Drug Trafficking Between Latin America & the U.S.

Trafficking in drugs exists only because certain drugs are illegal in the United States and elsewhere, and because a shadow and illegal market exists for these drugs. Drug trafficking is a product of the twentieth century, with roots in the earliest part of the century. As early as 1914, the Harrison Act regulated the distribution of narcotics (including cocaine) by physicians. While the Harrison Act slowed drug use, the appeal of narcotics continued to the point that the president appointed a Commissioner of Narcotics in 1930 ("The Annals" 21).

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s, including a seven-month old infant. After the attack, it was learned that a CIA jet had been involved, and indeed had given information about the Cessna to the Peruvian military. While tapes from the CIA plane confirmed that the CIA did not actually order the shooting, many Americans were surprised to learn that the CIA was flying in foreign airspace and patrolling not just Peruvian skies, but also Colombia's ("America's Shadow" 36). The CIA flights were halted after the Cessna incident, but in the late 1990s, American personnel as well as American equipment were involved in trying to disrupt flights between Peru (where crops are grown) and Colombia (where they are processed into saleable product). The United States spent an estimated $1.9 billion on interdiction efforts in 2000, which is the equivalent of 19 metric tons of cocaine at retail prices. That amount has been intercepted as a result of the interdiction efforts, but it is not clear that the seizure of even 19 metric tons has had any measurable effect on the availability of drugs in the United States ("America's Shadow" 36). As the Peruvian incident demonstrated, the move toward multilateral action can involve convoluted relationships among various nations. I
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Approximate Word count = 2704
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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