U.S. Drug War in Latin

U.S. Drug War in Latin America

The fight against drugs is one of the most complex problems of the contemporary world that has not come to see a solution yet. U.S. have become one of the biggest drug markets on the planet and therefore the U.S. government is making huge efforts to fight narcotics on two fronts: at home, where they are imported and used and abroad, where they are produced.

A first step toward success was achieved by the United States when several Latin American governments agreed to the link between drugs and crime and declared their will to cooperate with the U.S. In the fight against drugs and everything related to them.

By the early 1900s, the U.S. had now law to prohibit or control the trade or use of narcotics. The first such law passed by the U.S. Congress in 1909 was the Smoking Opium Exclusion Act. The main reason Roosevelt agreed to it was because of the desire to improve the relationships with China which was confronted with the increased consumption of opium. Opium became a problem for the U.S., too once they gained control over the Philippines after the Spanish - American War. Things have changed dramatically since then. Now, the U.S. government is fighting drug production in various parts of the world and the trade and consumption inside the country. Countries like Columbia, Mexico, Peru and Bolivia produce most of the cocaine, marihuana and heroine distributed in the U.S. And Mexico represents today, according the this years International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, introduced by Assistant Secretary, David T. Johnson, the major transport communication way for more than 90% of the cocaine introduced in the U.S. Assistant Secretary Johnson also stated that this year "drug trafficking organizations control drug distribution networks in the U.S."(Johnson, 2008). The dimension of Mexican implication in the drug matter on different levels made the cooperation between Mexico and the U.S. absolutely necessary in the battle against drugs. Last, year, the INCSR estimated that although the demand for cocaine has decreased over the last ten years in the United States, there are still serious problems generated by the cocaine consumption in the country, related to crime and poor health and economic conditions those who use the drug usually are confronted with. "According to the July 2006 interagency assessment of cocaine movement, between 517-732 metric tons of cocaine hydrochloride (HCl) depart South America for the United States annually" (Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, 2007). The most effective method of fighting the drugs is still believed to be prevention: eradication of their production. The joined efforts of the governments implicated in the drug are aimed at crop eradication, by destroying the crops using chemical substances thrown from airplanes and regulations regarding the availability of substances used for the production of chemical narcotics such as methamphetamine. The first drug fighting method is still debated over, since there are certain Latin American countries where the method is illegal and thus impossible to use. On the other hand, there are huge costs, economically and socially speaking, in the countries where it is possible to put it in practice. There is also talk of alternatives offered to the farmers who grow coca and efforts to improve the infrastructure the investments in agriculture in their countries, provided they are willing to accept the changes. The assessment of the success or failure of the methods used by the joint efforts of U.S. And Latin American Countries such as Columbia or Mexico are still premature and destined to show a pessimistic point-of-view. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, the methods used so far were destined to fail. The explanation of the Drug Policy Alliance supporting a statement regarding the uselessness of the eradication method is relaying on the so called "balloon effect." That means that the extermination of crops destined for the production of coca and heroin in one region will determine the increase of production in another region in Latin America. Unfortunately, the numbers are in favor of this opinion. But they are not taking into account that the fight on the seizure of drugs first inside Latin American Countries has increased and became more effective over the last years and the fact that more Latin American governments are working toward joining their efforts to those of the U.S. And some European Countries that lately became implicated in the war on drugs. In Argentina, the efforts of the U.S. governments Policy are focused lately on the reduction of drugs entering the country over the Bolivian border. U.S. efforts to fight drugs are aimed in Bolivia to reduce the coca production and offer alternatives for the economic development of the social classes dependable on the production or processing of coca. Bolivia needs a better law enforcement system, reduction of the use of narcotics by its own population and more effective means of educating the people and making tem aware of the dangers of using narcotics. Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement of the Department of State is closely cooperating with the Bolivian officials toward achieving the afore mentioned goals. The cooperation between Brazil and the United States is aimed mainly toward the fight against the trafficking networks and the education of the population on subjects related to the effects of drug consumption. Paraguay is another major drug transit country and there are sustained cooperation efforts between the U.S. And Paraguay destined to help the latter succeed in seizing and annihilating the trafficking networks. The cooperation with other countries that are serve as important transit regions, like Venezuela, is still difficult to achieve mainly because of the lack of action of the respective governments, but the U.S. INL of the State Department was optimistic on the matter of improving this situation.