. During this time, new drugs were developed that were based not only on traditional plants (marijuana and cocaine), but which were highly processed and created in labs. Thus coca yielded not only powder cocaine, which had a high street value and was not accessible to many would be consumers, but also crack cocaine. This was a much less expensive alternative that was available to those without significant financial resources. At the same time, some drugs were developed (such as methamphetemine) which are developed entirely in laboratories. The Nixon administration focused on cutting off foreign supplies, particularly supplies of Turkish heroin. Although this effort largely succeeded in its stated goals, the result was that the supply and demand shifted, so that as heroin from the Middle East ceased to be a significant problem, Latin American cocaine became more popular ("The Annals" 21).
Ronald Reagan's administration aggressively pursued a strategy of stopping drugs at the border, a tactic that was perceived as inefficient and unsuccessful. The Clinton administration focused on forming alliances with drug-producing nations (largely through financial aid) in order to halt production at the source. This also has been perceived as largely ineffective, and today, new solutions are being sought (Waller 10).
During the 1990s, Brazil sought to reduce its drug trafficking and police corruption levels in an effort to reduce overall crime and violence in the nation as a whole, and in Rio de Janeiro in particular. The murder rate in Rio de Janeiro is among the highest in the world, with more than 7000 murders occurring in the city in 1995. Most of the violence can be traced directly to drug traffickers, and many of those responsible are not brought to justice due to police corruption, which is also funded by drug money. The 1990s saw efforts by Brazil to both root out corruption and reduce the level of drug trafficking. Efforts ...