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As A Practical, Political Matter, Legalization (in Any Form) Does Not Offer A ...

As a practical, political matter, legalization (in any form) does not offer a plausible choice
The preceding led to the formation of an international consensus against the trafficking of drugs, the most noteworthy being the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Smith, 1992, p. 17). The U.N. Convention focused upon giving force to the supply sided recommendations and committed signatories to share law enforcement evidence and provide mutual legal assistance, seize drug-related assets, criminalize money laundering and relax bank secrecy laws, extradite individuals charged with drug law violations, control shipment of precursor and essential chemicals, and redouble crop eradication and reduction efforts (U.S. Bureau of Justice, 1990, p. 102). As such, the 1988 U.N. Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances marked a significant move forward in extending existing international drug controls, however, it was marred by new directions in the evolution of the global drug trade that had taken place while these initiatives were being devised.
In order to understand the dynamics represented by international drug trafficking, and the subsequent efforts to implement policies to bring it under control, one must have an understanding of the climate in which it operates. Today's international market in drugs is the product of a complex evolutionary process that began in the early years of this century (Stares, 1996, p. 15). Historically, mind-altering drugs have been traded and consumed since antiquity, it was not until the twentieth century that this activity gained its distinctly illicit character (Stares, 1996, p. 15). Public alarm and concern over the growing drug problem prompted governments, particularly the United States and the EU to take steps whereby Through a series of international conventions buttressed by domestic laws, the production, sale, and consumption of a wide range of drugs for anything other than medical and scientific purposes were progressively prohibited around the world (Stares, 1996, p. 15). The sanctions taken under the 1988 U.N. Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances failed to account for the growing strength of well organised and financed criminal organizations in the trafficking of drugs as a result of the profits generated. In addition, economies have and are playing a major role in the trafficking of drugs as residents in the growing nations have few opportunities, are relatively uneducated, and have become expendable pawns by criminal organisations that have an almost unlimited supply of locales, people, and means to grow, cultivate and move drugs on a scale that entails billions of dollars (Stares, 1996, p. 47).


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