Drug Trafficking Flashcards
What happens in areas where people go in search of employment but there are no jobs?
They adapt by tapping into the informal or underground economy
What is the informal economy?
Economic activités that are illegible to the state– difficult to track the income earned from these sources (illicit gambling, arms trade, human smuggling)
How does the state attempt to regulate the informal economy?
by banning it, by taxing it, by controlling its distribution
Tabacco
Never been deemed illegal, widely taxed and regulated– because it is addictive, it guarantees states a steady income
What is the informal economy of drugs?
Like any other economic sector, there are producers (generally small farmers in Afghanistan, Colombia or US) and there are buyers and processors often organized into large gangs or cartels and there are the large scale distributors and small retailers whose profits are small and risks great
What is the history of drugs?
the history of associating certain commodities/ activities with margianlized groups of people
What does criminalizing drugs do?
By criminalizing only those drugs associated with marginalized populations, the state brings judicial authorities to bear on those groups– they become objects of legitimate suspicion, surveillance and control
