Globalization of Crime on Narcotic Drugs - Research Paper Example

Introduction Globalization refers to a process of integrating people who are located all over the world to come together and out carry business and investments through application of technology. In addition, globalization brings different people together and enables them to share their culture, information and technology. Through globalization, poor countries have started to develop both technologically and economically. This advancement may be attributed to Multinational Corporation with other states in the western world. Additionally, globalization presents other benefits to both individuals and organisations. Some of these benefits include: helping to create economic independence and specialization among different countries because it allows countries to produce what they can be able to produce best. In addition, globalization helps to establish competition between the local firms; which consequently leads to an increase in quality and quantity of goods (Pettinger, 2012). However, globalization tends to have some great drawbacks that not only affect individuals but also the entire economy. For example, through globalization, the rate of crime has been reported to increase immensely. Whereby, globalization has facilitated different forms of crime such as financial crime, cyber crime as more importantly Narcotic drugs trafficking. Globalization has opened avenues where narcotic drug dealers can communicate and carry out their business in a more efficient and effective manner. For instance, globalization of crime has enables Narcotic drug traffickers to reach their customers by the use of information communication technology. This has made their business to improve substantially and hence, leading to escalating cases of illegal business. Therefore, this study aims to compare and contrast global, community, organizational, and/ or individual aspects of globalization of crime of Narcotics Trafficking as discussed (Pettinger, 2012). Comparing and contrasting global, community, organizational, and/ or individual aspects of globalization of crime of Narcotics drug trafficking The global aspect of globalization of crime tends to appear in numerous forms. For instance, research indicates that the drug trafficking industry across the globe has grown substantially more than any other trade despite the fact that it is an illegal business. Business does not have any identity regarding to who execute this kind of business. But it is believed that drug, trafficking is an organized crime that is being supported by even senior government official across the globe. This is because the manner in which narcotic drugs are being exported and imported to different destination across the globe tends to be so organized making it quit difficult to trace the offenders. According to research findings by UNESCO, the current annual revenue emanating from Narcotics drug trafficking stand at four hundred billion annually. This figure tends to be very close to the amount of revenues obtained from car manufacturing and pharmaceutical industry (Williams & Milani, 1999). Globalization of Narcotic crime began to take shape between 1970 and 1980; Whereby, Narcotics drug dealers stopped the acts of racketeering and started embracing Narcotics drug trafficking. This change occurred after the Americans-Italians had lost the supply of Heroin to the Asian suppliers. It is also important to note that suppliers of Narcotics drugs do not like sharing market for the supply of Narcotic drugs but rather they engage in monopolies so that they can sell their products to their customers at a price that they perceive is right. Therefore, Narcotic drug dealers had to fight with their counter parts in order to maintain monopoly of their business. These wrangles were witnessed in 1970’s when the London drug barons moved towards the out skirts of the city Essex and Cant to try and control the market. However, they faced opposition and violence from their counterparts in those areas who also wanted to maintain their market share. This violence alerted the police who took drastic steps to try and curtail it. This led to further decline in the rate of crimes involving Narcotics drugs trafficking. Additionally, south Asian and Turkish drug barons used to supply heroin while their counterparts from Colombia and Mexico used to supply cocaine. Despite having different commodities to sell, the two groups were great business enemies and could not operate in the same regions without violence (Findlay, 2000). Wholesale distributors of Narcotics drugs globalized their supply techniques through adoption of non violence means of distributing their commodities to their customers located in different parts of the world. They had established some techniques whereby they collaborate with dock workers in the ships and Airplane as well as innocent holiday visitors who travel overseas to transport their commodities. In some instances, they would sell their commodities to freelance suppliers at a price that is slightly lower than the market price to import those drugs on their behalf. This practice later spread to Afghanistan, over recent times due to globalization. Organisation in developing countries such as Nigeria, Mali, Columbia and Ghana realized the significance of having a more organized crime in respect to drug trafficking rather than application of violence means to control the market. According to a report by the International law enforcement agencies, Narcotics drug trafficking business is being run in multibillion dollars. This is a clear indication that this business is highly organized and supported by senior government officials because such amount of money cannot circulate in an economy without the knowledge of senior leaders in that particular country (United Nations Office on Drug Crime, 2013). Most of the consumers of the Narcotics drugs are people from the community, especially young people from both poor and rich families. However, research indicates that drug barons target children’s from reach families in order to have a regular supply of income. UNESCO reports indicators that there are about two hundred million users of Narcotics drugs in the world. The production of illegal drugs has been witnessed in the entire community. For example, Russia was reported to produce cocaine that is approximate twenty times higher than other parts of the world (Williams & Milani, 1999). On the contrary, Cocoa plantations that were initially witnessed in some parts of the country such as Columbia and Peru have continued to spread to other countries due to globalization and advancement of production technology. Countries such as Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador have started the production of Narcotics drugs. In addition, the United States has high practice of cultivation of Cannabis despite the fact that U.S is one of the countries that lead in fight against the Narcotic drugs trafficking. Research indicates that cultivation of Cannabis bring the country approximate more than twenty five billion dollars per year. This indicates that the supply and consumption of illicit drugs bring substantial returns to the countries and communities that execute its production (Williams & Milani, 1999). In above connection, the impacts of Narcotics drug trafficking are numerous not only to individual but also to the entire economy. Some of the individual impacts include; adverse health impacts whereby, some people have been reported to suffer mental disorders and complications as a result of consumption of Narcotic drugs. Drugs further create addiction making the consumers to have a hard time to survive without them. Connectively, the consumption of Narcotics drugs require money which sometimes may not be available and hence, leading to other forms of crime such as theft in order to get money for buying Narcotics. On the contrary, the acts of Narcotic drug trafficking destroy the economy via money laundering because it injects substantial amount of money that its source cannot be traced. This further leads to an increase in macro economic factors such as high levels of inflation and unemployment (Williams & Milani, 1999). Conclusion Globalization refers to a process of integrating people located into different parts of the world to come together and out carry business and investments via the use of technology. On the other hand, globalization of crime entails application of technology to establish global networks for supplying and distributing Narcotic drugs. The global, communal and organizational aspects of globalization in respect to Narcotic drugs trafficking have been discussed. Whereby, different people and nations across the entire globe have been found to participate in the acts of Narcotic drugs trafficking. It can be observed that drug trafficking has been so prevalent across the entire world despite being an illegal business. The crime has well established networks which cannot be easily identified. Through globalization and emergence of the new technology, the drug barons have changed their technique of executing this crime. Initially, they used to apply violence to control their narcotic drugs market. But through globalization and emergence of technology, drug barons have established for a network that has made their business to prevail. The impacts of narcotic drugs trafficking have also been analysed in the graph as shown below. Graph Showing Incidence of Drug Trafficking Source :< http://www.drugabuse.gov/sites/default/files/images/colorbox/nsduh.gif> References Findlay, M. (2000). The globalization of crime: Understanding transitional relationships in context. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ. Press. Pettinger.T.(2012).Economics: Cost and Benefits of Globolisation.Retrieved on 8th November 2013. United Nations Office on Drug Crime. (2013). “The Globalization of Crime: A Transnational Organized Threat Assessment.Retrieved. Williams.S. & Milani.C. (1999).The Globalization of Trade Industry. Retrieved : on 8th November 2013. Read More