NCJ Number
136937
Date Published
1991
Length
669 pages
Annotation
This volume reviews the literature regarding the social and economic consequences of the production, trafficking, and consumption of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana worldwide and presents an annotated bibliography listing 2,058 books, articles, and press reports on the subject.
Abstract
The literature review focuses on patterns of production and consumption; drug trafficking techniques and organizations; drug law enforcement; demand reduction measures; and new proposals to reduce demand, supply, drug-related crime, and AIDS transmission. The discussion notes that during the past 15 years, international drug trafficking has grown into highly organized, international economic exchanges employing hundreds of thousands of people and earning scores of billions of dollars annually. The political and socioeconomic consequences have been substantial. Efforts to impede drug trafficking are sometimes logical and sometimes irrational and have produced both intended and unintended consequences. Over the long term, the only apparent sure solutions lie in the reduction of demand and the willingness of current net consumer countries to assist current net producer countries in rebuilding their economies, their societies, and their politics on the basis on legitimate international transactions. The bibliography consists mainly of English-language documents, but includes some in Spanish. Figures, chapter reference notes, and index