INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS LAW ENFORCEMENT: A STUDY IN IRRATIONALITY

This year sees the celebration of the first century of international legal provisions against the illicit production and trade of narcotics substances. Accordingly, this is an appropriate moment to evaluate the results obtained. The following essay considers how the international prohibition regime...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of international affairs (New York) 2012-09, Vol.66 (1), p.123-141
Main Author: Madsen, Frank G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
Argument
Cocaine
Decriminalization
Drug abuse
Drug control
Drug dealing
Drug policy
Drug traffic
Drug trafficking
Economic aspects
Egyptian civilization
Government corruption
Government regulation
Illicit drugs
Imprisonment
Industrialized nations
International
International aspects
Law enforcement
Laws, regulations and rules
Legislation
Mexico
Morality
Narcotic dependence
Narcotic laws
Narcotics
Opium
Organized crime
Pharmaceutical industry
Police
Prohibition
Public services
Studies
U.S.A
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Summary:This year sees the celebration of the first century of international legal provisions against the illicit production and trade of narcotics substances. Accordingly, this is an appropriate moment to evaluate the results obtained. The following essay considers how the international prohibition regime created the crime of drug trafficking. The ensuing function of denied demand is the inescapable basis for the development of organized crime. Second, costs of the regime are critically assessed. The former include institutional costs of law enforcement and of the incarceration of individuals sentenced for drug trafficking and related offences, e.g., violence and financial crimes. The indirect costs are difficult to gauge and impossible to monetize. They include the immense suffering caused by drug trafficking as well as the deterioration of public services due to corruption. The present situation on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border is sufficiently eloquent evidence. Also, narcotics legislation leads to racial tension since the incarceration rates for non-whites for these offences is considerably higher than for whites in the United State and the United Kingdom. Third, political premises are briefly analyzed, namely the implementation of narcotics liaison offices in foreign jurisdictions and the linking of foreign aid and trade privileges to a certification of trade partners' adherence to U.S. antinarcotic drugs law enforcement. One might claim, somewhat counterintuitively, that decriminalization of drug trafficking is not necessary. Drug trafficking has already been decriminalized de facto, if not de jure, by the sheer, constant saturation of the market place.
ISSN:0022-197X