link for documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWm4o7zkQTA . You watched
ID: 3443316 • Letter: L
Question
link for documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWm4o7zkQTA
. You watched the Extreme Smuggling Drugs" Documentary. Identify at least 2 (two) global factors or developments (economic, political, or cultural) that are significant in the spread of Drug Trafficking BUT WERE NOI mentioned in the documentary. Why do you think these two factors you identify are really important in understanding the spread of drug trafficking? oHINT: Similar to last lecture's discussion question, here I again expect you to go beyond the "bad guys find the opportunity to do bad things in globalization" type of explanations, The documentary is all about "bad auys" but doesn't talk about the "structural reasons" that identify various economic, political, cultural pr reasons (inequalities, structural imbalances between countries, corporate power, etc) that contribute to drug trafficking. Give examples from videosExplanation / Answer
Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the response based on your class discussions if necessary.
(Answer) An interesting way to look at the drug smuggling industry is to analyse it like you would any other business. Firstly let the industry be broken down into supply and demand. Just like any other product, there is a need to increase supply only if the demand is stable or high.
Drugs are usually stimulants or mood enhancers. The demand for such a product would normally increase if the populace would need a reason to enhance their mood. Some depend on prescription medication while others go beyond normal anti-depressants.
When a large amount of the population needs to enhance their mood or alleviate their stress, it can easily be inferred to a political upheaval, social or economic issue or some kind of oppressive factor.
In this particular case, the rise in demand for drugs and the subsequent rise in suppliers can be attributed to the economic crisis of 2008 that certain parts of the world are still trying to recover from.
According to data from the EMCDDA, in Greece in 2008 versus 2010, drug abuse grew by 11.6% within these 2 years that the economic crisis was most felt. Among the working population of 35 to 64 years of age, this increase was 88.2%. (source: The Impact of the 2008 Economic Crisis on Substance Use Patterns in the Countries of the European Union. Geert Dom et. Al) This is an example of Greece, however, the pattern in America, Portugal and other areas are somewhat similar.
With analysis of such data, one could surmise that the lack of a stable job and economic stability within the family leads to an increase in demand for such stimulants.
If drug peddlers increase, it can, therefore, be easily attributed to the increase in demand. Also, this demand usually increases because of an over a crisis that hits a population. It can be noticed from the video that the areas in which the drug dealers work are areas where people have rented houses. It is probably among people who have no capital for their own to have their own house since they probably have poor paying jobs or no jobs at all.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.