation The international community has been successful in developing strategies to effectively combat trafficking of heroin, cocaine and cannabis. However, statistics show a continued use of these drugs across the international borders. According to Lyman (2014), 2010 World Drug Report indicated that approximately 155 million to 250 million people use drugs in the world. Of these, 3.5% to 5.7% aged between 15 and 64 had used illicit drugs in the past one year. Cannabis was the most abused by between 129 and 190 million people, with cocaine coming in second. In the UK, the strategy to fight against drug trafficking costs about £10.7 billion per year, with organised criminals being a major threat to drug smuggling. Class A drugs, specifically heroin and cocaine, are widely available (National Crime Agency 2014). Thus, strategies to curb drug trafficking seem not to have been effective enough. The stringent legislative measures have successfully instilled fear on drug traffickers. Nonetheless, drug trafficking continues to be rampant, an indication of the failure by these legislative measures to meet the intended mandate. Partly, this could be attributed to a failure by the legislators to come up with clear cut laws to deter drug trafficking in totality. As noted by Wu et al. (2005), some of these crimes have laws modestly enforced against them. For instance, in spite of cannabis being the most commonly abused illicit drug, the incarceration of perpetrators of trade in cannabis remains rare across the world. Cannabis has particularly elicited much interest because in some countries, there is some leeway to trade in the drug. In the Netherlands, retail sales of up to 5 grams is allowed while Alaska allows for legal personal possession and growing of up to 25 cannabis plants. Many other countries use the drug for medicinal purposes, allowing for some legal trade with the drug (Quah 2014). With the supply side of the trade allowing for some form of legality in the trade of such illegal drugs, traffickers have found ways to carry out their activities under the disguise of such legislations, hence the reason that trafficking still remains rampant. Even where effective legislations against drug trafficking exist, delays in court proceedings have limited the effectiveness of these legislations. The Maxwell Knowledge Group (2007) gives the example of the UK which had only seized assets worth 68 million by 2007. This was a significant amount of money but delayed court proceedings had just seen the assets continue being frozen for a long time. Since drug trafficking occurs across international borders and is considered a global scourge capable of inflicting serious harm to the general populations, International Criminal Law against the crime would have been appropriate. With this regard, the International Criminal Court, ICC, established as a permanent entity to sanction and prosecute worst human behaviours, would have been best placed to oversee the prosecution of drug traffickers. However, with the court is limited to cases involving crime against humanity, of which drug trafficking cannot qualify as one, it becomes apparent that no such cases would handled by the court (UNOD 2012). The international community has failed to consider drug trafficking as a serious crime, significant enough to be handled at the ICC, despite such cases being considered as grievous in their respective national legislations. Such incongruence in legislations could be considered as a failure by the international community in their legislative efforts to curb drug trafficking. The international cooperation strategy was a success in bringing together nations to fight against drug trafficking. However, whereas conventions such as the UN Convention Against Illicit Trafficking have beneficial objectives that might have informed the anti-trafficking efforts undertaken in the past decades, they play insignificant role in executing the expected mandate. According to Jenner (2011), the major downfall of such measures has been the fact that they remain just as a mere framework; a guideline that appears only in words. Albeit member states would be required to abide by such guidelines, enforcing strict compliance has remained a complex issue, especially in cases where no mechanisms for true and practical enforcement exist. Moreover, some members have been noted to be have more to lose by contributing to the convention than they have to gain. Compliance cost would be significantly higher for those states that produce narcotics with some states risking jeopardising their political and economic stability thus the lax in strict enforcement of these guidelines. Therefore, international cooperation has not benefitted the fight against drug trafficking as would be expected. Finally, the interdiction on the routes used for drug trafficking has effectively closed down some routes for drug traffickers. The problem with this strategy, nonetheless, is that traffickers respond by shifting the trafficking routes to alternative routes that are more attractive. As such, the traffic would move completely or partially from the original routes. Quah et al. (2014) give the December 2003 example of the Dutch government introducing a policy to search all passengers suspected of trafficking cocaine. Indeed, the policy yielded fruit with the first and second quarters of 2004 posting 343 and 483 cases respectively. However, in the third quarter, this had dropped to 40 and to 17 in the fourth quarter. There was an indication of no net effect on the quantity of cocaine entering the Netherlands, and subsequently into Europe. Substantial amount of cocaine was noted to enter West Africa and then exit to Europe. Additionally, considering statistics by the Matrix Knowledge Group (2007) of the drug market in UK posting between £4 and £6.6 billion per year, the trade generates immense financial returns which make it possible for drug traffickers to corrupt, contaminate and penetrate government structures, legitimate businesses and all levels of the society. Thus, interdiction proved to be ineffective in combating drug trafficking. Conclusion Numerous strategies have been adopted by the international community to curb trafficking of heroin, cocaine and cannabis, these being the most traded illicit drugs globally. These strategies include international cooperation to fight the crime, putting in place stringent legislations against trade in illicit drugs and efforts to deter demand and supply of drugs. These approaches have been noted to have instilled fear among drug traffickers but yielded no meaningful results to combat the crime. Poor enforcement of law, having vague legislations and non-commitment to international cooperation hinder the attainment of the set goals. As such, drug trafficking continues to flourish at the international scale. To effectively combat drug trafficking, it would therefore be important for the international community to adopt strategies to compel law enforcers to pay greater attention to implementation of laws against drug trafficking and adhere to the guidelines on dismantling illicit drug trade. References Boivin, R 2013, Drug trafficking in the world-economy, viewed 29 November 2014, http://www.erdr.org/textes/boivin.pdf DrugScope 2013, What is the UK’s international approach to drugs? Viewed 29 November 2014 http://www.drugscope.org.uk/resources/faqs/faqpages/what-is-the-uks-international-approach Jenner, MS 2011, ‘International drug trafficking: a global problem with a domestic solution,’ Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, vol. 18, no. 2, viewed 29 November 2014, http://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijgls/vol18/iss2/10 Lyman, MD 2014, Drugs in society: causes, concepts, and control, 7th edn, Routledge, Oxon, OX. Matrix Knowledge Group 2007, The illicit drug trade, 2nd edn, viewed 28 November 2014, http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110220105210/rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/rdsolr2007.pdf National Crime Agency 2014, Drugs, viewed 28 November 2014, http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/crime-threats/drugs Paoli, L & Reuter, P 2008, ‘Drug trafficking and ethnic minorities in Western Europe,’ European Journal of Criminology, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 13 – 37. Quah D et al. 2014 May, Ending the drug wars, Report of the LSE Expert Group on the Economics of Drug Policy, The London School of Economics and Political Science, London. UK Government 2014, Drugs penalties, viewed 28 November 2014, https://www.gov.uk/penalties-drug-possession-dealing United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2012, World Drug Report 2012, United Nations, New York. 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