The Texas state neighbors Mexico on the southeast border of the United States. It also hosts one of the largest shipping ports in the world thus forming a point of entry for goods into the US. The Texan population is formed by a large percentage of migrant labor force mainly Hispanics from Mexico. These factors make Texas a destination for drug traffickers as well as a point of entry of drugs into the US for further trafficking. Drug trafficking in Texas is dominated by Mexican and Colombian cartels from which the drugs are distributed to the Midwest and the East Coast.
Texas State has continued to be a hub for transshipment of bulk importation of the major drugs like marijuana and cocaine for a long time now due to its proximity to Mexico and Latin America. In fact, statistics from a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report for congress showed that “Mexico forms a major drug-producing and transit country of marijuana and methamphetamine” (Cook, 2007, p.10). A larger portion of the little cocaine produced in Mexico finds its way into the American market via the Texas border.
Drug trafficking does not always emerge alone anywhere in the world. It leads to the emergence of other issues, which are mainly negative. It is because of drug trafficking that the Southwest border serves as the biggest point of entry for illegal immigrants into the US mainly because the traffickers get aliens across the border without documents. Texas’ huge geographical size and the largely Hispanic population complicate the problem, which makes it easy for the illegal immigrants to fit into the community (Michael, 2007, p.22). This has contributed to human trafficking victims finding their way into brothels around Texas.
Drug abuse is most probably bound to lead to addiction making the abuser dependent on the drugs to survive. Drug addiction leads to behavioral changes and personal destruction and the community is always in danger of such people. Errant behaviors like rape and child molestation have been linked to drug-addicted fellows (Abadinsky, 2008, p.56). The worst thing is that drug-addicted people raise the children because they have suffered neglect and sometimes broken families.
Drug trafficking has affected law enforcement in Texas state mainly because it has been known to corrupt or intimidate law enforcement officials. For example, according to a report by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), police have been linked to cases like kidnapping and torturing members of one gang in order to extort information for a rival gang (2007, p. 100). However, the report recommended the Mexican government fight corruption in a bid to curb drug trafficking.
The Mexican government has differed with the U.S counter-narcotics efforts by claiming that more efforts to counter the drug trafficking cartels will amount to very little if the US government does not deal with arms trafficking into Mexico. Trafficked arms have contributed largely to strengthen the stand of the cartels and they are able to offer resistance to the authorities (Cook, 2007, p.14). It is also the duty of the US government to reduce the demand for drugs in the country and these according to the Mexican government are the most effective ways of dealing with drug trafficking.
Ironically, drug trafficking can lead to effective law enforcement in some cases hinged on the trafficker’s informal rules on the rules of engagement. An example is El Paso, which can be said to be one of the safest cities in the United States, not because of the police, but because of the cartels informal rules about how and where their battles plat out. Indeed, gang members have caused some of the battles that have been reported in other cities from El Paso.
In conclusion, drug trafficking is a global issue and no country can decan with it individually. Collective responsibility and partnerships should be fostered to help curb drug trafficking and its effects.
References
Abadinsky, H. (2008). Drug Use and Abuse. A comprehensive introduction. (6th Ed.) Belmont, CA: Cengage/Thomson-Wadsworth.
Cook, C. (2007). CRS Report on Mexico Drug Cartels: Mexico’s Drug Cartels. Congressional Research Service, 4, 1-20.
INClB. (2007). Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2006. New York.
Michael, S. (2007). Latin America’s Drug Problem. Current History, 5, 15-22.