Cross-border drug trafficking is a cause of serious global concern. No doubt, different kinds of drugs are being used and trafficked from one country to another. Drug cartels, international, national and local, in many countries are engaged in the trafficking of harmful illicit drugs. Because of the availability of drugs caused by drug trafficking, a 32 billion dollar industry globally, more and more people especially the youth are taking illicit drugs. To save the youth population of different countries and help them develop as human beings, making drugs unavailable with the regulation of the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, Ice, LSD, or other illegal substances is very important.
Of course, the impacts of drugs are enormous. Illicit drugs, which are subject to drug prohibition laws, mostly affect those who take them. Drugs affect mentally, physically, economically and socially. Drugs lead to ill health and sickness, increase the chance of infectious diseases and reduce the chance of development. Moreover, drugs affect friends, relatives, families and communities. Drugs increase family violence, result in family breaks up and influence other peers to have drugs. Also, the global economic costs of drugs are equivalent to hundreds of billions of dollars, which could be invested in other productive and life-enhancing sectors, and severely burden state resources of different countries. Along with undermining economic development, drugs also increase crimes (including organized crimes) in many societies around the world.
Notably, there are various efforts to combat cross-border drug trafficking in the world. Indeed, there are several international conventions and treaties for the regulation of drug trafficking. One of the most notable global efforts is the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988. This convention provides a significant emphasis on establishing measures to combat illicit drug trafficking. Besides, the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) Drugs Monitoring Platform is a common system for collecting, visualizing and sharing drug data. Moreover, there are national-level anti-drug trafficking laws and policies in different countries. But there is no significant reduction in the cross-border trafficking of illicit drugs. Rather drug trafficking has increased in many parts of the world in recent decades.
Despite various negative impacts and global and national efforts, illicit drugs are being abused globally and trafficked from one country to another. No doubt, a variety of economic, administrative, social and other causes facilitate the cross-border drug trafficking in the world. Some notable reasons are the demand for drugs, corruption among the concerned authorities, the involvement of gangs in drug trafficking or sale, the presence of gangs in the community, strong cross-border networks of international, national and local drug cartels and a lack of police surveillance. Among the reasons, corruption among the concerned authorities plays a very important role as it facilitates drug traffickers, who consider drug trafficking as a quicker and easier way to earn money to manufacture drugs and transport them from one country to another.
Thus, effective efforts are needed to control global drug trafficking. In this respect, global efforts need to be augmented. Of course, increased surveillance by law enforcement-based agencies and more monitoring efforts by other concerned authorities are needed to make sure that cross-border illicit drug trafficking is halted. Global cooperation at the government level is very important for tackling cross-border drug trafficking. Moreover, measures for discouragement from receiving drugs and disengagement programs need to be emphasized so that the demand for drugs is reduced. In this respect, a social movement against illicit drugs can be effective. Of course, the social movement is more important in those counties including some Asian countries where the abuse of drugs is more.
Nota bene: The editorial views expressed are written by the Editorial Team (the Chief Editor) of Dhaka Opinion Magazine.
