Drug War

Drug War
by Kirsten Weir

Illegal drugs contribute to crime and violence around the world and around the corner.

For Catelin S., it began with marijuana. "I started smoking weed at 11," she told Current Health. Soon
she graduated to illegally acquired prescription pills and drugs such as methamphetamine and
cocaine.

At 16, after getting into trouble with the law, Catelin went to live at Phoenix House, a drug treatment
center in Dallas. There, she's getting the help she needs to stay clean. "I've learned there's a whole
lot more to life," she says.

When she was getting high, Catelin rarely thought much about where the drugs came from. Her
parents both had addiction problems, and she bought drugs from her uncle and other family
members. "I never really went to extremes to get it, and I never went through people I didn't know,"
she says. Catelin may not have gone far to find her fix. The drugs she took, though, might have been
world travelers.

The illegal drug trade is an international problem. Drug trafficking-the illegal buying and selling of
drugs-contributes to crime and violence around the world and even helps fund terrorism. Catelin
learned the hard way that drug use has terrible personal consequences. But the choice to do drugs
also has consequences for people and communities around the globe.

Out of Control

For evidence of the drug trade's impacts, just look across the border. In recent years, drug violence in
Mexico has spiraled out of control. Rival gangs fight one another for a larger share of the drug
market. Marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin all travel Mexico's drug smuggling routes
on the way to the United States.

Since 2006, more than 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico's drug violence. The victims aren't
just drug dealers. Police officers, soldiers, journalists, and innocent bystanders have also been
kidnapped and murdered.

Mexico's president has argued that the United States plays a part in all that violence. Almost all the
drugs trafficked through Mexico end up in the hands of American drug users such as Catelin. In fact,
Mexico is the biggest supplier of marijuana to the United States.

Elsewhere, drugs do similar damage. For decades, Colombia has grown most of the world's coca, the
plant that is turned into cocaine. The cocaine trade has led to high rates of violence there. In the past,
the drug trade corrupted Colombia's justice system when powerful members of the drug gangs,
known as cartels, were elected to government positions.

Recently, western Africa has become a prime site for trafficking, says David Mineta, deputy director of
Demand Reduction, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "These international criminal
organizations smuggle people, arms, and narcotics through [western] Africa," he says. From there,
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 Drug War

the illegal goods are transported to Europe, North America, and other places around the world.

The Poppy Problem

The state of affairs is also grim in Afghanistan. Ninety percent of the world's supply of opium poppies
is grown in that country. The poppies are used to make heroin, a dangerous and highly addictive
drug.

The drug money flows right into the pockets of terrorist groups, says Gretchen Peters, author of
Seeds of Terror: How Heroin Is Bankrolling the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The Taliban are extremists who
ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Although they no longer head the government, they are still a
powerful force in the country. U.S. forces have been fighting Taliban-led rebel groups since the war in
Afghanistan began in 2001.

The Taliban severely restrict women's rights in areas they control, and they support Al Qaeda
terrorists. They also are involved in the drug business. "The drug trade is run by trafficking
organizations that work very closely with the Taliban," Peters says. The Taliban protect poppy
farmers, drug labs, and drug shipments in Afghanistan. In return, they demand taxes from the people
they protect. The United Nations estimated that the Taliban earned $600 million from drug taxes
between 2005 and 2008. "There's an enormous output of narcotics in this part of the world," says
Peters. "It's like the Walmart of drugs."

In some ways, though, the situation in Afghanistan is not unique. In many places where drugs are
grown, processed, or traded, they're linked to rebel groups and terrorists. "What you see is a
connection between organized crime and groups that want to destabilize countries around the world,
whether it's rebels in Colombia or the Taliban in Afghanistan or insurgents in Sri Lanka or Burma,"
Peters says. In other words, the drug trade directly benefits rebels and terrorists who are making the
world a more dangerous place.

Reducing Demand

The United States is taking steps to address the international drug problem. In Colombia, Mineta
says, the U.S. government is working with the national police force to rein in cocaine traffickers. In
Afghanistan, U.S. forces are going after drug labs and destroying stockpiles of narcotics. They are
also trying to help farmers shift to growing legal crops. But in a poor country where many people
depend on the valuable poppy crops to survive, that's a difficult switch. "It takes a lot of time and
money and intervention," Peters says.

Reducing global drug violence depends on reducing demand for illegal substances, Mineta says. The
United States is the world's biggest consumer of illegal drugs. And teens do their fair share of drug
use: According to Students Against Destructive Decisions, half of all American teens try an illicit drug
by the time they finish high school.

As was the case with Catelin, most teens don't give much thought to where their drugs come from-
or what illegal activity they might have fueled. But every action, including choosing to use drugs, has
a consequence. "Until we can find a way to reduce the demand for illegal drugs," Peters says, "we're
going to continue to have problems."

Homegrown Harm
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 Drug War

Some drugs are grown or manufactured in the United States. But just because they're not connected
to terrorism or trafficking doesn't mean they don't have a harmful impact on society. Drug users are
more likely to commit crimes such as theft or assault. And drug-related gang rivalries contribute to
violence in cities across the country.

Bloomberg/Getty Images

Methamphetamine labs are a local source of danger.

Production of methamphetamine is a growing problem. Meth is often produced in home labs. For
every pound that's made, 5 to 6 pounds of toxic waste is left behind. People have become ill after
moving into houses that were once meth labs.

Bottom line? Drugs are deadly-and not just for the people who use them.

Zoran Milic/iStock

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