Drugs and Crime in the United States Discussion

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I need the initial post by Tuesday morning, and will extend the deadline and provide the students to respond to then so that you can provide the responses to me by Wednesday night.

This week’s reading provides overview of the research on drugs and crime in the United states. After reviewing the reading for week 6, as well as the week 6 discussion articles in the lesson for this week, discuss/debate with your classmates your position on which factors you feel play a greater role pertaining to the problems associated with drugs and crime in the United States. Discuss with your classmates possible solutions to the problems of illegal drug use and present a drug-control strategy that you believe would work. Defend your recommendations citing studies and/or other academic research.

Instructions:

Each students answer to the question should be between 500-1000 words. A minimum of two references need to be used in the development of your answer. You also need to provide two (2) feedback posts to your peers. Each feedback post needs to be 250 words or more, and should include information that helps to enhance the discussion on the topic. Do not include statements such as great work, or excellent post. Try to include info that is challenging and respectful and that will stimulate debate. Also, be mindful of including references and citations whenever citing facts to support your position. APA 6th edition citations and references must be used always!

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Since the early 2000s, Mexico has been “in the midst of a battle between warring organized crime factions” (Simser, 2011, p. 267) commonly referred to as cartels that exploit corruption, subversion, penetration, extreme violence, assassinations, kidnappings, and other violent methods intended to promote their interests. Moreover, cartels have been warring not only with the government but also among themselves, striving to establish dominance and control over key plazas that are portals for smuggling of illicit drugs into the United States (Simser, 2011). Some researchers and policymakers even claim that Mexican cartels should be defined as insurgent groups that have a real chance of seizing power in the country should their further evolutionary pace remain on the existing track (Blaine, 2012). This opinion complies with a similar viewpoint accredited to the Drug Enforcement Administration that there has occurred “a transition from the gangsterism of traditional narco hit men to paramilitary terrorism with guerilla tactics” (Turbiville, 2010, p. 123). Therefore, this evolution of cartels calls for the development and implementation of new anti-drug measures and combat strategies. Although the Mexican government, especially under the rule of President Calderon, has attempted to implement new amendments since 2006, they have proved to be only partially successful (Turbiville, 2010). It is fully understandable that violence is an integral part of the illicit drug trade irrespective of the particular drug and country, yet the level of violence in Mexico is truly alarming (Beittel, 2012). As of 2006, there were four main cartels: (a) the Tijuana/Arellano Felix organization, (b) the Gulf cartel, (c) the Sinaloa cartel, and (d) the Juarez/Vicente Carillo Fuentes organization (Beittel, 2012). The government’s steps, in particular, the involvement of the military into the fight with cartels, enhanced intelligence gathering, cooperation with the United States, and other measures, have resulted in extreme fragmentation of the organizations (Beittel, 2012). Hence, as of 2015, there are now nine cartels along with the four previously mentioned; the five new cartels are (a) Los Zetas, (b) Beltran Leyva Organization, (c) La Familia Michoacana, (d) Knights Templar, and (e) Cartel Jalisco-New Generation (Beittel, 2015). These cartels have managed to function with little problems despite the fact the government has either captured or killed the kingpins of all of these cartels, for instance, the capture of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman from the Sinaloa in 2014 and the arrest of Hector Beltran Leyva from the Beltran Leyva Organization in 2014 (Beittel, 2015). Furthermore, the violence remains an actual problem, irrespective of some successes in bringing down the homicide rate as cartels have intensified activities related to kidnappings, extortions, and threats (Beittel, 2015). Clearly, the success of the government has been undermined by a failure to disrupt operations of cartels through captures of the kingpins and the recent escape of Guzman on July 11, 2015 (Beittel, 2015). There are suppositions that the Sinaloa cartel is vying to seize dominance in Mexico and unite other cartels. On the one hand, it will reduce the level of inter-cartel violence, but on the other hand, such development of the situation would pose a serious challenge to the government that already struggles to devise a solution under the rule of recently elected President Enrique Pena Nieto (Beittel, 2015). Hence, it is to be seen whether the Mexican government can handle the increased power of cartels and effectively prevent their further spread. All in all, the U.S. government is extremely worried about the Mexican situation because of the increasing violence that can spill over into the United States, which happens to be the target destination of illicit drug shipments. Therefore, it is frequently recommended for the U.S. government to cooperate with the Mexican government with a view to efficiently fighting powerful drug cartels that pose a significant threat to the United States’ national security and overall well-being of society. References Beittel, J. S. (2012, August 3). Mexico’s drug trafficking organizations: Source and scope of the rising violence. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. Beittel, J. S. (2015, July 22). Mexico: Organized crime and drug trafficking organizations. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. Simser, J. (2011). Plata o plomo: Penetration, the purchase of power and the Mexican drug cartels. Journal of Money Laundering Control, 14(3), 266–278. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13685201111147568 Blaine, B. B. (2012, January). Mexican drug cartels. Marine Corps Gazette, 96(1), 40-42. Retrieved from https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette Turbiville, G. H. (2010). Firefights, raids, and assassinations: Tactical forms of cartel violence and their underpinnings. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 21(1), 123-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09592310903561577
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Drugs and Crime in the United States
Thesis statement: One out of every one hundred U.S citizens is in jail due to drug crimes, and
this is according to the National Association of the Drug Court.
1. Introduction
2. Factors contributing to the problem
3. Solutions to the problem


Running head: DISCUSSION QUESTION

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Discussion Question
Institution Affiliation
Date

DISCUSSION QUESTION

2
Drugs and Crime in the United States

Introduction
The drug epidemic has been one of the most challenging problems in the United States.
Despite the measures put in place to deal with it, this problem remains persistent and only gets
worse. In America, the issue is not only illegal drug use, but also, there is another problem with
drug crimes. One out of every one hundred U.S citizens is in jail due to drug crimes, and this is
according to the National Association of the Drug Court (Pollack, 2017). Drug crimes include
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