If the buyer has a limited or fixed income, higher drug prices may result in higher domestic crime to pay for the illicit drugs. Higher drug prices bring more funds and profits to the sellers, the terrorists, and increased drug revenues lead to a more active terrorist force (Godwin 1983; Wagstaff and Maynard 1988)
A General Approach to the Concept of Organized Crime According to Flores (2007), organized crime can be viewed from at least three orientations: [1] that of the illegal enterprise and the multiple layers involved; [2] that of the client, who may be limited in whom he can deal with; and [3] that of the interrelationship between the two. Criminal organizations are said to operate from a tripod of 'obstruction of justice, violence, and corruption', where violence is a means of control, and both obstruction of justice and corruption are used for expansion, (Herran et al
However, despite well over forty years of effort, there is little to no evidence of a decrease in the global drug industry. Indeed, there are many, including United States government officials, who consider the 'war on drugs' to be a total failure (Jenner, 2011)
In the fight against terrorism, interdictment of cocaine, heroin, and opium shipments is being consistently used, as well as attempts to eradicate both coca and poppy crops. Such actions in the Philippines, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen, while controversial, are based upon methods used during the 1980s in Columbia as part of the successful strategy used against the Medellin illicit drug cartel (Kenney (2003)
Drugs, Counter Narcotics Policies and Terrorism In certain countries, there is a 'vicious cycle' between a destabilized government, the illicit drug trade, and terrorists taking advantage of both (Piazza, 2011). It consistently appears that the more the governments are destabilized the more that both drug trade and terrorist activities are enhanced (Kleiman 2004)
Every price increase provides the terrorists with more revenue, so that terrorists who are involved in drug trafficking can be more active; higher drug prices would seem to correlate with increased terrorist attacks. While there have been no detailed empirical studies on terrorist groups and drug revenues, it is known that in the case of Mexican drug trafficking gangs, decreasing drug profits decreases the extent of violence (Kilmer et al
Once this happens, an increase in terrorism continues to occur, while the drug market concomitantly expands, bringing about more chaos and again increasing both drug markets and terrorism activities. The chaos argument is perhaps slightly more complex than the 'cash' argument and is used less frequently by media and/or policy makers; however studies have shown that there are correlations between weak political entities and both strong terrorism and strong drug markets (Lai 2007; Piazza, 2011)
, 2007). Unfortunately, in the case of Mexico, the known corruption has led to a distrust of the rule of law among the populace (Otero, 2011)
In addition to direct sales, 'taxes' placed on each of the various steps in the drug 'pipeline' of traffickers, refiners, drug storage 'houses', intermediaries and drug cultivators produce additional income streams. This rich cash source is now the income for terrorists, who use their profits to launch even more terrorist attacks (Peters 2009)
In particular, a correlation is made between artificially inflated drug prices (perhaps even caused by the very interdictment that is intended to stem the flow of drugs) and enhanced terrorism activities. Indeed, if such a correlation is valid, it is only logical that efforts directed towards minimizing the illicit drug market will concomitantly decrease terrorism by cutting off their most lucrative source of funding (Piazza, 2011)
These include: Hezbollah; the Filipino Abu Sayyaf movement; the Indian separatist United Liberation Front of Assam; IS or ISIL/ISIL, presently in Iran and Syria; the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK); the Peruvian Sendero Luminoso; Protestant para-military organizations in Northern Ireland; the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC; the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA) dissidents in Northern Ireland; and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Baruah 1994; Bibes 2001; Filler 2002; Makarenko 2004; Roth and Sever 2007; West 2014). For FARC alone, it has been estimated that as much as 50% of their operational base funds are derived from cocaine trafficking and coca production (Rangel 1998)
Mexico still to the present has several large drug trafficking organizations; however, as they grow and disperse they become weaker (Bagley, 2012). At present the drug cartels are not themselves directly involved in terrorism, although it is clear that terrorists seek a foothold in Mexico (West, 2014)
"For FY 2012, state and local enforcement agencies were participating in 4,719 out of 5,171 OCDETF investigations (91.3%)" (Executive Office of the President, 2013, p
With the United States and Mexico constantly waging war to thwart the other side, violence has increased in Mexico and spilled over onto the United States in border areas. In fact, the United States fears the effects of Mexican drug cartels could expand onto American soil and lead to an increase in violence (Ivan, 2015)
Bolivia's ongoing coca eradication efforts fails to curb illegal cultivation and cocaine production remains high. The United States attempted ever since the 1970's to provide support to drug source countries like Bolivia to combat drug trafficking, but it has remained largely ineffective due to the lack of action on Bolivia's side (Seelke, Wyler & Beittel, 2010, p
In Mexico for example, American efforts include introduction of drug addiction counselors to combat drug dependency in Mexico. "INL is supporting the work of the Organization of American States to establish a national-level counselor certification system for drug addiction counselors, aimed at improving the delivery of drug treatment services in Mexico" (State.gov, 2013, p
"According to the UNODC's World Drug Report 2007, the total potential value of Afghanistan's 2006 opium harvest accruing to farmers, laboratory owners and Afghan traffickers reached about $US3.1 billion" (Unodc.org, 2015)
There is growing evidence that their influence is expanding; the cartels are reportedly making inroads in Europe, Africa, Australia and South Asia. Mexico's leading newspaper, El Universal, Mexico's leading newspaper, reports that the cartels are now facilitating production and smuggling of Afghan heroin (Wyler, 2015)
S. has a heroin addiction epidemic which has resulted in a Mexican opium production increase by an estimated 50% in 2014 alone and impoverished farmers in Mexico and entrepreneurial drug cartels work had to fill the demand and have even enlisted children to help harvest opium (Ahmed, 2015)
Therefore there still exists and illicit economy even in progressive countries. Although the drug trade is widely believed to be the most profitable illicit economy, dwarfing others such as the illegal trade in wildlife or logging, its impact on society and the intensity of violence and corruption it generates vary in different regions and over time; some have even noted that, despite violence existing in these networks, the level of violence that they generate is still comparatively small (Felbab-Brown, 2012)