Research Paper on "Impact of Illicit Commodity"

Research Paper 13 pages (4304 words) Sources: 6

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Cocaine in California

Cocaine production and abuse for years has posed as the greatest drug threats in the Central Valley HIDTA region of California. Cocaine is available and abused at so many various high levels all over the region and is linked with most of the drug-connected property crime and violent crime. Most of the cocaine available in the area is transferred by Mexican DTOs from foundation places in Mexico or then produced in local secret laboratories underground somewhere. Increased cocaine obtainability in the California region has caused in a weakening in wholesale prices from just about $20,000 per pound all through the fourth quarter of 2009 to $16,000 per pound throughout the fourth quarter of 2009.[footnoteRef:1] This region of California has been on the rise with Cocaine for the longest and officials have actually been having a hard time trying to crack down on it. With that said, this paper will discuss the history of cocaine in California and its effect on the state today. [1: Callaghan, R.C., Cunningham, J.K., Allebeck, P., Arenovich, T., Sajeev, G., Remington, G., Kish, S.J. "Methamphetamine use and schizophrenia: A population-based cohort study in california." The American Journal of Psychiatry 19.5 (2012): 23-28.]

Drug Threat Overview California

Research shows that during the 50s 60s and 70s The Mexican Drug War played a big role with drugs being smuggled into this region of California. The Mexican Drug War is a continuing armed battle among rival drug cartels combating each other for regional control and in contradiction of the Mexican government forces. Well one of the things that need to be understood is that wherever there is a border, there is continuously going to be the smuggling of drugs. And actually the history of trafficking drugs along the U.S.-Mexican border goes all the way back to the founding of the border. There has always been a trade there of weaponries, of alcohol that was going back and forth and then of course there were other things such as the illegal drugs. People began seeing drugs come on the scene sometime in the early 1900s when the United States started to hold down on marijuana. And so a great deal of these Mexican gangs that had trafficked other items began smuggling marijuana through the United States border. Then later on, during the '50s and '60s and into the '70s, as the United States appetite for harder drugs started to go up, experts note that the Mexicans started getting involved in smuggling things like pharmaceuticals, heroin, and even cocaine.[footnoteRef:2] [2: "The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics." Davenport-Hines, Richard. New York City W.W. Norton & Company; First edition, 2002. 1-576]

However, after looking into the cartels, initially there was one, very large cartel that is considered to be the grandfather of most in the modern cartel groups that many recognize, and that was called the Guadalajara Cartel. The Guadalajara Cartel became prevailing really in the 50s, 60s and 70s in Mexico. Research shows that cartel are the ones that ran into a problem in the mid-1980s when the cartel went out and kidnapped, tortured and murdered a United States DEA agent who went by the name of Enrique Camarena. When this took place, the United States government really got keyed up and focused on the Guadalajara cartel from Mexico and its affiliation with HIDTA. Research shows that they did go in and mainly broke up and arrested the Guadalajara cartel. Now after they managed to break up the cartel, its leader who is a guy that goes by the name of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, sort of divided up his turf, his fiefdom, into several segments.

Illegal cannabis cultivation processes are particularly universal and are swelling on public lands and in national forests. During the year of 2009, HIDTA police force officials eliminated virtually 1.8million cannabis plants (about 23% of all plants detained in California) in the Central Valley HIDTA (Vega).[footnoteRef:3] [3: Hernandez, M.T., Sanchez, M.A., Ayala, L., Magis-RodrAguez, C. "METHAMPHETAMINE AND COCAINE USE AMONG MEXICAN MIGRANTS IN CALIFORNIA: THE CALIFORNIA-MEXICO EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SURVEILLANCE PILOT." AIDS Education and Prevention 21.9 (2009): 34-44.]

The Laws

Crack cocaine, Cocaine, coca leaves and every other type of cocaine are known as Schedule 2 on the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act (Forster). In the state of California Cocaine is illegal to possess up under the California Health and Safety Code 11350. Since the late 19th century, the state and federal governments of the United States have passed laws and guidelines to dissuade the distribution and use of illegal drugs. These laws and policies have not merely considered what drugs are illegal and legal, but have also recognized consequences for the distribution and possession of these substances and recognized federal agencies to control drug use and manage drug law implementation.[footnoteRef:4] [4: Forster, G. "Quotas in the drug war." Policy Review 29.9 (2004): 21-28.]

Over the years, California has tried to become very strict with their laws. For instance, possession for the sale of cocaine salt which is known as the ("powder") is a drug that is prohibited up under the Health and Safety Code 11351. However, history shows that the first American law that banned the use of a detailed drug was an 1875 ordinance approved by the city of San Francisco which disqualified the smoking of opium in opium dens (4). [footnoteRef:5]This law, on the other hand, was not accepted to stop the sale and use of opium. The decree was passed for the reason that widespread fear that Chinese men were enticing white men and women to their ethical "devastation" in opium dens ("The History of"). The law limiting cocaine was likewise [5: ibid]

racially driven. Previous to the early 20th century, cocaine was willingly accessible at drugs stores for the public's use. Cocaine was likewise an important element in the popular soft-drink, called the Coca-Cola. With cocaine addiction and use becoming widespread, the media used the public's habit to power racial tensions. Numerous publications instigated printing articles causing attacks on white women to the prevalent cocaine use going on among black men ("Cocaine"). Today, that sentence of selling cocaine with preceding related offenses could perhaps serve a lot of years in the California state prison, ever since succeeding preceding beliefs could perhaps add 3 years per conviction to the period provided for the conviction itself. Numerous improvements are real in the California Health and Safety Code for trading cocaine which could possibly result in prison terms that are very long, for instance vending to a minor, and then selling in a school zone, and also selling large amounts of the drug. [footnoteRef:6] [6: Vega, W.A., Alderete, E., Kolody, B., & Aguilar-Gaxiola, S. "Illicit drug use among mexicans and mexican-Americans in california: The effects of gender and acculturation." Addiction 12.9 (2009): 12-54.]

Drug Trafficking Organization

Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization's and criminal groups are the ones that actually pose the biggest organizational drug danger in the Central Valley HIDTA in California. They are the known as the key illegal drug producers, transporters, and wholesale providers in the area. Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization's throughout history have been the ones that have been dominating cocaine and outdoor marijuana production processes during the course of the area and frequently transport extensive amounts of cocaine, marijuana, and also the black tar heroin from Mexico into the region for distribution.[footnoteRef:7] Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization stereotypically stress their exertions on wholesale-level sales and then be able to provide small African-American, Hispanic, and Asian criminal groups that give out the drugs at the retail and midlevel. [7: ibid]

Asian Drug Trafficking Organizations (characteristically ethnic Hmong, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Laotian,) function during the course of the HIDTA region and are the leading manufacturers of high-effectiveness indoor-grown marijuana (Forster). However, the Asian Drug Trafficking Organizations likewise deliver wholesale mounts of high-strength marijuana and MDMA, plus MDMA joint with BZP that comes from Canada all the way into the region. Associates of Asian Drug Trafficking Organization's naturally limit participation in their drug trafficking actions to persons of parallel race/ethnicity and familial association; on the other hand, they sometimes are able to function with other groups, mostly criminal groups that are functioning within the Indo-Canadian community, to carry illegal drugs across the United States -- Canada border. For instance, in November 2010, the Fresno Police Department detained 138,000 MDMA tablets, which is considered to be the biggest MDMA capture in the subdivision's history, from an Indo-Canadian associate of a criminal group that had trafficked the cocaine from Canada all the way to the Central Valley HIDTA region in California.[footnoteRef:8] [8: van Gorp, W.,G., Wilkins, J.N., Hinkin, C.H., Moore, L. "Declarative and procedural memory functioning in abstinent cocaine abusers." Archives of General Psychiatry 56.1 (2009): 85-9.]

Street gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) distribute illicit drugs at the midlevel and retail level. These gangs are extremely violent as they establish or maintain control of their drug trafficking operations and are involved in other criminal activities, including shootings, carjacking's, and armed robberies.[footnoteRef:9]… READ MORE

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