NCJ Number
190081
Date Published
September 1999
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper discussed the evolution of drug trafficking in the Pacific Rim and the changes in drug trafficking in the region during the past 30 years.
Abstract
The drugs being abused in the region are opiates (opium, morphine, and heroin), cannabis, cocaine, and psychotropic substances. Opiates are the oldest problem of the four categories and are the most widely abused in many countries. During the past 30 years there have been changes in the personalities involved, methods of smuggling, form of the drug being smuggled, routes used, and locations of transit and storage centers. One thing that has gone virtually unchanged is the direction of the traffic, from southeast to northwest. The source of production is the Golden Triangle, the mountainous area between Thailand, Laos, and Burma (now the Republic of Myanmar), and the destination is the United States, where the drugs are sold at prices up to 20 times their production cost. Cannabis has a shorter history of abuse, at least on the eastern side of the Pacific Rim. However, the demand for cannabis for local use has increased by almost 20 times and there is continuing demand for the drug to be shipped to overseas markets. Cocaine forms only a small part of overall drug seizures in the Pacific Rim. The article suggests that this was because of the high costs of transporting the drug from the source countries of Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia, and the absence of significant Latino communities in East Asia, which could provide trusted middlemen. The use and trafficking of amphetamines and their derivatives is increasing throughout the Region, in part because production is easier and less visible than growing and harvesting the other relatively natural drugs.