Studies indicate that drug trafficking in the US has exerted immense challenge on drug law enforcement agencies to maintain an all round security on the borders to prevent drug dealers in the US. Currently, the US is one of the leading and most profitable drugs dealing market. Persky (2012) posits that in the US, scores of people, vehicles and ships deals in illegal drugs such as methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin and cocaine.
The problem of drug trafficking has immensely impacted on the security and lives of many individuals and especially young people. It is against this backdrop that this paper takes a critical look at the challenge posed by drugs and argues that drug trafficking in the US has become one of the most challenging problems due to negative impacts associated with attraction of aggressive, sophisticated and most ruthless drug traffickers.
Although drug trafficking has remained a threat to individuals and the US government at large, it is imperative to note that the distribution of drugs is carried out by different groups of people.
One of the major suppliers of drugs is criminal groups which smuggle cocaine and heroine from South America and other parts of the world into the US. These criminal groups smuggle drugs in large qualities and most of it go through the major entry points along the US/Mexico border.
Acharya (2011) notes that the US has remained a major target by drug traffickers for many years due to the nature of the market which makes it easy to facilitate distribution. However, it is worth noting that the rate of drug trafficking has dropped in the last few years mainly due to the currently intensified fight against the menace.
However, the fight is considered to be far from over in the sense that the same problem is highly recurrent in other states that lack effective human, financial capital or the necessary goodwill to address the problem.
In spite of the fact that the problem of drug trafficking has recently become the center of controversy as traffickers continue intensifying their distribution to effect their unethical objectives, mechanisms to address the problem have equally been heightened.
Of particular consideration at this point is the fact that drug trafficking has major negative effects a consideration that is raising the urgency of addressing the problem. Although countries that have been most affected by the issue of drug abuse are those that engage in their production, it is imperative to note that even those that prohibit it suffer the consequences of drug trafficking.
Persky (2012) posits that social and economic problems attributed to drug trafficking have been rampant in the US. For instance, recent reports from the federal Bureau of Investigation indicate that over ten percent of murder cases are drug related. Studies indicate that incidences of murder due to drug trafficking are expected to rise due to the intense problem of drug trafficking.
Kleiman (2011) argues that drug trafficking in the US has brought about harmful effects to families, children and the greater population of the young people. He further indicates that over 10 million children in America have parents addicted to drugs. By the year 2005, about 4.3 million adults beyond the age of 50 years used illicit drugs between years 2006 and 2008. The use of marijuana by the same group was 6.1% while non-medical drugs abuse was 4.1% during the same period.
Further reports indicate that among children admitted in hospitals in the US, children g addicted to drugs were 29% higher compared to others (Kleiman, 2011). In addition to that, 70-90% of state’s welfare spending on children is estimated to result from substance abuse. Besides, reports from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) indicate that over 800000 young adolescents were affected by the illicit drugs that were trafficked in the US in 2005.
This number as Acharya (2011) points out has been on the increase with shocking reports pointing out that the majority of trafficker in the US are adolescents whose ages are between 12 and 17 years. In other reports, Kleiman (2011) indicates that about 80% of homeless and runaway adolescents reported drug use in their homes to have contributed to their situation.
Kleiman (2011) further indicates that among unemployed adults, 17.1% were illicit drug addicts compared to the other 10.2% drug addicts for part time workers and 8.2% for permanently employed individuals. Arrests made for drug users and the cost of prosecuting marijuana cases has been noted to be above $ 7 billion annually.
Resultant effects: Analysts indicate that the effects of drug trafficking on many families in the US have mainly been visible among the youth and children. According to Jenner (2011), the youth and children have been the most affected groups due to both peer influence and the fact that some of them imitate the habits from their parents.
Studies indicate that children are mostly affected since they consider their parents to depict expected code of behavior and therefore directly take them up. As a result, they consider taking drugs as being part of their family practices. Similar to other forms of maltreatment, sexual abuse takes place largely from poor reasoning ability of the addicted parents.
However, as Kleiman (2011) reports, cases of sexual abuse are often lower compared to those of physical abuse in the society. Parents under the influence of highly intoxicating drugs such as cocaine have occasionally been reported to attempt raping their children. Besides, Kleiman (2011) points out that of all the adult rape cases reported in the United States, about 60% of them are conducted when the culprit is under influence of the drugs.
Other forms of sexual abuse include, touching of the child’s private parts such as breasts and buttocks or even exposing them to pornography. In his view, Jenner (2011) argues that it is the threats and coercion that children get to keep their experience in silence. Other children are often given out for prostitution as Jenner continues to indicate either to raise more money for their ever rising demand for drugs or because of economic situation.
Conclusion: To sum up, the discussion in the paper supports the thesis statement that “drug trafficking in the US has become one of the most challenging problems due to its negative impacts associated with attraction of aggressive, sophisticated and most ruthless drug traffickers”. The discussion has clearly indicated that drug trafficking is a major cause of both social and economical problems in the US.
The drugs entering the nation from other parts of the world get into the US via the US/Mexican border. In the US, they exchange hands among families. The most affected groups as noted the paper are children and young people, the latter being major distributers within the nation. Appropriate measure need to be taken to address the issue that is growing each year/
References
Acharya, A. (2011). Urban violence in northern border of Mexico: a study from Nuevo León State. Sociology Mind, 1(4), 177-182
Jenner, M. (2011). International drug trafficking: a global problem with a domestic solution. Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, 18(2), 901-927.
Kleiman, M. (2011). Surgical strikes in the drug wars: smarter policies for both sides of the border. Foreign Affairs, 90(5), 89-101.
Persky, A. (2012). An arresting development. ABA Journal, 98(1), 15-16