Illegal Drugs, Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America

Description

This book describes the main patterns and trends of drug trafficking in Latin America and analyzes its political, economic and social effects on several countries over the last twenty years. Its aim is to provide readers an introductory yet elaborate text on the illegal drug problem in the region. It first seeks to define and measure the problem, and then discusses some of the implications that the growth of production, trafficking, and consumption of illegal drugs had in the economies, in the social fabrics, and in the domestic and international policies of Latin American countries. This book analyzes the illegal drugs problem from a Latin American perspective. Although there is a large literature and research on drug use and trade in the USA, Canada, Europe and the Far East, little is understood on the impact of narcotics in countries that have supplied a large share of the drugs used worldwide. This work explores how routes into Europe and the USA are developed, why the so-called drug cartels exist in the region, what level of profits illegal drugs generate, how such gains are distributed among producers, traffickers, and dealers and how much they make, why violence spread in certain places but not in others, and which alternative policies were taken to address the growing challenges posed by illegal drugs. With a strong empirical foundation based on the best available data, Illegal Drugs, Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America explains how rackets in the region built highly profitable enterprises transshipping and smuggling drugs northbound and why the large circulation of drugs also produced the emergence of vibrant domestic markets, which doubled the number of drug users in the region the last 10 years. It presents the best available information for 18 countries, and the final two chapters analyze in depth two rather different case studies: Mexico and Argentina. Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction (Marcelo Bergman)....Pages 1-9 Front Matter ....Pages 11-11 Illegal Markets and the Demand for Illegal Substances (Marcelo Bergman)....Pages 13-26 The Use of Illegal Drugs in Latin America: A Brief Introduction (Marcelo Bergman)....Pages 27-41 The Business Structure of Illegal Drugs: Concentration-Fragmentation, Cartels, and Extreme Violence (Marcelo Bergman)....Pages 43-59 Front Matter ....Pages 61-61 Criminal Diversification and Corruption in the Drug Business (Marcelo Bergman)....Pages 63-72 Drugs, Trafficking, and Criminal Justice (Marcelo Bergman)....Pages 73-84 Front Matter ....Pages 85-85 What Can Be Done About Drugs? Public Policy Options (Marcelo Bergman)....Pages 87-98 Legalize, Regulate, or Prohibit? Public Policy Dilemmas (Marcelo Bergman)....Pages 99-111 Front Matter ....Pages 113-113 Notes on Illegal Drugs and Trafficking in Argentina (Marcelo Bergman)....Pages 115-137 Mexico (Marcelo Bergman)....Pages 139-155 Back Matter ....Pages 157-168