Drug Interdiction

UN Conventions on Drugs.

"The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 was set up as a universal system (replacing the various treaties signed until then) to control the cultivation, production, manufacture, export, import, distribution of, trade in, use and possession of narcotic substances, paying special attention to those that are plant-based: opium/heroin, coca/cocaine and cannabis. More than a hundred substances are listed in the four schedules of the convention, placing them under varying degrees of control.

"The Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, in response to the diversification of drugs of abuse, introduces controls over the licit use of more than a hundred-largely synthetic- psychotropic drugs, like amphetamines, LSD, ecstasy, valium, etcetera, again divided over four schedules. An important purpose of the first two treaties is to codify internationally applicable control measures in order to ensure the availability of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes, while preventing their diversion into illicit channels. The World Health Organization (WHO) is responsible for the medical and scientific assessment of all psychoactive substances and to advise the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) about their classification into one of the schedules of the 1961 or 1971 treaties.

"In response to the increasing problem of drug abuse and trafficking during the 1970s and 1980s, the Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988 provides for comprehensive measures against drug trafficking. These include provisions against money laundering and the diversion of precursor chemicals, and agreements on mutual legal assistance. The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is the quasi-judicial control organ for the implementation of all three United Nations drug conventions. The board consists of thirteen members, three elected from a list of candidates nominated by WHO and ten from a list nominated by Governments."

"Based on the available English language scientific evidence, the results of this systematic review suggest that an increase in drug law enforcement interventions to disrupt drug markets is unlikely to reduce violence attributable to drug gangs. Instead, from an evidence-based public policy perspective and based on several decades of available data, the existing evidence strongly suggests that drug law enforcement contributes to gun violence and high homicide rates and that increasingly sophisticated methods of disrupting organizations involved in drug distribution could unintentionally increase violence. In this context, and since drug prohibition has not achieved its stated goal of reducing drug supply, alternative models for drug control may need to be considered if drug-related violence is to be meaningfully reduced."

"Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home.

"These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects."

One of the major problems with supply reduction efforts (source control, interdiction, and domestic enforcement) is that, "Free entry into the cocaine business, at all levels, allows suppliers to expand to cover the loses due to seizures.⁸ ... suppliers simply produce for the market what they would have produced anyway plus enough extra to cover anticipated government seizures."

"The United States has had limited success in achieving its primary objective of reducing the flow of illegal drugs from Colombia. Despite 2 years of extensive herbicide spraying [source country eradication], U.S. estimates show there has not been any net reduction in [Colombian] coca cultivation - net coca cultivation actually increased 50 percent."

"... while two major groups (the Medellin and Cali cartels) dominated drug-trafficking activities during the late 1980s and early 1990s, today there are hundreds of smaller and more decentralized organizations. These groups are now capable of producing 'black cocaine' that hinders detection and are improving their transportation capabilities by manufacturing boats capable of carrying up to 2 tons of cocaine at high speeds."

"Through successful binational fora such as the Cross-Border Crime Forum (CBCF) and Project North Star, the United States and Canada have increased intelligence-sharing and joint training opportunities for law enforcement officials. Investigative cooperation has also been expanded, through the establishment of new Integrated Border Enforcement Teams and notable enforcement initiatives such as Operation Sweet Tooth/Project O’Skillet and Operation Triple Play/Project O’Slider. The result: greater success in seizing illicit drugs crossing the U.S.-Canada border and apprehending those that traffic them.

"Despite our best efforts, drug trafficking still occurs in significant quantities in both directions across the border. The principal illicit substances smuggled across our shared border are MDMA (Ecstasy), cocaine, and marijuana."

"Black cocaine is created by a chemical process used by drug traffickers to evade detection by drug sniffing dogs and chemical tests. The traffickers add charcoal and other chemicals to cocaine, which transforms it into a black substance that has no smell and does not react when subjected to the usual chemical tests."

Interdiction - Data

(2008 - wiretapping) "The number of wiretaps reported decreased 14 percent in 2008. A total of 1,891 applications were reported as authorized in 2008, including 386 submitted to federal judges and 1,505 to state judges. No applications were denied. Compared to the number approved during 2007, the number of applications reported as approved by federal judges in 2008 fell 16 percent. The number of applications approved by state judges declined 14 percent. Wiretap applications in New York (433 applications), California (418 applications), New Jersey (175 applications), and Florida (102 applications) accounted for 75 percent of all applications approved by state judges."

(2008) "As Mexican traffickers wrested control of the most valuable portions of the trafficking chain from the Colombians, Mexico itself has become by far the most important conduit for cocaine entering the United States. Today, some 200 mt of cocaine transits Central America and Mexico annually, bringing some US$6 billion to the regional 'cartels'. As a result, those who control the portions of the Mexican border through which the bulk of the drug passes have gained wealth and power comparable to that commanded by the Colombian cartels in their heyday. These groups command manpower and weaponry sufficient to challenge the state when threatened, including access to military arms and explosives."

(2007) "During 2007, about 1 in 5 large law enforcement agencies had a specialized aviation unit operating at least one fixedwing plane or helicopter. These 201 aviation units, located in departments of 100 or more sworn officers, employed about 3,400 persons, operated almost 900 aircraft in 46 states and the District of Columbia, and logged an estimated 363,000 flight hours.

"Aviation units spent an estimated total of $300 million in 2007 on aircraft purchases, leasing and financing, and maintenance and fuel.

"Among aviation units operating planes, the three most common functions performed by 80% or more of all units were pilot training (87%), surveillance (84%), and personnel transport (80%). By contrast, over 80% of aviation units using a helicopter engaged in the following seven functions: photographic flights (99%), surveillance (97%), routine patrol or patrol support (93%), fugitive searches (91%), pilot training (90%), search and rescue (90%), and drug location and interdiction (89%)."

(2006 - wiretapping) "The average cost of intercept devices installed in 2006 was $52,551, down 5 percent from the average cost in 2005. For federal wiretaps for which expenses were reported in 2006, the average cost was $67,044, a 5 percent decrease from the average cost in 2005. The average cost of a state wiretap increased 3 percent to $46,687 in 2006."

(2007) "Despite the large increase in area under coca cultivation recorded in Colombia, low yields seemed to limit production, keeping the global potential production of cocaine fairly stable. In 2007, global potential production of cocaine reached 994 mt, slightly above the 984 mt recorded for 2006. Of this total, 600 mt were produced in Colombia, 290 mt in Peru and 104 mt in Bolivia."

(2007) "For FY 2007, the most recent year for which data are available, annual reports indicate that there were almost 620 HIDTA [High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas] initiatives in the 28 HIDTAs and five Southwest Border regions. These initiatives identified more than 7,300 DTOs [drug trafficking organizations] operating in their areas: approximately 48% of the identified DTOs trafficked cocaine, about 34% trafficked marijuana, 22% methamphetamine, and 11% heroin. Most are poly-drug DTOs that traffic in more than one illegal substance."

(2006 - wiretapping) "Violations of drug laws and homicide/assault were the two most prevalent types of offenses investigated through communications intercepts. Racketeering was the third most frequently recorded offense category, and gambling the fourth. Table 3 indicates that 80 percent of all applications for intercepts (1,473 wiretaps) authorized in 2006 cited a drug offense as the most serious offense under investigation."

(2007) "The total area under opium cultivation rose to 235,700 ha in 2007. This increase of 17% from 2006 puts global cultivation at just about the same level, though still marginally lower, than the 238,000 ha recorded in 1998. Although there was some growth in South-East Asian poppy cultivation, the global increase was almost entirely due to the 17% expansion of cultivation in Afghanistan, which is now 193,000 ha. With Afghanistan accounting for 82% of world opium cultivation, the proportion of South-East Asian expansion in overall cultivation was small. It is not unimportant, however, as it reverses six straight years of decline."

(2007) "HIDTAs [High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas] reported disrupting or dismantling 2,873 (83%) of the DTOs that they expected to disrupt or dismantle in FY 2007. More than onehalf (66%) of the disrupted and dismantled DTOs [drug trafficking organizations] were part of a multi-state or international operation. In the process, HIDTA initiatives removed drugs with a wholesale value of more than $26.6 billion from the market, and seized $673 million in cash, and $203 million in noncash assets from drug traffickers."

(2002-2006) "The world only intercepts one fifth of the global opiate flows every year, with very mixed performances at the country level. The Islamic Republic of Iran has the highest seizures rate, at 20 per cent. Next are China (18 per cent) and Pakistan (17 per cent). In the two main source countries, Afghanistan and Myanmar, seizures represent only 2 per cent each of the world total. An equally insignificant 2 per cent is seized in South-Eastern Europe, the last segment of the Balkan route to Europe. Along the Northern route (Central Asia - Russia), the interception rate is also low (4-5 per cent)."

(2006) "Globally, most cocaine is seized in the Americas (81%). South America, where most cocaine is manufactured, accounted for 45% of global seizures in 2006. North America, the world’s largest cocaine market, accounted for 24%. Central America and the Caribbean, which are major transit regions, accounted for 11 % of global seizures.

"The only large market outside of the Americas is Europe. Seventeen per cent of global cocaine seizures were made in Europe in 2006, and 99 % of these were made in West and Central Europe.

"The rest of the world was responsible for about 2% of global seizures and more than 90% of these were reported by countries in Africa."

(2006) "The world’s main cocaine trafficking routes continue to run from the Andean region, notably Colombia, to the United States. Frequently quoted estimates among enforcement agencies in recent years suggested that some 450 mt of cocaine (46% of production in 2006) may be destined for markets in North America⁵ (trend falling) and some 250 mt (25% of production) for markets in Europe (trend rising).⁶ Most of the remainder is seized in the coca producing countries (215 mt of cocaine base and salt in 2006, or less than 170 mt expressed in pure cocaine) or consumed in South America.⁷

"The US ‘Interagency Assessment of Cocaine Movement’ (IACM) assumes higher shipment figures of cocaine towards North America. Estimates by the IACM suggest
that between 530 and 710 mt of cocaine may have departed South America towards the United States in 2006.⁸ Out of this amount some 90% is thought to have transited the Mexico-Central America Corridor in 2006. The IACM assumes that 66% of the cocaine departing South America towards the USA in 2006 moved through the Eastern Pacific Vector, more than a year earlier (50%)."

(2006) "Cocaine seizures (at street purity levels) fell 6%, from their record high of 750 mt in 2005, to 706 mt in 2006, reversing the previous upward trend. Global cocaine seizures are twice as high as they were a decade ago, which is impressive given the overall stability in cocaine production over the same period. This is thought to be the result of greater efficiency in law enforcement services and improved sharing of intelligence information, both of which enable seizures to be made before the cocaine reaches its final destination.

"The global cocaine interception rate remains high

"As a result, the calculated global cocaine interception rate remained near 42% in 2006, up from 29% in 1998. A portion of this increase is due to improvements in law enforcement. However, a small portion may also be due to the double counting of seizures when more than one law enforcement agency is involved (e.g. customs and police). The potential for double counting becomes greater when different countries work together. The global interception rate was calculated on the basis of a global cocaine production of 984 metric mt in 2006 and global seizures of 706 metric mt at street purity, which – given a global average cocaine purity of 59% in 2006 (as reported by member states to UNODC in the annual reports questionnaire) - would be equivalent to pure cocaine seizures of some 416 metric mt. and report the same seizure(s). As cooperation among the various law enforcement agencies has increased in recent years, the likelihood of double counting of cocaine seizures increased as well."

(2006) "Global opiate seizures, expressed in heroin equivalents, increased 14% to 142 mt in 2006. Opiates seizures have grown an average of 9% per year over the last decade, exceeding growth in global opium production. The global interception rate for opiates rose from 13% in 1996 to 23% in 2006."

(2006) "The US authorities estimate that around 90% of the cocaine, which entered their country in 2006, transited the Mexico-Central America corridor. The amounts of cocaine trafficked into the United States declined, however, in 2006 and this trend became more pronounced in 2007 as Mexican authorities stepped up efforts to fight the drug cartels operating on their territory, which also increased the level of cocaine related violence in Mexico. US cocaine seizures along the country’s southern border declined by 20% over the first two quarters of 2007 on a year earlier and by almost 40% in the second quarter of 2007, as compared to the second quarter of 2006. The main entry point of cocaine into the United States continues to be the common border of Mexico with southern Texas (accounting for a third of all seizures along the border with Mexico in 2006), followed by the border with southern California (18%).¹⁴"

(2006) "The most striking new trend in cocaine trafficking in recent years has been the rising importance of Africa, notably of West and Central Africa, as a transit area for cocaine shipments to Europe. Seizures made in Africa rose from less than 1 mt over the 1998-2002 period to 15 mt in 2006. Most of the increase took place in 2006. The largest African cocaine seizures were reported by Nigeria, followed by Ghana, South Africa, Morocco and Cap Verde in 2006. In addition, Guinea-Bissau emerged in recent years as an important cocaine trafficking hub. Out of the 33 African countries that provided seizure statistics in 2006 to UNODC, 25 African countries, or 76%, reported seizures of cocaine, up from 34% in 1990.

"African cocaine seizures are now equivalent to 2.1% of the global total, up from 0.3% in 2005 and 0.1% in 2000. Since law enforcement in Africa is hampered by a lack of resources and other important factors, this marked increase may not fully reflect the actual trafficking flows through the region."

(2006) "Mexico is the main transit country of cocaine shipments to North America. Trafficking to Mexico and further on to the United States declined, however, in 2006 and 2007. About 52% of cocaine was trafficked to Mexico by sea in 2006, another 18% by land from Central America (Guatemala and Belize) and 30% by air. These figures suggest that 2006 saw a decline in trafficking by sea and by land and – in relative terms – an increase in trafficking by air as compared to a year earlier. Aircrafts often bring cocaine into Mexico from Venezuela, Colombia and from countries in Central America, notably Guatemala.¹² Important entry points for cocaine into Mexico by sea continue to be the Pacific region and the peninsula of Yukatan on the Atlantic coast. From there, the drug is usually transported by land northwards. In volume terms, most cocaine shipments are by sea. In terms of cases, most seizures are for deliveries by land. About 90% of the cocaine is destined for the USA, 7% is destined for Europe (often by air to Spain, Belgium, Germany, France and Italy) and 3% is for local consumption.".¹³

(2004) "The most serious threat of illegal smuggling originates from Afghanistan (heroin and opium). Drugs are smuggled through Central Asia into Russia's domestic market and onwards into Europe. Since the withdrawal of Russian Border Guards from the Tajikistan / Afghanistan border in December 2004 heroin seizures have decreased significantly in all Central Asian States with seizures now the lowest on record since 2001."

(1998) In spite of US expenditures of $625 million in counter narcotics operations in Colombia between 1990 and 1998, Colombia was able to surpass Peru and Bolivia to become the world's largest coca producer. Additionally, "there has not been a net reduction in processing or exporting refined cocaine from Colombia or in cocaine availability within the United States."

(1998) "As far as trafficking is concerned, a comparison with the interception rate of opiates in 1998 (17%), makes the interception rate of 46% reported for cocaine for the same year appear extremely high. Assuming a similar volume of seizures in 1999, the rate would be even higher (50%). For the reasons mentioned above, there are thus some doubts about the accuracy of the total potential cocaine production reported during the past few years (765 mt in 1999)."

(2007 - price of heroin) In 2007, a kilogram of heroin no. 3 typically sold for an average wholesale price of $2,520 in Pakistan; the average 2005 per-kilogram wholesale price of heroin no. 4 in that country equaled approximately $4,159. The 2007 wholesale price for a kilogram of heroin in Afghanistan ranged around $2,405. In Colombia, a kilogram of heroin no. 4 typically sold for $9,992 wholesale in 2006. In the United States in 2007, a kilogram of heroin no. 4 cost an average of $71,200 wholesale.