TODAY, the world is struggling to deal with several huge problems which are really threatening mankind’s future, including global warming and climate change, HIVAIDS and the illegal drug trade.
While some progress is being made with respect to the previous two, very little or virtually no progress is being made as regards the latter one. In fact, the illegal drug trade appears to be growing and expanding and this is posing a headache for most countries, particularly those with large, porous borders.
The statistics in relation to this illegal trade are startling and frightening. The trade in illegal drugs is a multi-billion dollar global business. Worldwide, the UN estimates there are more than 50 million regular users of heroin, cocaine and synthetic drugs. Millions more are involved in their production, trafficking and sale. The illicit drugs trade (also referred to as the illegal drugs trade or drug trafficking), is one of the largest global businesses, at some $322 billion, according to the UN World Drug Report, 2007.
It attracts criminal organisations because the potential profits are significantly more than from other criminal commodities:
As the 2007 report notes (p.170), the high value is understandable because “unlike human beings, diamonds or firearms, the drug supply is consumed each year and in need of continuous renewal.”
It is also a global issue because profits [from illicit drugs] accrue to a wide range of actors, from poor rural farmers to affluent urban dealers. But, in many instances, the single most profitable sector of the market is the process of transporting the drugs internationally. The funds raised by trafficking groups can be used to underwrite other criminal activities and even political insurgency.— World Drug Report 2007, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (p.170)
The main illicit drugs are the opiates (mostly heroin), cocaine, cannabis, and ATS (amphetamine-type stimulants) such as amphetamines, methamphetamine and ecstasy.
The UN estimates that some 200 million people (4.8% of the world’s population aged 15-64) use illegal drugs annually with 25 million being classed as problem users (0.6%). (See p.9 of the report.)
What is alarming is that the drug lords have succeeded in infiltrating and permeating every level of society including governments, security forces, business and commerce and farmers etc.
This is not surprising knowing the huge financial power they wield. They drug cartels could simply buy out any person or anything to have them under their control. And when that is not possible the use of brutal force is the alternative.
The solution to the illegal drug trade lies on three fronts-one is security, the other is getting people to stop using illegal drugs and the third is education of children at the parental and school levels. The latter is the easiest but the previous two are much more difficult and complicated.
In some countries the drug lords and cartels are being worshipped, particularly by the poor and vulnerable, because of the money they dole out/ poor farmers in Latin America are a typical target. In Bolivia and several other South American countries, farmers prefer to plant coca for the drug cartels because of the huge payments they receive  which their traditional crops will not bring forth thereby condemning them to a life of poverty.
The illegal drug trade has emerged as a result of drug prohibition laws. During the 19th century, China retaliated with imports of opium and two Opium Wars broke out. In the First Opium War, the Chinese authorities had banned opium, but the United Kingdom forced China to allow British merchants to trade opium with the general population. Smoking opium had become common in the 19th century and British merchants increased. Trading in opium was (as it is today in the heroin trade) extremely lucrative. As a result of this illegal trade, an estimated two million Chinese people became addicted to the drug. The British Crown (via the treaties of Nanking and Tianjin) took vast sums of money from the Chinese government through this illegal trade which they referred to as “reparations”. In his book “Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs In China”, the Sinologist Frank Dikotter argues that China’s opium problem was greatly exaggerated, explaining that while British politicians and Protestant missionaries grandstanded over China’s opium problem, Britain was quietly consuming more opium per capita than China. (Source: Wikipedia).
So the illegal drug trade has been with us for centuries. The big question is would it ever be halted?