Identity & Intercultural Communication: Identity Mapping

COMM 174 – Module/Unit #4

Dr. Halualani

1

What is Identity?

Identity as:

Personal Self

Group Membership

Think of all the labels you would use to describe who you are or your identity.

Running Head: INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING 1

International Drug Trafficking

Miranda Smith

GEN 499: General Education Capstone

Professor Dariush Azimi-Garakani

01/16/2021

INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING 2

Globalization has led to the transformation of the worlds' economy. People are coming up

with new ideas every day and coming up with new business plans because technology has

transformed the world. Due to globalization and technology, people can access goods from all over

the world regardless of the location he or she is, for instance, a person can buy goods from the

United Kingdom while in Africa. Over the last four decades, international drug trafficking has

become a social problem worldwide, and it has rocketed. Drug trafficking is an illegal trade that

involves cultivation, manufacturing, distribution and sales of illegal drugs prohibited by the United

Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The importance of this research is to understand

why drug trafficking has globally increased over the last few decades and how international drug

trafficking can be reduced. For instance, 450-500 tons of heroin are consumed worldwide annually.

Countries such as Afghanistan, Lao People's Democratic Republic, the United States of America,

among others are the leading countries in drug trafficking. Drug trafficking trade is one of the

businesses that are growing at a high rate, and they are the most profitable business in the world.

This business is estimated to have a profit of $500 billion in one year. Drug trafficking has become

a serious problem in the whole world, affecting the economy and causing severe communal

concerns worldwide.

Belhabib, D., Le Billon, P., & Wrathall, D. J. (2020). Narco‐Fish: Global fisheries and drug

trafficking. Fish and Fisheries, 21(5), 992-1007.

This study has analyzed drug trafficking and how it has been associated with fisheries

around the globe. Research conducted back in 2010, and 2017 showed that illicit drug trade largely

relies on fishing vessels. After the research was conducted, the result suggested that illicit drugs

shipment through fisheries vessels are minimized over time, even though the flow of illicit drugs

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is increasing every day (Anderson & Kavanaugh, 2017). The main reason drug trafficking has

been using fishing vessels is to reduce the chances and risks of seizure. Once the chances of seizure

have been reduced, drug trans-shipment has increased over the past eight years to about 20% of

illicit drugs' worldwide retail value. This paper suggests that small-scale fishers are at risk of

turning themselves to drug trade because the fish stock is declining.

Dolliver, D. S., Ericson, S. P., & Love, K. L. (2018). A geographic analysis of drug trafficking

patterns on the tor network. Geographical Review, 108(1), 45-68.

This article was published in 2016 and written by Diana S. et al.; they suggest that the

globalization process has continued to have some impacts on drug trafficking worldwide. Due to

technology and globalization, a cyber-based drug trade has been developed via the Tor Network.

This paper involves the analysis of data that examines drug distribution of drugs such as heroin,

cocaine psychoactive substances and prescription of drugs which are being advertised on Access

to Global Online Research on Agriculture (AGORA) which is being considered as the largest

marketplace on Tor Network during the time of data collection. (Durán‐Martínez, 2017) Drug

trafficking data were collected using a software known as web crawling, which is later mapped to

determine hotspots or the presence of statistical outliers internationally within Europe. According

to data displayed out of this research, illicit drugs brought from Europe were randomly distributed.

Worldwide, heroin and cocaine market is seen to be almost excluded retail, while on the other

hand, psychoactive drugs and prescription drugs are sold in pharmaceuticals and chemical

industries.

INTERNATIONAL DRUG TRAFFICKING 4

Mok, S. Y. (2020). ASEAN and Transnational Crime: Gains and Challenges in Tackling Drug

Trafficking. WIMAYA, 1(01), 31-38.

This article was published in June 2020 by Waseda University. This article discusses drug

trafficking problems in Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN), how drug trafficking

problem in this region has been securitized, and the challenges faced by these countries when

trying to implement effective solutions to deal with drug trafficking. The Association of Southeast

Asian Nation is being referred to as the home of the golden triangle, which is located at the eastern

border of Myanmar, North-Western Lao People's Democratic Republic and Northern Thailand.

This area is well known as the world-leading region for the production of illegal drugs. In order to

understand the drug problem in this region, it is good to approach the situation in various

perspectives that look beyond drug trafficking, production and consumption of illicit drugs. This

article states how to come up with solutions on how to curb illegal drug trafficking. However, the

Association of Southeast Asian Nation mechanism has not addressed the issue of drug trafficking

in the region because of the limitations posed by the "ASEAN Way".

Rousseau, R. (2017). West Africa–the Region’s Pivotal Role in International Drug Trafficking.

Africa is believed to be the central continent for international drug trafficking and criminal

organisations that deal with drug trafficking. According to the United Nations on Drugs and

Crimes (UNODC) estimates, approximately 40 to 50 tons of cocaine and heroin destined to

European countries pass through Africa, especially the North-Eastern parts of Africa annually.

African countries that involve themselves in drug trafficking gets a profit of more than $2 billion

annually (Wrathall et al., 2020). Such profit makes the drug trafficker financially stable and also

destabilize the weak government structures and law enforcement. These huge profits also act as a

catalyst, thus fueling the drug trafficking businesses. Illicit drugs trade has some impacts on the

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African countries, first and foremost, Africans has become drug addicts thus lowering the

economic level of the country because once a person has become an addict, he or she will be

searching for money to buy drugs only, but he or she cannot invest in boosting the economy of the

country. Secondly, some countries involved in drug businesses, are denied loans by the world

banks; thus, those countries will always remain poor.

Uzuegbu-Wilson, E. (2020). The Discourse of Drug Trafficking from Global

Perspective. Available at SSRN 3704693.

This article was written by Uzuegbu Wilson and published in 2020. This study examines

the illicit drug trafficking phenomenon from the globalization perspective. The study has reviewed

research approach with several reports and evaluations that have been obtained from other sources

of data which has been analyzed through content analysis. The study has shown that globalization

is posing challenges and threats to human security, including illicit drug trade which has largely

contributed to a prolonged illicit drug war (Mninde-Silungwe, 2017). The study recommends that

the International Drug Control Effort focus more on economic development aimed at eroding the

incentives for producing narcotics. To ease the process of implementing policies that will minimise

drug trafficking and insecurity across the nation, a politician should fight and eradicate corruption.

Secondly, some rules and regulation should be set in order to punish those who have been involved

in illicit drug trafficking. Once they are punished, other people who had some plans of involving

themselves in illicit drug trafficking will be deterred.

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References:

Anderson, T. L., & Kavanaugh, P. R. (2017). Women’s evolving roles in drug trafficking in the

United States: new conceptualizations needed for 21st-century markets. Contemporary

drug problems, 44(4), 339-355.

Durán‐Martínez, A. (2017). Drug trafficking and drug policies in the Americas: Change,

continuity, and challenges. Latin American Politics and Society, 59(2), 145-153.

Mninde-Silungwe, F. (2017). Trafficking in persons (Article 28J) and trafficking in drugs (Article

28K). In The African Criminal Court (pp. 109-123). TMC Asser Press, The Hague.

Wrathall, D. J., Devine, J., Aguilar-González, B., Benessaiah, K., Tellman, E., Sesnie, S., ... &

Dávila, A. (2020). The impacts of cocaine-trafficking on conservation governance in

Central America. Global Environmental Change, 63, 102098.