This week, continuing the discussion on the trafficking of illicit drugs throughout the United States, I want to talk about how different administrations targeted different aspects of the problem, and had different plans to deal with the issues.

Starting with administration under President Donald Trump, he planned to counteract the drug trafficking issues by building his wall on the border. “The mercurial approach by his administration during the past four years has left anti-drug allies unmoored, provided political capital to presidents who undermined anti-corruption initiatives and squandered efforts to improve regional security by throwing resources at an ineffective border wall” (Business Insider). Trump used drug trafficking incidents of MS13 to build more anti-immigration policies and support his building of the wall on the border of Mexico and the United States. His “zero tolerance” policy at the border, that enforced the separation of families trying to cross, “further pushed people into the illegal market and the hands of criminal groups, helped raise the price for criminal services like human smuggling, increased the risk that deportees would enter the ranks of criminal groups and eroded trust between authorities and migrant communities exploited by criminal groups” (Business Insider). In September of 2020, Trump ordered that the Mexican government crack down and diminish efforts of the Mexican drug cartel, or otherwise face consequences. Consequences such as the Mexican administration under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador would run the risk of being found to have “failed demonstrably to uphold its international drug control commitments”(Business Insider). Many believe this deemed his efforts ineffective and deficient to solving the actual drug trafficking issue.

In January, the new President Joe Biden was inducted into office and administration. He is planning to handle the current drug trafficking issues with a different approach.  According to an article put out by Brookings Edu, the incoming Biden administration should be “especially wary of the likely inevitable growth of fentanyl shipment through maritime areas and the potential for such organizations to use technology to engage in ‘gray zone’-like activities, which could make their trafficking operations even more effective” (Brookings). Fentanyl is one of the newer chemically-engineered drugs as discussed in my last civic blog post. In 2018 alone, 69,425 cases of fentanyl trafficking were reported to the United States sentencing commission (USSC). Fentanyl as well as synthetic opioids being trafficked can cause even more danger to society because it is not uncommon for people to be unaware that what they are buying contains any type of fentanyl or synthetic materials. Producers of the illicit drugs cut them with the synthetic chemicals to make more product for cheaper, and ultimately make more money. However, these synthetic drugs can be more dangerous and result in overdoses, some that can be fatal. According to the CDC, “deaths involving other synthetic opioids other than methadone (primarily fentanyl) continue to rise with more than 36,359 overdose deaths reported in 2019” (CDC).

Because of the growing production and distribution of fentanyl, and therefore rising death rates due to overdoses, the Biden administration should likely take that into consideration when dealing with drug trafficking policies, and might even considering prioritizing the trafficking of fentanyl as an imminent threat. According to Brookings research and opinions, “The new administration should likewise prioritize and bolster counter-TCO(transnational criminal organizations) intelligence support, consider advancing the use of U.S. cyber tools, and enhance the capabilities and capacity of the U.S. Coast Guard to help mitigate that threat”, with “that threat” being the “likely inevitable growth of fentanyl” (Brookings).

Although many believe this is how the Biden administration should attempt to take action, others do not seem to expect much change when it comes to drug trafficking under Biden. Although Biden may act on some changes advocated for by a Congress report in December, including  a “’long-term, inter-agency’ counter-narcotics strategy that would involve greater funding for science-based treatment and prevention, more resources for the Treasury Department’s anti-money laundering efforts, a new drug certification and designation process, and a data-driven overhaul of the metrics for combating drug trafficking and money laundering”, most think he is most likely to stay on track with “what has prevailed during most of his career”, which has failed to curb United States drug consumption or trafficking throughout the states (Americas Quarterly). According to the chair of the commission that put together that Congress report, we should expect the Biden administration to focus more on the “citizen security and fighting transnational criminal organizations versus interdicting drugs and focusing on drug trafficking alone” (Americas Quarterly).

Regardless of whether the Biden administration is able to focus on making the changes needed to halt the spreading drug trafficking throughout the country and the rising fentanyl production, it continues to be a civic issue and has people in society dying. It is an issue that, if goes untouched, will continue to rise and get out of control according to studies and trends mentioned previously in above paragraphs. If people are being affected enough for a report suggesting changes be made to United States policies, it is enough of a civic issue and threat to society to need to be reformed.

Resources

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/5-ways-trumps-policies-against-cartels-and-drug-traffickers-backfired-2020-11%3famp

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/01/15/the-wicked-problem-of-drug-trafficking-in-the-western-hemisphere/amp/

https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-publications/quick-facts/Fentanyl_FY18.pdf

https://www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

Under Biden, Big Changes on Drugs and Crime Seem Unlikely

For my civic blog topic, I decided to focus on drug trafficking. I chose this because over quarantine last March, I binge watched the show Narcos on netflix, a fictional, but realistic show on drug cartels and drug trafficking. For my blog, I decided to focus on the drug trafficking that goes on in the United States.

First, I wanted to find the most common drug types that are trafficked through to the U.S.. Seizures of heroin and meth tripled and quintupled from 2009 to 2014, while cocaine and marijuana remain the two most commonly seized drugs at the United States borders. So where do the drugs most commonly come from?

Drug trafficking is defined as “the global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution, and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws.”

The Southwestern border is one of the main areas that the illegal substances travel across into the U.S. This is the two thousand mile stretch of land between the United States and Mexico. The drug cartels in Mexico use different methods to distribute the drugs and get them across the border into the United States. Some of these include using drug mules, trains, boats, vehicles, etc. “Mexico is the number one foreign supplier of marijuana to the United States”, as well as methamphetamine. Heroin tends to come from the Middle East and Asia, while cocaine is likely from Columbia, however Mexico often distributes the Columbian cocaine to the United States (The Recovery Village). Now that some of the main facts have been established, why or how is drug trafficking a civic issue?

For starters, there is the money aspect of it. Illegal drug abuse costs American an outrageous amount. According to The Recovery Village, the cost is about one hundred and eighty one billion dollars a year. This includes health care costs, law enforcement, and lost work place productivity, as well as legal costs. Our prison systems are also overcrowded, due to many drug related incarcerations, using, selling, etc. This adds up in tax dollars as well, since society is partly responsible for paying for prisons and institutions. This creates an issue for society because many people are already outraged or disapprove of the taxes they face, and paying for the incarceration of drug supporters is not something many are eager to do. Many argue that the government is at fault for allowing the illegal substances into our country and across the borders in the first place. This creates another civic issue in the question of border patrol. In order to increase our border patrol and therefore decrease the amount of drug trafficking getting over in the United States, more funding would be needed. In order for the government to produce that funding would be to increase taxes on society, or create new taxes. This, in turn would create a similar issue to what was already discussed in the prison funding situation.

Another civic issue that stems from drug trafficking in the United States is drug addiction. Many people in the United States suffer from severe drug addictions, which in turn can cause multiple problems for society. One of these common issues is money again. As a society we help to pay for drug rehabilitation facilities, as well as incarceration of those with severe drug offenses, as discussed previously. However, another issue that can be created by drug trafficking or addiction is an issue with violence. Not only do certain drugs cause hallucinations for some people, but with these hallucinations can come violence. People high on drugs may start acting violently towards others, whether they be provoked or unprovoked.  “Prison populations are full of drug offenders and abusers who committed their crimes while on drugs. In 2004, a national survey found that thirty two percent of all state prisoners and twenty six percent of federal prisoners admitted to being under the influence of drugs when they committed their most current offense. Additionally in 2007, approximately 1.8 million people were arrested for drug abuse offenses.” In turn, this can cause issues of violence with police. Force may be necessary of police officers to contain an offender that is high on drugs if they are unresponsive or not cooperating. However, force also may not be necessary but may be used, which creates an entire other civic issue having to do with unnecessary police brutality.

Another issue that has more recently stemmed from drug trafficking is the production and distribution of synthetic drugs. Synthetic drugs often contain legal and unregulated chemicals, and due to the growing use of technology and internet, they are easily distributed online without a lot of monitoring. These drugs are fake and essentially worse in some cases than normal drugs that are trafficked into the country. The chemicals in these drugs are unsafe and often lethal to people who take them. These chemicals are often distributed from China and come in a multitude of varieties (The Recovery Village). This creates yet another detrimental danger to society and its safety.

Overall, one of the largest problems the United States is facing due to drug trafficking is one of financial significance. Many of the solutions that would prevent or lessen the illicit substances crossing the border, would be more financially straining measures than already exist, like increasing border patrol, for example. Is there a better way to stop the drug trafficking and all of the problems that stem from it? Or is it going to financially cost us more in the beginning to fix the issues already in place?