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Drug Trafficking

Drug trafficking

]] In jurisdictions where legislation restricts or prohibits the sale of certain popular drugs, it is common for an illegal drugs trade to develop. For example, the United States Congress has identified a number of controlled substances which each have corresponding illegal drug trades. For some drugs, large-scale drug production is not located where those drugs are illegal — rather, those drugs are smuggled into the region for illegal trade. Other drugs are often produced locally either because they can be grown surreptitiously or manufactured with common ingredients. Regardless of the source, high demand for illegal drugs on the black market leads to the formation of complex illegitimate production, smuggling, and distribution networks that span national borders and generate billions of dollars of revenue.

Soft drugs

Many people do not find the hard/soft drug distinction useful, as it is the drug users' behavior that is the most important determinate of harm, not the choice of drug: all drugs can be harmful if misused. A more useful distinction ranks drugs according to their toxicity and addictive potential. However, the legal treatment of drugs still seems influenced by perception rather than fact, so this article will group the discussion accordingly. "Soft" drugs are generally drugs which are perceived to have less potential for causing physical or mental health damage to the user than "hard" drugs. History may play a part in a society's perception of what is a soft drug; for example alcohol and tobacco are both very addictive and known to cause health issues, but are legally traded in many more juridictions than other soft drugs. Occasional attempts to make alcohol and tobacco illegal have lead to situations such as the United States Prohibition period, which are instructive to study regarding how illegal trade immediately organized around the controlled substances. Conversely, changing societal views have led to suggestions of further decriminalizing other soft drugs. For the purpose of this article, the following drugs will be considered soft drugs:
- Anabolic steroids
- Cannabis
- Ecstasy (MDMA)
- Ketamine
- LSD
- GHB
- PCP
- Psilocybin mushrooms

Anabolic steroids trade

For detailed information on anabolic steroids, see the article Anabolic steroids Illegal use of anabolic steroids, a class of hormones, is primarily to improve the muscular system of the human body for either increased performance (for example by athletes) or better bodybuilding results. Anabolic steroids are not known to be chemically addictive, but can be psychologically addictive for people with body dysmorphic disorders. The societal and health risks of regular anabolic steroid use is debatable, but a few jurisdictions (the US, Canada and Sweden) now consider anabolic steroids controlled substances; in the US it is a Schedule III controlled substance because it is a low abuse risk, has legitimate medical uses, and is has low physical dependency effects. Furthermore, the US Congress passed the Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 2004 to further clarify which related substances were considered controlled. Many international sports organizations, and now (after intense government pressure) most American professional sports organizations, are taking increasingly tougher stands against athletes who use anabolic steroids as performance enhancing drugs. While this will presumably decrease the illegal trade related to athletes, there is still a very high demand for anabolic steroids from amateur bodybuilders.

Anabolic steroid production

Anabolic steroids need sophisticated pharmaceutical processes and equipment to produce, so are generally produced by legitimate pharmaceutical companies. In the 1990s most of the US producers such as Ciba, Searle and Syntex stopped making and marketing anabolic steroids within the US. However, in many other regions, particularly Eastern Europe, they are still produced in quantity. European anabolic steroids are the source of most medical grade anabolic steroids sold illegally in North America. However, anabolic steroids are still in wider use for veterinary purposes, and many illegal anabolic steroids are actually veterinary grade. All the usual problems with illegal drug trades, including substitutions, cutting, diluting, and faking affect illegal anabolic steroids so that when it reaches distribution the quality may be questionable or possibly dangerous.

Anabolic steroid trafficking

Since the anabolic steroids are produced in different countries than in which they are distributed, they must be smuggled across international borders. Like most significant smuggling operations, sophisticated organized crime is involved, often in conjunction with other smuggling efforts (including other illegal drugs). Unlike cannabis and heroin, there have not been many high profile cases of individual smugglers of anabolic steroids being caught.

Anabolic steroid distribution

The majority of illegal anabolic steroids are distributed by interested parties (i.e. bodybuilders and athletes who themselves are users), rather than organized crime gangs. The anabolic steroids are often dealt by contacts made at fitness centers and on athletic teams. Steroid users are fairly easy to recognize and therefore initial contact is generally easy. Anabolic steroids can be distributed in either pill or injectible forms. The pills look like any other medical pills, but have the drawback that metabolising them is known to cause liver damage. Injectible steroids are generally distributed in vials, either a type that needs to be broken open or with rubber stoppers through which the needle draws the fluid. Pill form needs to be taken about every few days and injectible steroids need to be injected about once per week to maintain full effectiveness. Injections are intramuscular, not intraveneous.

Cannabis trade

For detailed information on cannabis, see the article Cannabis. Marijuana and hasheesh are the main drug forms of cannabis, while hemp is the main industrial form. Cannabis use is primarily recreational. Because it typically gives users a state of relaxation and non-aggression, it has been considered as a peace drug, especially among the hippie culture. Proponents for legalization of cannibis claim that its use benefits users and society. However, long-term, regular use of cannabis is known to create health problems, for eample lung disorders due to the smoking). Furthermore, because it is easy to produce, illegal trade in cannabis is highly profitable and therefore attracts serious criminal organizations.

Cannabis high-demand strains

See Wiktionary Appendix of Cannabis Slang.

Cannabis production

Cannabis is a plant and therefore production is relatively easy. The main distinction in production is whether it is grown indoors or outdoors. Indoor cannabis production usually takes the form of "grow-ops" (i.e. growing operations) which are often suburban houses that are modified to become hydroponic hothouses. This often entails stealing electricity to power the grow lights and irrigation systems, and the heat and moisture often ruin the house as a living quarters. Immigrant families are often given housing at grow-ops in order to give the appearance of normalcy to the house to avoid reporting by neighbors. Law enforcement trying to detect grow-ops often look for unusual electricity consumption and also will use thermal imaging of rooftops to see if the house is hotter than expected. A collateral problem to grow-ops is that they are often done in rented houses, ruining the property of the landlords. Outdoor cannabis production is typically done in plots that are hidden in forested or jungled remote areas. The forest services in many juridictions known for cannibis cultivation have active programs scanning for cannabis plots. In some cases the plots are so large that controlled fires are used to destroy the crop. Once harvested, the cannibis is separated (into leaves, stems, seeds and buds) and cured to create smokable marijuana, or pressed to create hasheeh.

Cannabis Terms related to production

- Indoor is cannabis grown indoors. Sometimes pronounced "indoe", sounding much like the Latin endo-, which has a similar meaning when spoken as "indoe-weed". As a rule of thumb, indoor weed is (usually) better quality than outdoor because of the protection it gets inside, though there are obviously exceptions as this depends on a number of factors.
- Outdoor, sometimes pronounced "outdoe" or instead called exo- or ecto- (to contrast with endo), is cannabis that has been grown outdoors. Although it is almost always lower quality than indoor, some extremely potent strains in this class do exist, such as those grown in southern Mexico and Central America, as well as the famed Alaskan thunderfuck, which is grown in 24-hour natural sunlight.
- Hydro, also called hydroponic, is a separate method of growing, where the plants are grown in water and a medium routinely flushed with nutrients.
- Aeroponics, a relatively recent and perhaps still somewhat experimental hydroponic cultivation method in which no medium is used and the roots are directly exposed to water and nutrients. Some growers use fish aquariums housing feeder fish, whose waste provides the necessary nutrients. This technique is still very uncommon.
- Organic simply refers to the use of organic growing methods (including fertilizer, medium, and pest-control), which can also be used for hydroponic set-ups. If inorganic pesticides were used during the flowering phase of the plant's life cycle, then the smoked buds will sometimes pop and crackle, emitting bursts of sparks due to the chemicals present in the pesticides.

Cannabis wholesaling

Wholesale market for cannabis exists on a variety of levels. Typically a "wholesale" purchase would consist of anything more than a quarter-pound (113.4g). However, legal definitions of "possession with intent to distribute" vary considerably between jurisdictions — in some places, much smaller quantities of marijuana or simply having marijuana in more than one container may constitute legal intent to distribute, with concomitantly increased legal penalties. Due to the existence of different strains and different degrees of potency, along with varying degrees of anti-drug law enforcement in different jurisdictions, the wholesale price of marijuana varies widely. For example, it is not unheard of for low-potency Mexican "schwag" to be purchased in multi-ton quantities. These type of purchases are executed by large poly-drug criminal organizations that work with other national and international crime cartels. It is not uncommon for these crime cartels to employ a professional smuggler to assist with packing and shipping the contraband. The importers of these drugs tend to be associated with violence and often import other drugs such as cocaine and heroin. In the United States, the Mexico-US border is usually the source for these large wholesale transactions. Higher-grade marijuana tends to trade on a much smaller scale due to the nature of the product — higher potency means that less must be smoked to achieve the desired effects. Where a pound of schwag can sell for $500 wholesale, high grade marijuana can fetch up to $4,400 per pound. High grade marijuana typically originates in small scale domestic indoor and outdoor growing operations. High-grade marijuana is also imported into the United States on a small scale from Canada or in some rare instances from the tropics and Mexico. Of course, some zealous traffickers will bring multi-ton shipments of this product over the border as well. Many of these large traffickers are also associated with other much harder drugs, violence, and gangs. The typical indoor grower usually tends to be an otherwise law-abiding citizen who would not consider violence or strong arm tactics in marijuana dealing. In the majority of cases, a local grower will give cannabis to "distributors". Each distributor will take between a quarter ounce and one pound and then divide it up and sell it to street-sellers. Because it costs very little to grow cannabis, and because the distributors are generally personal friends of the grower, any money made from this is almost 100% profit. Distributors can afford to distribute to sellers for as little as a dollar a gram, but typically charge half street value. The grower takes the most sizable cut of the money, but the particulars and percentages vary depending on local market conditions, the individuals involved, and whatever agreement they come to. It is not unheard of for the grower to keep all the monetary profit and pay his distributors in cannabis (although in this case the assumption often exists that the distributors are keeping a small amount of the money for themselves without the grower's direct knowledge). Law enforcement attention to these "lesser" wholesaling transactions is typically reduced; most law enforcement concern is over large-scale wholesaling and cartels.

Cannabis trafficking

Certain types of cannabis that are unique to a particular area, such as Maui-wowie, hula-bud, may be shipped great distances due to popularity and demand. On the United States' Pacific coast, a cannabis "superhighway" of sorts exists, along which most exotic strains are traded, anti-cannabis laws are relatively relaxed or are not as actively enforced, and large numbers of growers reside. At the northernmost end of this "highway" is Alaska, where northern lights and Alaskan thunderfuck are produced. Further south is British Columbia, home of the famous BC bud, which comes in a wide array of qualities and forms, the most desired of which is the hydrochronic, or hydroponically grown chronic. South of British Columbia is Washington, which is the home of the annual Hempfest, has an extremely high number of local growers, and imports massive quantities of hydrochronic from British Columbia, Maui-wowie and hula-bud from Hawaii, Thai-sticks from Thailand, yellow cab from Idaho, northern lights and thunderfuck from Alaska via British Columbia, and red-hair bud from southern Mexico via California and Oregon. Washington is also famous for its chemo-bud grown at the University of Washington. South of Washington is California, where consumption of cannabis is likely as high (per-capita) as in Washington, and is thus a major player in cannabis trade. At the southernmost end is Mexico, which, although known mainly for its low-quality "dirt weed", facilitates the trade of highly potent strains from southern Mexico and Central America into the United States. Along this "superhighway", major cities such as Vancouver, BC, Tacoma, San Francisco, and Los Angeles offer the lowest prices for the greatest quantities of cannabis, whilst Tacoma, San Francisco, and L.A. offer the greatest variety of exotic strains. These exotic strains become increasingly rare and expensive when one moves into the smaller surrounding towns. Away from the west coast as a whole, the cost of even low-quality or "schwag" cannabis may be double what one would pay for good-quality cannabis in, for instance, Washington.

Cannabis trade jargon

Note that while this is relatively standard jargon, any of these terms may have related, sometimes more specific, sometimes more generic, and very often overlapping meanings in both regional jargons and slang. Each of these terms also has a stunningly large array of slang synonyms. While the vernaculars of stoners vary greatly from region to region and group to group, and range from simplistic and poorly defined slang to locale- or clique-specific jargons with enormous vocabularies and even more greatly stratified, complex terminologies with more specific and exacting definitions, the terms outlined below are almost universally understood, albeit generic and necessarily somewhat ambiguous. See Wiktionary Appendix of Cannabis Slang.

Ecstasy (MDMA) trade

see: Ecstasy article

Ecstasy production

Ecstasy trafficking

Ecstasy distribution

Ketamine trade

For further development

Ketamine production

Ketamine trafficking

Ketamine distribution

LSD trade

LSD (also known as Acid) is a highly potent hallucinogen which is synthesized artificially. The availability of LSD in the United States dropped sharply circa 2000, when two distributors alleged by the government to have been manufacturing 95% of all LSD available in the US were captured (see LSD). Unlike other drugs, the production of LSD is very complicated and involves obtaining highly controlled precursors. It is said that someone with a PhD in organic chemistry could produce LSD, but anybody with less education and experience would have a very difficult time synthesizing a decent product. Historically, LSD was distributed not for profit, but because those who made and distributed it truly believed that the psychedelic experience could do good for humanity, that it expanded the mind and could bring understanding and love. Most of the main distributors traveled with the Grateful Dead until Jerry Garcia's death.

LSD production

LSD trafficking

LSD distribution

GHB trade

GHB production

GHB trafficking

GHB distribution

PCP trade

For further development

PCP production

PCP trafficking

PCP distribution

Psilocybin Mushroom trade

The trade of Psilocybin containing mushrooms (virtually always psilocybe cubensis) is a profitable, but less common one. While Psilocybin mushrooms can be found in the wild, this is not the typical method through which they are acquired, especially for sale. This method is highly inefficient and very few people are confident enough to be able to positively indentify them and even fewer are actually right. The people who sell Psilocybin mushrooms typically grow the mushrooms themselves, which is why they are less commonly found, but highly profitable as it is generally 100% profit for the seller or a seller and growing partner splitting profits 50% each.

Mushroom Types

There are several types of psilocybin-containing mushrooms, including:
- Psilocybe cubensis
- Psilocybe azurescens
- Psilocybe cyanescens
- Psilocybe mexicana
- Psilocybe subcubensis Psilocybe cubensis is the most common, therefore popular, strain, perpetuated by its recommendation in most methods, including the PF Tek method, as being a relatively easy-starting strain.

Mushroom production

Personal growing of mushrooms is extremely easy, thanks to the legal status of spores and mycelium (varies in different countries and states). One can purchase kits through the mail or internet that include everything one needs for personal growing. These grow kits are often used by amateurs, producing only enough for personal use and sharing with some friends. These amateur growers typically go on to create "Flushes" (When mushrooms cover the entire grow surface. Typically one container will grow 2-3 flushes before needing fresh mycelium containing material.) which produce 1 lb or more of dried mushrooms. The skills required for this profitable method of growing are generally learned in the amateur growing phase. The most common reason for failure at any scale is contamination of the material and containers that are to be innoculated by spores. The most common grow method is known as the PF Tek method, most other methods are based on this method which has been circulating on the internet for several years. The creator of this method is known as PF Tek and used to sell supplies and spore syringes, however PF Tek has since bowed out of this. Most of the supplies needed for mushroom cultivation (mason jars, petri dishes, scalpels, rye) can be easily obtained from many stores. Amateurs who actually take the time to research mushroom cultivation would not need to start off with a grow kit and can easily make their own grow space.

Mushroom trafficking

Mushroom distribution

Alcohol

In a few predominately Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, alcohol is strictly forbidden by law. Many drinks such as absinthe are, or were until recently illegal to sell in many European countries. Absinthe remains illegal in the USA. In the USA, there still are communities (called "dry" counties) with a ban of the sale of alcohol. Almost one-half of Mississippi's counties are dry. It is also illegal to transport unopened bottles of alcohol across any dry county line in the state.

Tobacco trade

The illegal trade of tobacco is motivated primarily by increasingly heavy taxation. When tobacco products such as name-brand cigarettes are traded illegally, the cost is as little as one third that of retail price due to the lack of taxes being piled on as the product is sold from manufacturer to buyer to retailer. Meanwhile, the sale of tobacco, legal or not, seems motivated almost entirely by addiction, with social/recreational motives being the cause of initial consumption.

Hard drugs

'Hard drugs' are generally drugs considered to create a high degree of physical dependence (i.e. addiction) or considered to be a serious detriment to society or personal health. Illegal supply of these so called hard drugs is driven mainly by the economics of drug prohibition coupled with the addiction of their users, with huge profit margins available due to the collision of high demand for the drugs with harsh laws that attempt to prohibit their supply and use. The vast profits on offer mean that the trade is run by highly organized and often violent criminal organizations. For the purposes of this article, the following drugs will be discussed as hard drugs:
- Cocaine
- Heroin and Opium
- Methamphetamine

Cocaine trade

Because of the extensive processing it undergoes during preparation and its highly addictive nature, cocaine is generally treated as a hard drug, with severe penalties for possession and trafficking. Demand remains high, and consequently black market cocaine is quite expensive. Unprocessed cocaine, such as coca leaves is occasionally bought and sold, but this is exceedingly rare as it is much easier and more profitable to conceal and smuggle the concentrated processed form. Therefore, powdered cocaine (its usual form) is described here. Most cocaine is smuggled in large quantities in trucks, boats, or small airplanes. Smaller gangs will often send out a mule, often a young woman, with kilos of cocaine strapped to her waist or legs or hidden in her bags. If she gets through without being caught, the gangs will reap most of the profits. If she is caught however, gangs will sever all links and she will usually stand trial for trafficking by herself. Colombia still produces around 75% of the world's cocaine.

Cocaine production

Cocaine comes from the coca plant. The leaves are stripped from the plants and dried, then crushed into a paste, commonly using cement mix (containing sodium carbonate), lime and water. This then allows extraction of the cocaine alkaloid into kerosene. The resulting water immiscible solvent (kerosene) acts to extract water insoluble cocaine alkaloids from the mixture. The plant leaves are usually agitated by stomping on them or, occasionally by using a so-called agitation machine. The cocaine alkaloids and kerosene mostly separates from the water and leaves, and then needs to be strained. The alkaloids should be extracted from the kerosene by adding a dilute hydrochloric or sulfuric acid mix then strained again. Potassium permanganate is usually added then the mix should be allowed sit for 4-6 hours. The paste is usually further strained and ammonia added. A dubious precipitate will be formed, known as cocaine base. The base is dried and converted to cocaine hydrochloride (HCl) by soaking it in acetone and straining it. Adding diluted hydrochloric acid or Ether (cutting) should cause a precipitate to form which is usually dried under heat lamps, resulting in concentrated cocaine hydrochloride.

Cocaine trafficking

Organized criminal gangs operating on a large scale dominate the cocaine trade. Most cocaine is grown and processed in South America, particularly in Colombia and Peru, and smuggled into the United States and Europe, where it is sold at huge markups.

Cocaine distribution

DRAFT SECTION To be written Cocaine is often adulterated or "cut" with a variety of substances prior to sale. Common adulterants include Mannitol, a sugar based baby laxative, Benzocaine to cause a numbing effect, Methylphenidate or (ritalin) -- a drug which when taken by way of insufflation, mimics many of the euphoric and "speedy" effects that are attributed to cocaine. Purity of cocaine varies widely over a range of approximately 10 to 90 percent - with larger quantities generally being more pure, and smaller quantities generally being less pure.

Crack Cocaine trade

Crack cocaine in the United States is usually more prevalent in lower income urban communities which are often predominantly Hispanic or African-American. This is largely due to the way a drug is marketed rather than its specific effects. Crack cocaine is often sold in $5 hits, a piece of which will fit into a small glass vial (pipe). The small amounts and low price make crack an easy sell in crowded poor neighborhoods. Crack is more addictive and more dangerous than normal powder cocaine because when it is smoked it delivers a stronger high because it reachs the blood stream quicker. Powder cocaine does not burn well and cannot be efficiently smoked, whereas crack cocaine can easily be absorbed through the mucus membranes in the nose. This has to do with the structure of the molecule and whether a hydrochloride bond is present or not. In the cases where it is not present the cocaine is known as under slang as freebase. Almost every drug can exist in either a salt form (as in with a hydrochloride bond) or a freebase form, but only freebase cocaine takes the slang name. True freebase cocaine is difficult to manufacture and involves explosive chemicals to process. Before the 1980s it was the only form of “rock” cocaine. Crack in contrast is safely and easily made and is manufactured from imported powdered cocaine usually in small batches by urban dealers. Using a simple process involving baking soda and water the dealers can make a rough “freebase” of the cocaine. Because baking soda is added in the process crack cocaine is actually less pure – whereas a true freebase is more pure. Crack cocaine is associated with street gangs that distribute it; the money earned from its sale is used for, but not limited to, the following: drug-wars, illegal firearms, and turf-wars.

Processing

To be written

Street selling

To be written

Heroin and opium trade

Opium is the dried latex resin of the opium poppy. Most of the world's illegal opium has been grown in Afghanistan and the Golden Triangle region of southeast Asia for a long time. Although, in recent years, a growing amount comes from Latin America, particularly from Mexico and Colombia (in the latter country it has displaced to some extent the cocaine trade because it is easier to refine into a marketable product, heroin), and production has also taken root in the Caucasus Mountains. The legal production of opium for the variety of opiate-based products used by the medical market is more than 50% of global opium production and takes place mostly in Tasmania and India. In these countries, it is used strictly in its natural form, which contains a number of active ingredients. It is smoked, eaten, or prepared as a drink to produce the opiate effects. It is also widely used as local medicine in its native countries; the resin requires minimal processing involving boiling in water, filtering, and drying. Illicit trade in opium is relatively rare, since major smuggling organizations prefer to further refine opium into heroin. A given quantity of heroin is worth much more than an equivalent amount of opium; therefore trade in opium is comparatively rare, since heroin is much more profitable. Heroin is manufactured through the chemical processing of opium, and smuggled into the United States and Europe. Purity levels vary greatly by region with, for the most part, Northeastern cities having the most pure heroin in America. According to a recently released report by the DEA, Elizabeth and Newark, New Jersey, have the purest street grade heroin in the country.

Heroin and opium trafficking

To be written

Heroin and opium distribution

To be written

Methamphetamine trade

Since the early 1970s, outlaw motorcycle clubs such as The Hells Angels, The Pagans and the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang have been active in the manufacture of crystal methamphetamine in North America. However, in the last two decades they have been joined by large scale operations based in Mexico and Asia, and small scale meth labs which have popped up throughout North America, which often create environmental hazards for those living near them due to the amount of toxic chemicals used in methamphetamine production. The proliferation of small scale meth labs began in California, then spread to the rest of the Western United States, and from there spreading to the midwest and now throughout almost all of the country, paralleling the epidemic in meth abuse which currently is taking place in all sections of the United States except for the Northeast, as well as spreading into most of Canada. A wide variety of groups are involved in the distribution of methamphetamine, from the aforementioned prison gangs and motorcycle gangs to street gangs, traditional organized crime operations, and impromptu small level networks made up of users. The government of North Korea is said to promote the manufacture of crystal meth, and allegedly plays a role in distribution networks throughout Asia as well as those in Australia and even in North America. Regardless, meth trafficking is not exclusively dominated by cartels along the lines of Colombia's cocaine cartels or Pakistan's heroin cartels....

Methamphetamine production

To be written

Methamphetamine trafficking

To be written

Methamphetamine distribution

To be written ---- Because of physical dependence, the high cost of illegal addictive drugs is one of the major causes of crime. Some estimates placed the value of the global trade in illegal drugs at around four hundred billion U.S. dollars in the year 2000. Major consumer countries include the United States and European nations, although consumption is world-wide. As with legal commerce, the illegal drug trade is multi-layered and often multi-national, with layers of manufacturers, processors, distributors, wholesalers and retailers. Financing is also important, generally involving money laundering to hide the source of the illegal profits. All of these are made more complex by their illegality, but the normal laws of economics still apply, with the efforts of law enforcement regarded by the drug trade as an extra business cost. The drug trade is a very fragmented industry with the most popular product, cannabis, being grown locally by many individuals with little collaboration. Similarly, drugs like LSD with very low profit margins are sold more for philanthropic reasons than for profit. The main organized drug cartels deal with cocaine, heroin, and MDMA, and it is these that are the primary focus of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. Largely manufactured drugs also induce the foundation of satellite organizations that supply some of the needed chemical precursors. In places where alcohol is illegal, such as Saudi Arabia, it may also be the subject of illegal trading. In the United States during Prohibition, trade in alcohol was dominated by the Cosa Nostra. Some prescription drugs are also available by illegal means, eliminating the need to manufacture and process the drugs. Prescription opiates for example, are sometimes much stronger than heroin found on the street. They are sold primarily via stolen or unscrupulous prescriptions sold by illegitimate medical practices and occasionally from Internet sale. However, it is much easier to control traffic in prescription drugs than in illegal drugs because the source can often be readily found and neutralized. Legal Drugs like tobacco can be the subject of smuggling and illegal trading if the taxes are high enough to make it profitable. Because disputes cannot be resolved through legal means, participants at every level of the illegal drugs industry are liable to compete with one another through violence. Some of the largest and most violent drug trafficking organizations are known as drug cartels. For this (and other reasons, namely the inability for governments to control, regulate and tax distribution), many have argued that the illegality of popular drugs worsens the problems around these substances. The most well known recent groups were the Cali and Medellín cartels in Colombia and the Juarez, Tijuana and Tamaulipas cartels in Mexico.

Manufacturing and processing

Illegal drugs can be broken down into two major classes: those extracted from plants, and those synthesized from chemical precursors. For the first class, such as marijuana and cocaine, the growing area is important, and substantial farming is needed for mass production. For the second class, such as MDMA and methamphetamine, access to chemical precursors is most important. Major drug farming and manufacturing countries include
- Colombia and other Latin American countries for mainly cocaine
- the Asian Golden Triangle of border areas of Thailand, Burma and Laos for opium.
- The United States for Methamphetamine
- Afghanistan and border areas of Pakistan Synthetic illegal drugs can either be manufactured in the country of consumption, or abroad. For the most part, the manufacturing of botanically-based drugs consists of several layers which may be isolated or conglomerated: growing and harvesting, initial botanical processing, chemical processing, and final processing. The initial botanical processing prepares the plant for chemical processing, by cutting, drying if applicable, separating parts with a low concentration, and etc. The chemical processing extracts the drug, and the final processing sizes it, provides assurance of quality, packages it, and may convert it to another form (such as crack from cocaine). Of course, there is a lot of transportation that goes into it, as well. The botanical extracts must be conveyed to the...

Distribution and wholesaling

There are two primary means of distribution: a hierarchy and a hub-and-spoke layout. A hierarchical arrangement includes the manufacturer who uses his own men to smuggle, wholesale and store, and distribute the narcotics. A hub-and-spoke layout takes advantage of local gangs and other localized criminal organizations. The cartel is at the center, with satellite organizations that may provide certain services to the manufacturer, and then there is a plurality of distinct groups, each with its own chain. Smuggling is typically accomplished via small boats and yachts, air vehicles, and by gangs paid with a chunk of the merchandise. Wholesalers routinely accept the materials from the smugglers (often more than one and of varying types), cut it, and sell it to the distribution chain or chains. For the most part, wholesalers are not individual people. It is typically an expansional endeavor by already-established rogue enterprises, such as Mafias and, rarely, gangs. The more experienced instances may re-manufacture the wares to increase (or decrease, because profit comes from cutting) the purity, mixing it (a few may fabricate amalgamated, specialty products at fleeced prices), or altering the chemical composition of the material (such as freebasing cocaine). Wholesalers may also manufacture and disseminate general contraband, including non-narcotic controlled substances (like date rape drugs), paraphernalia, and any panoptic, high-demand item that they may receive. Distribution may traverse a selectively chosen group of cartel employees who purchase from a wholesaler and utilize a prominent population of "mules," or it may encompass a heavy chain of users who are selling to finance their own use.
- to be written -- topics include:
- smuggling
- →opium smuggling against laws of China in 19th century, w/regard to Howqua, Forbes family, Cabot, Perkins family, Russell and Company, Opium War
- security problems similar to distribution of other high-value materials
- and hence gang-on-gang crime

Retail selling

Availability of Controlled Substances Over the Internet "No Prescription Websites" (NPWs) offer to sell controlled substances without a valid prescription. NPWs were first recognized by the U.S. Justice Department in 1999, indicating that such sites had been operating at least through the late 1990s. NPWs enable dealers and users to complete transactions without direct contact. While many NPWs accept credit cards, others only accept cash thereby further reducing any papertrail. Many NPWs are hosted in countries in which specific categories of controlled substances are locally legal (e.g. prescription opioids in Mexico), but because of the global nature of the internet, NPWs are able to do business with customers around the globe. In addition to prescription opioids, stimulants, steroids and sedatives, marijuana seeds are also readily available, while marijuana generally is only advertised in chat rooms and forums. To date, no websites have been found offering to sell heroin, methamphetamines, or cocaine - but all other categories of drugs are readily available online.

Punishments in various countries

U.S. Justice Department") warns passengers disembarking in Taiwan of the potential consequences.]] To be written

Australia

There is a movement in Australia to make some narcotics decriminalised, particularly marijuana, the possession of such, in most states being a non-convictable offence (the definition of what constitutes possession differs however). Heroin trials have been tried in various states with mixed results. As a result of the decriminalisation, the punishments for drug use and drug dealing in Australia are typically very small, with many convicted small-time drug dealers not having to spend any time in jail. There is an associated pro-drugs culture amongst a minority of the youth of Australia. The popular national youth radio station, Triple J radio often refers to drug use with a neutral sentiment, rarely discouraging their use. Many take this neutrality as an encouragement to use drugs, and a feeling of drug abuse being acceptable in Australia.

The Netherlands/Holland

In the Netherlands, marijuana and other soft drugs are fully decriminalised in small quantities. Contrary to popular belief, marijuana is still illegal, mostly to satisfy the country's agreements with the United Nations. Coffee shops are tolerated across the country, and pay taxes like any other business for their sale of "coffee", although distribution is a grey area that the authorities would rather not go into as it's not decriminalised. The majority are found in Amsterdam and cater mainly for the large tourist trade; the local consumption rate is far lower than in the US. Similarly to the rest of the European Union member states and American democracies, controlled drugs are illegal in the Netherlands. Nevertheless, illegal narcotics are consumed worldwide, causing concern in the international community. According to the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP, 2001) results in their World Drug Report estimate “that the extent of drug abuse in the world involves about 180 million people, which represents 3% of the global population. The majority of drug users (80%) used cannabis, followed by amphetamine-type stimulants such as methamphetamine, amphetamine and substances of the ecstasy group (16%), cocaine (8%), heroin (5%) and other opiates (2%)”. The administrative bodies responsible for enforcing the drug policies include the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS), the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, and the Ministry of Finance. It is important to note that local authorities also shape local policy, within the national framework. The prohibition policy is heavily influenced by the international community (through the United Nations), especially the neighboring states of France and Germany, which pressure the kingdom to be more strict, for they are directly affected through the illegal trafficking of narcotics coming from the Netherlands. Legally, possession, manufacturing, trafficking, importation and exportation are forbidden. Nonetheless, it is not an offense to use drugs (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2003). There are different penalties involved when breaking the law, which may include a monetary fine, imprisonment, or both. To apply the law, the government differentiates between soft and hard drugs. Soft drugs are considered to produce less harm to both the individual and society, these being used mainly for homeopathic and recreational purposes. This category encompasses cannabis (nederwiet), hashish and some fungi. Hard drugs are considered to cause considerable personal harm through addiction and physical detriment, as well as nuisance to society, by increasing crime and deteriorating families. Cocaine, heroine and ecstasy belong to this category. Along with these two categories, there is a pyramid of priory when it comes to prosecution by law enforcement agencies. The handling and trade of hard drugs is on the zenith, being a joint target not only by the Netherlands, but also by the international community. This can be punished by maximum sentences of twelve years of imprisonment and/or a fine of up to €45.000. The second priority is given to the production and trade of soft drugs. Deviation from the AHOJ-G criteria for coffee shops may result in up to four years of imprisonment and/or a fine of €45.000. This point will be further explained in the next paragraph. The third priority focuses on hard drugs users. Unlike other countries, consumers are not considered criminals. This label would bring negative repercussions to the individual, and it would keep users from seeking help. The state aims to rehabilitate users and prevent others from becoming addicted. However, disturbance to society cased by this consumption can result in one year of prison and/or €11.250. Lastly, individuals possessing more than five grams for personal consumption, or disturbing the public, can go to prison for one month and/or be fined €2.250. There are of course varying rules within this categories, for example the amount possessed, the role played in the transaction, and the intent of the goods. As regards coffee shops, the line between law and practice thins. A coffee shop is a heavily controlled business establishment where individuals can purchase a personal dose of soft drugs in the form of joints, pastry, drinks, and packages. In theory illegal, these shops must abide by governmental and local regulations, as well as meet the AHOJ-G criteria, an acronym for: No Advertising, Hard drugs, Nuisance of any kind, Jongens (minors), and a limit of five grams per transaction. Additionally, the maximum stock at any time is five hundred grams. Local governments may impose additional rules, such as closing times, zones (coffee shops may not be close to schools), and parking restrictions. The rationale behind coffee shops is to keep citizens away from the harmful hard drugs scene, bringing them to a safe, social, and regulated environment. When analyzing the Dutch model, both disadvantages and advantages can be drawn when comparing the results with other countries. On a moral argument, tolerating soft drugs can be seen as the defeat of the government against hedonism. Additionally, decades of growing and perfecting cannabis and hashish has resulted in increased levels of the active stimulant tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), as levels have doubled, making the derived products more powerful. At that rate, soft drugs could eventually become hard drugs. On the other side, Gedoogbeleid has considerable advantages, making it the most successful policy in the post-industrial world. To begin, this tolerance did not result in hordes of young Dutch queuing in coffee shops after school. Though there was a slight increase of use at the beginning, the rates balanced out a couple years afterwards. The presence of coffee shops does not translate in public urge for experimentation. In fact, most people that did not consume drugs before the enhancement of the policy continue not to use them. Tolerating soft drugs also leads to a more cohesive society, where everyone is represented, even those who decide to use drugs as a recreational item, just like Heineken, a pseudo-symbol of national pride, is widely consumed and exported around the EU and the world. Having users as part of the public sphere also aids the government to conduct studies on the medical and psychosocial consequences of drugs, allowing it to draft improved policies, and serve as an example to the world, as well as aiding those who need professional help, which would hesitate less to seek help if there is no stigma associated with their practice. Eliminating the taboo element associated with illegality, many curious consumers would not even ponder soft drugs as a source of deviance. Incorporating drugs in the market economy also entitles the government to regulate doses and the contents of the products, further reducing potential harm to individuals. The dangers of the underground market are also highly reduced by condoning small-scale trade, making the establishments more accessible to the public. When compared to other countries, Dutch drug consumption falls in the European average at six per cent regular use (twenty-one per cent at some point in life), and considerably lower than the Anglo-Saxon countries headed by the United States with an eight per cent recurring use (thirty-four at some point in life). Experts have come to the conclusion that the policies applied do not play a striking role in these statistics, though there is debate over this issue (CEDRO, 2004). It would be hypocritical to accept that the government pretends to maintain the well-being of its citizens by prohibiting drugs, for it is widely known that substances such as cigarettes and alcohol pose a much higher risk factor to the consumer, resulting in cancer, addiction, liver problems, as well as other predicaments. A move of the Dutch government towards the right, in addition to increased international pressure, endanger the current gedoogpolicy, and its future is uncertain. The number of coffee shops (one third of them located in Amsterdam) has decreased by roughly one fifth and is expected to further decrease, as local governments tighten regulations. There is however some hope that the political climate could change, as some countries such as Germany have decriminalized the personal use of soft drugs for recreational and medicinal purposes. National drug use prevalence in the Netherlands, 1997 and 2001 (weighted percentages) Drug 1997Lifetime 2001Lifetime 1997Last year 2001Last year 1997Last month 2001Last month Tobacco 67.9 66.4 38.1 34.1 34.3 30.2 Alcohol 90.2 91.6 82.5 83.8 73.3 75.1 Hypnotics 17.4 18.5 8.5 9.5 5.5 6.4 Sedatives 19.6 16.3 8.2 7.6 4.9 5.0 Cannabis 15.6 17.0 4.5 5.0 2.5 3.0 Inhalants 0.5 0.8 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.1 Cocaine 2.1 2.9 0.6 0.9 0.2 0.4 Amphetamines 1.9 2.6 0.3 0.5 0.1 0.2 Ecstasy 1.9 2.9 0.7 1.2 0.3 0.5 Hallucinogens 1.8 1.3 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.0 Mushrooms 1.6 2.6 0.6 0.5 0.1 0.1 Opiates all 11.7 8.2 4.2 2.6 1.0 1.0 Codeine 7.3 5.0 2.6 1.9 0.9 0.7 Heroin 0.3 0.4 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.1 Difficult drugs 4.1 4.9 1.2 1.8 0.5 0.8 Other 5.2 5.3 10.6 11.1 17.8 18.2 Total sample 1997 21,959 Total sample 2001 17,655 Difficult drugs are cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, hallucinogens, heroin. Source: The Centre for Drug Research, (CEDRO), University of Amsterdam

Indonesia

Indonesia carries a maximum penalty of death for drug dealing, and a maximum of 15 years prison for drug use. In practise, this is rarely carried out against Indonesian citizens, however they have controversially executed many overseas tourists to the country. In 2004, Australian citizen Schappelle Corby was convicted of smuggling 5 kilograms of marijuana in to Bali, a crime that carried a maximum penalty of death. Her trial reached the verdict of guilty with a punishment of 20 years imprisonment. Corby claimed to be an unwitting drug mule. Australian citizens The Bali Nine were caught smuggling heroin and each face the death penalty. In August 2005, Australian model Michelle Leslie was arrested with two Ecstasy pills. She pleaded guilty to possession and in November 2005 was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment, which she was deemed to have already served, and was released from prison immediately upon her admission of guilt on the charge of possession.

External links

- [http://www.geopium.org Geopium: Geopolitics of Illicit Drugs in Asia]
- [http://www.geopium.org/Chouvy-JIR-DEC2005-Moroccos_smuggling_rackets_hashish_people_and_contraband.html A recent publication on hashish production and traffi

Legislation

Legislation refers #to the process of enacting statutory laws (in proper English this process is the process of "legislating" not the process of "Legislation", or #to the set of statutory laws in a state. Legislation is passed by a legislature and, in some states, must also be confirmed by the executive. When a bill becomes a law the law is said to be "promulgated" or "enacted." For information on legislation in particular jurisdictions, see the following articles:
- List of Acts of Parliament of Canada
- List of Australian federal legislation
- List of South African Statutes
- List of United States federal legislation
- United Kingdom legislation
- European Union legislative procedure
- [http://members.fortunecity.com/victorcauchi/lex/lexindex.htm Laws of Malta] Chapter summaries and a general Glossary of definitions.

Drug

Drug may refer to:
- Medication
- Psychoactive drug
- substances used for recreational drug use
- substances used in drug abuse
- Hard and soft drugs
- A drug or demon in ancient Vedic Hinduism, from the Vedic Sanskrit root druh = "be hostile"
- The Drûg or Drúedain, a race of Men from Middle-earth in the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien

United States/Congress

The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. Both representatives and senators are directly elected by the people, but in some states the governor may appoint a temporary replacement when a Senate seat is vacant. The United States Constitution vests all legislative powers of the federal government in the Congress. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The enumerated powers of Congress include the authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, to levy taxes, to establish federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court, to maintain the armed forces, and to declare war. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers." The general purposes expressed in the Preamble have also been interpreted as authorizing Acts of Congress. The Senate is fully equal to the House of Representatives, and is not a "chamber of review," as is the case with the upper houses of the bicameral legislatures of many other nations. However, there are some special powers granted to one chamber only. On the one hand, the Senate's advice and consent is required for presidential appointments to high-level executive and judicial positions, and for the ratification of treaties. On the other hand, bills for raising revenue may originate in the House of Representatives alone. Both chambers meet in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C.]

History

The Congress of the United States derives from First Continental Congress, a meeting of representatives of twelve of Great Britain's seventeen North American colonies, in the autumn of 1774. On 4 July 1776, the Second Continental Congress declared thirteen former colonies independent states, referring to them as the "United States of America." Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress was a unicameral body in which each state was equally represented, and in which each state had a veto over most action. The ineffectiveness of the federal government under the Articles led Congress to summon the Convention of 1787. Originally intended to revise the Articles of Confederation, it ended up writing a completely new constitution. James Madison called for a bicameral Congress: the lower house elected directly by the people, and the upper house elected by the lower house. The smaller states, however, favored a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states. Eventually, a compromise was reached; the House of Representatives to provide proportional representation, whereas the Senate would provide equal representation. In order to preserve further the authority of the states, it was provided that state legislatures, rather than the people, would elect senators. The post Civil War Gilded Age was marked by Republican dominance of Congress. Senate elections were tainted by corruption, bribery and gridlock preventing the election of a senator. These issues were addressed by the Seventeenth Amendment (ratified in 1913), which provided for the direct election of senators. The early twentieth century witnessed the rise of party leadership in both houses of Congress. In the House of Representatives, the office of Speaker became extremely powerful. Leaders in the Senate were somewhat less powerful; individual senators still retained much of their influence. In particular, committee chairmen remained particularly strong in both houses until the reforms of the 1970s. During the long administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–45), the Democratic Party controlled both houses of Congress. Both the Republicans and the Democrats were in control at various points during the next decade. However, after winning the elections of 1954, the Democratic Party was the majority party in both houses of Congress for most of the next forty years. The Republicans finally returned to a majority position, in both houses of Congress, in the election of 1994. The Republicans have controlled both houses since, except that the Democrats held the Senate briefly from 2001 to 2003.

Composition

2003 The House of Representatives consists of 435 members representing the fifty states. Seats are apportioned among the states on the basis of population, but every state, regardless of size, is guaranteed at least one seat. Representatives are directly elected by single-member constituencies known as congressional districts. Each state may draw the boundaries of its districts, subject to certain legal requirements; for instance, districts must have approximately equal populations. Representatives serve for two-year terms. The Senate consists of 100 members, two representing each state regardless of population. A senator is elected not by a district, but by a state as a whole. Senators serve for terms of six years each; the terms are staggered so that approximately one-third of the Senate seats are up for election every two years and so that both seats from a given state are never contested in the same general election (except for the first election of Senators upon admission of a new state). The District of Columbia and the territories are not represented in the Senate in any manner. The Constitution makes no provision for representation in Congress for citizens of the District of Columbia or the territories. Attempts to change the situation, regarding lack of District of Columbia voting rights, including the proposed District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, have been unsuccessful. Currently, the District of Columbia and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are represented by a single delegate each, while Puerto Rico elects a Resident Commissioner. Delegates and Resident Commissioners may participate in debates and vote in committees, but may not vote on the floor of the full House. Delegates serve for two-year terms; the Resident Commissioner serves for a four-year term. Generally, the Republican and Democratic parties choose their candidates in primary elections. Ballot access rules for independent and third party candidates vary from state to state. General elections are held in every even-numbered year, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November (Election Day). Special elections are held whenever vacancies arise; in the case of the Senate, however, the Governor of a state normally holds the power to temporarily appoint a senator until a special election can be held. In almost all cases, general and special elections are conducted by the first-past-the-post electoral system. Louisiana, however, uses runoff voting for congressional elections.

Officers

The Constitution authorizes the House of Representatives to elect its own Speaker. The Speaker's powers as presiding officer are extensive; he or she controls the course of debate and enforces the rules of the House. Normally, the Speaker does not personally preside over debates; instead, the task is delegated to other members. The Speaker is also the head of the majority party, outranking the Majority Leader. The Vice President of the United States is ex officio the President of the Senate; he or she has no vote except in the case of a tie. The Senate also elects a President pro tempore, or "temporary President," to preside when the Vice President is absent. The President pro tempore, by custom, is the most senior senator of the majority party. Neither the Vice President nor the President pro tempore regularly presides; instead, the duty is performed by other senators. The powers of the President pro tempore are much less extensive than those of the Speaker. He or she does not head the majority party in the Senate; rather, the Majority Leader is the full head of the Senate majority party.

Women, ethnic and racial minorities

Congress has historically not reflected the full diversity of the United States, despite the fact that the Constitution has never excluded persons from membership in Congress on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex. The early Congresses were composed largely of upper-class White men. This changed briefly during the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction. The passage of the 13th and 14th Amendments expanded suffrage to former slaves. This, combined with the temporary exclusion of former members of the government of the Confederate States of America, permitted a number of African Americans to win seats. This movement reversed when Reconstruction ended and Southern states began disenfranchising blacks through the use of Jim Crow laws. During the remainder of the 19th century, and into the 20th century, racial, economic, and ethnic prejudice in the rest of the country largely kept out non-Protestants and the new waves of immigrants from southern Europe. This slowly began to change in the 20th century as these groups gained more political clout. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s 60s again enfranchised African-Americans, who gained more seats as a consequence. Jeannette Rankin was the first woman elected to Congress, in 1916. Women could not vote or be elected in most of the United States until the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920. Rebecca Felton was the first woman to become a Senator in 1922, when she was appointed to fill a vacancy left by Georgia Senator Thomas E. Watson. As of 2005, there are 69 women serving the U.S. House and 14 in the U.S. Senate. This is the highest number of women to hold Congressional office at one time.

Restrictions on office holding

Article I, Section 6, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution prohibits members of Congress from also holding a federal civil office, thus differentiating the U.S. from parliamentary systems where cabinet members are drawn from and continue to sit in the legislature. The same section also prohibits members from being appointed to offices created, or granted increased salary, during their term. This is intended to prevent the creation of sinecure positions. The Constitution does not prohibit Representatives or Senators from simultaneously holding a state post. During the eighteenth century, some members of Congress did also serve as state legislators and other state officials. Such cross-federal dual office holding is now prohibited by state constitutions or statutes, or by general custom. It also does not explicitly prohibit a particular person from serving in both the House and Senate at the same time or, for that matter, from simultaneously holding two or more seats in the House of Representatives. However, no person has ever done so; a member holding a seat in one house has always resigned that seat before starting their term in the other house.

Powers

Section 8 of Article One of the United States Constitution sets forth the powers of Congress. The most important powers are the powers to levy and collect taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the states, coin money, establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court, raise and maintain the armed forces, and declare war. There are additional powers other parts of the Constitution grant. For instance, Congress has the power to admit new states to the Union (Article Four). Other powers have been granted, or confirmed, by constitutional amendments. Congress has the power to break deadlocks in the electoral college. If no presidential candidate achieves an electoral majority, the House may elect the President from the three candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. Similarly, if no vice presidential candidate achieves an electoral majority, the Senate may elect the Vice President from the two candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. Several of the members of the Constitutional Convention expected that, while George Washington would be overwhelmingly elected as first President under the Constitution, selection by the House would be the normal method after him. The "necessary and proper clause" of the Constitution permits Congress to make "all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution" its other powers and the rest of the Constitution. The Supreme Court has interpreted the necessary and proper clause broadly, which has permitted the Congress wide authority. One of the foremost non-legislative functions of the Congress is the power to investigate and to oversee the executive branch. This power is usually delegated to committees—standing committees, special committees, select committees, or joint committees composed of members of both houses. Investigations are conducted to gather information on the need for future legislation, to test the effectiveness of laws already passed, and to inquire into the qualifications and performance of members and officials of the other branches. Committees may hold hearings, and, if necessary, compel individuals to testify by issuing subpoenas. Witnesses who refuse to testify may be cited for contempt of Congress, and those who testify falsely may be charged with perjury. Most committee hearings are open to the public; important hearings are widely reported in the mass media. Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution places certain limits of congressional authority. For instance, Congress may not suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus (except in extreme cases of rebellion or invasion), pass bills of attainder or ex post facto laws, or grant titles of nobility. Several other restrictions are specified by constitutional amendments, especially the Bill of Rights. The last clause of the Bill of Rights, the Tenth Amendment, provides that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Checks and balances

The constitution provides certain checks and balances among the three branches of the federal government. The influence of Congress on the presidency has varied from one period to another; it depends largely on the leadership and the political influence of the President. The authors of the Constitution expected the greater power to lie with Congress and that is one reason they are described in Article One. Under the first half-dozen Presidents, power seems to have been evenly divided between the President and Congress, in part because early Presidents largely restricted their vetoes to claims of unconstitutionality. Andrew Jackson (1829-37) dominated his Congresses; his successors were weaker men (excluding Abraham Lincoln (1861-65), and perhaps James K. Polk (1845-49) and Martin van Buren (1837-41)). Senators ruled, including Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Thomas Hart Benton, Stephen Douglas, and Thaddeus Stevens. The impeachment of Andrew Johnson completed this trend, making the presidency much less powerful than Congress. During the late nineteenth century, President Grover Cleveland aggressively attempted to restore the executive branch's power, vetoing over four hundred bills during his first term. The 20th and 21st centuries have seen the rise of the power of the Presidency under Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45), Richard Nixon (1969-74), Ronald Reagan (1981-89), and George W. Bush (2001–) (see Imperial Presidency). In recent years, Congress has restricted the powers of the President with laws such as the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 and the War Powers Resolution; nevertheless, the Presidency remains considerably more powerful than during the nineteenth century. The Constitution empowers the House of Representatives to impeach federal officials (both executive and judicial) for "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors." The Senate is constitutionally empowered to try all impeachments. A simple majority in the House is required to impeach an official; however, a two-thirds majority in the Senate is required for conviction. A convicted official is automatically removed from office; in addition, the Senate may stipulate that the defendant be banned from holding office in the future. Impeachment proceedings may not inflict more than this; however, the party may face criminal penalties in a normal court of law. In the history of the United States, the House of Representatives has impeached sixteen officials, of whom seven were convicted. (Another resigned before the Senate could complete the trial). Only two Presidents of the United States have ever been impeached: Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999. Both trials ended in acquittal; in Johnson's case, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for conviction. The Constitution entrusts certain powers to the Senate alone. The President may only appoint Cabinet officials, judges, and other high officers with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. The Senate confirms most presidential nominees, but rejections are not uncommon. Furthermore, treaties negotiated by the President must be ratified by a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to take effect. The House of Representatives has no formal role in either the appointment of federal officials or the ratification of treaties. The Constitution does not explicitly state that the courts may exercise judicial review (the power to strike down laws on the grounds of unconstitutionality). However, the notion that courts could declare laws unconstitutional was accepted by several delegates; for example, Alexander Hamilton mentioned and expounded the doctrine in Federalist No. 78. In 1803, the Supreme Court, established judicial review of Federal legislation in Marbury v. Madison; Marbury made the particular holding, however, that Congress could not grant unconstitutional power to the Court itself—the general power of judicial review was not exercised until the Dred Scott decision of 1857.

Legislative procedure

1857

Term

Under the Twentieth Amendment, congressional terms begin at noon on January 3 of every odd-numbered year. It is conventional to refer to each Congress by the ordinal number of its term. Thus, the current Congress (whose term lasts from 2005 to 2007) is known as the "109th Congress"; the previous Congress (whose term lasted from 2003 to 2005) was the "108th Congress," and so forth. At the beginning of each new term, the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate (those who were chosen in the election the previous November) are sworn in. The oath taken is provided by statute: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God." The House of Representatives also elects a Speaker to preside over debates. The President pro tempore of the Senate, by contrast, holds office continuously; normally, a new President pro tempore is only elected if the previous one retires, or if there is a change in the majority party. A term of Congress is divided into two "sessions," one for each year; Congress has occasionally also been called into an extra, (or special) session. (The Constitution requires Congress to meet at least once each year.) A new session commences on January 3 (or another date, if Congress so chooses) each year. Before the Twentieth Amendment, Congress met from the first Monday in December to April or May in the first session of their term (the "long session"); and from December to March 4 in the second "short session". (The new Congress would then meet for some days, for the inauguration, swearing in new members, and organization.) The Constitution forbids either house from meeting any place outside the Capitol, or from adjourning for more than three days, without the consent of the other house. The provision was intended to prevent one house from thwarting legislative business simply by refusing to meet. To avoid obtaining consent during long recesses, the House or Senate may sometimes hold pro forma meetings, sometimes only minutes long, every three days. The consent of both bodies is required for Congress's final adjournment, or adjournment sine die, at the end of each congressional session. If the two houses cannot agree on a date, the Constitution permits the President to settle the dispute.

Joint sessions

Joint Sessions of the United States Congress occur on special occasions that require a concurrent resolution from both House and Senate. These sessions include the counting of electoral votes following a Presidential election and the President's State of the Union address. Other meetings of both House and Senate are called Joint Meetings of Congress, held after unanimous consent agreements to recess and meet. Meetings of Congress for Presidential Inaugurations may also be Joint Sessions, if both House and Senate are in session at the time, otherwise they are formal joint gatherings. At some time during the first two months of each session, the President customarily delivers the State of the Union Address, a speech in which he or she assesses the situation of the country and outlines his or her legislative proposals for the congressional session. The speech is modeled on the Speech from the Throne given by the British monarch, and is mandated by the Constitution of the United States. Thomas Jefferson discontinued the original practice of delivering the speech in person before both houses of Congress, deeming it too monarchical. Instead, Jefferson and his successors sent a written message to Congress each year. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson reestablished the practice of personally attending to deliver the speech; few Presidents have deviated from this custom since. Joint Sessions and Joint Meetings are traditionally presided over by the Speaker of the House. However, the Constitution requires the President of the Senate to preside over the counting of electoral votes.

Bills and resolutions

A proposal may be introduced in Congress as a bill, a joint resolution, a concurrent resolution, or a simple resolution. Most legislative proposals are introduced as bills, but some are introduced as joint resolutions. There is little practical difference between the two, except that joint resolutions may include preambles but bills may not. Joint resolutions are the normal method used to propose a constitutional amendment or to declare war. On the other hand, concurrent resolutions (passed by both houses) and simple resolutions (passed by only one house) do not have the force of law. Instead, they serve to express the opinion of Congress, or to regulate procedure. Members of Congress often introduce legislation at the behest of lobbyists. Lobbyists advocate the passage (or rejection) of bills affecting the interest of a particular group (such as a corporation or a labor union). In many cases, the lobbyists write legislation and submit it to a member for introduction. Congressional lobbyists are legally required to be registered in a central database, and are employed by political organizations, corporations, state governments, foreign governments, and numerous other groups. In 2005, there are almost 35,000 registered Congressional lobbyists, representing a doubling since 2000. Some of the most prominent lobbyists are ex-members of Congress, others are family members of sitting members. As an example, Dennis Hastert, Tom DeLay, and Roy Blunt all have immediate family members who are (or were) lobbyists. Bills (and other proposals) may be introduced by any member of either house. However, the Constitution provides that: "All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives." As a result, the Senate does not have the power to initiate bills imposing taxes. Furthermore, the House of Representatives holds that the Senate does not have the power to originate appropriation bills, or bills authorizing the expenditure of federal funds. Historically, the Senate has disputed the interpretation advocated by the House. However, whenever the Senate originates an appropriations bill, the House simply refuses to consider it, thereby settling the dispute in practice. Although it cannot originate revenue and appropriation bills, the Senate retains the power to amend or reject them. Each bill goes through several stages in each house; the first stage involves consideration by a committee. Most legislation is considered by standing committees, each of which has jurisdiction over a particular subject matter, such as Agriculture or Appropriations. The House has twenty standing committees; the Senate has sixteen. In some cases, bills may be sent to select committees (which tend to have more narrow jurisdictions than standing committees. Each standing and select committee is led by a chairman (who belongs to the majority party) and a ranking member (who belongs to the minority party). Committees are permitted to hold hearings and collect evidence when considering bills. They may also amend the bill, but the full house holds the power to accept or reject committee amendments. After considering and debating a measure, the committee votes on whether it wishes to report the measure to the full house. A decision not to report a bill amounts to a rejection of the proposal. Both houses provide for procedures under which the committee can be bypassed or overruled, but they are rarely used. If reported by the committee, the bill reaches the floor of the full house. The house may debate and amend the bill; the precise procedures used by the House of Representatives and the Senate differ. A final vote on the bill follows. Central party discipline is not as strong in Congress as it is in parliamentary systems, and in the Senate it is weaker than in the House. However, the leadership does have certain powers to sway reluctant legistators to vote with the party. Party leaders derive most of their powers from the ability to fundraise, to control the flow of legislation, and to assign desireable positions; a rebel Congressman may be threatened with a cutoff of funds for his/her campaign, a reduction of pork for his/her district, thwarting of his/her pet legislation, and/or denial of a future committee chairmanship. The party leadership may use the "catch and release" strategy in order to ensure the passage of important legislation with the support of reluctant members. The leaders "catch" a member, pressuring him or her to vote in favor of the legislation even if it is unpopular in the member's constituency. Then, if the bill has sufficient support to pass anyway, the member may be "released," that is, permitted to vote as he or she pleases. Hence, members may avoid alienating influential special interest groups, while remaining loyal to the party. Once a bill is approved by one house, it is sent to the other, which may pass, reject, or amend it. In order for the bill to become law, both houses must agree to identical versions of the bill. If the second house amends the bill, then the differences between the two versions must be reconciled in a conference committee, an ad hoc committee that includes both senators and representatives. In many cases, conference committees have introduced substantial changes to bills and added unrequested spending, significantly departing from both the House and Senate versions. President Ronald Reagan once quipped, "If an orange and an apple went into conference consultations, it might come out a pear." If both houses agree to the version reported by the conference committee, the bill passes; otherwise, it fails. After passage by both houses, a bill is submitted to the President. The President may choose to sign the bill, thereby making it law. The President may also choose to veto the bill, returning it to Congress with his or her objections. In such a case, the bill only becomes law if each house of Congress votes to override the veto with a two-thirds majority. Finally, the President may choose to take no action, neither signing nor vetoing the bill. In such a case, the Constitution states that the bill automatically becomes law after ten days (excluding Sundays). However, if Congress adjourns (ends a legislative session) during the ten day period, then the bill does not become law. Thus, the President may veto legislation passed at the end of a congressional session simply by ignoring it; the maneuver is known as a pocket veto, and cannot be overridden by the adjourned Congress. Every Act of Congress or joint resolution begins with an enacting formula or resolving formula stipulated by law. These are:
- Act of Congress: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled."
- Joint resolution: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled."

Quorum and voting

The Constitution specifies that a majority of members constitutes a quorum to do business in each house. The rules of each house provide that a quorum is assumed to be present unless a quorum call demonstrates the contrary. Representatives and senators rarely force the presence of a quorum by demanding quorum calls; thus, in most cases, debates continue even if a majority is not present. Both houses use voice voting to decide most matters; members shout out "aye" or "no," and the presiding officer announces the result. The Constitution, however, requires a recorded vote on the demand of one-fifth of the members present. If the result of the voice vote is unclear, or if the matter is controversial, a recorded vote usually ensues. The Senate uses roll call votes; a clerk calls out the names of all the senators, each senator stating "aye" or "no" when his or her name is announced. The House reserves roll call votes for the most formal matters; normally, members vote by electronic device. In the case of a tie, the motion in question fails. In the Senate, the Vice President may (if present) cast the tiebreaking vote.

Privileges

Under the Constitution, members of both houses enjoy the privilege of being free from arrest in all cases, except for treason, felony, and breach of the peace. This immunity applies to members "during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same." The term "arrest" has been interpreted broadly, and includes any detention or delay in the course of law enforcement, including court summons and subpoenas. The rules of the House very strictly guard this privilege; a member may not waive the privilege on his or her own, but must seek the permission of the whole house to do so. Senate rules, on the other hand, are less strict, and permit individual senators to waive the privilege as they see fit. The Constitution also guarantees absolute freedom of debate in both houses, providing, "for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place." Hence, a member of Congress may not be sued for slander because of remarks made in either house. However, each house has its own rules restricting offensive speeches, and may punish members who transgress them. Obstructing the work of Congress is a crime under federal law, and is known as contempt of Congress. Each house of Congress has the power to cite individuals for contempt, but may not impose any punishment. Instead, after a house issues a contempt citation, the judicial system pursues the matter like a normal criminal case. If convicted in court, an individual found guilty of contempt of Congress may be imprisoned for up to one year. Another privilege is the use of the Library of Congress. The Library's primary mission is to serve the Congress and its staff. To do this, the Congressional Research Service provides detailed, up-to-date and non-partisan research for Senators, Representatives, and their staff to help them carry out their functions as national servants.

Member groups

- Congressional Black Caucus, a group of African-American members of Congress
- Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a group representing Hispanics in the United States and Puerto Rico
- Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, a group representing Asian Pacific Americans

References

- Baker, Ross K. (2000). House and Senate, 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton.
- Berg-Andersson, Richard E. (2001). [http://www.thegreenpapers.com/Hx/SessionsExplanation.html Explanation of the types of Sessions of Congress]
- Berman, Daniel M. (1964). In Congress Assembled: The Legislative Process in the National Government. London: The Macmillan Company.
- Davidson, Roger H., and Walter J. Oleszek. (1998). Congress and Its Members, 6th ed. Washington DC: Congressional Quarterly.
- Herrick, Rebekah. (2001). "Gender effects on job satisfaction in the House of Representatives." Women and Politics, 23 (4), 85–98.
- Hunt, Richard. (1998). "Using the Records of Congress in the Classroom," OAH Magazine of History, 12 (Summer): 34–37.
- Imbornoni, Ann-Marie, David Johnson, and Elissa Haney. (2005). [http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womensfirsts1.html "Famous Firsts by American Women." Infoplease.]
- Lee, Frances and Bruce Oppenheimer. (1999). Sizing Up the Senate: The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation. University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
- Rimmerman, Craig A. (1990). "Teaching Legislative Politics and Policy Making." Political Science Teacher, 3 (Winter): 16–18.
- Ritchie, Donald A. (1997). "What Makes a Successful Congressional Investigation." OAH Magazine of History, 11 (Spring): 6–8.
- Story, Joseph. (1891). Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. (2 vols). Boston: Brown & Little.
- Wilson, Woodrow. (1885). Congressional Government. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
- Some information in this article has been provided by the [http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/Senate_Historical_Office.htm Senate Historical Office].

External links

- [http://www.house.gov/ U.S. House of Representatives]
- [http://www.senate.gov/ U.S. Senate]
- [http://thomas.loc.gov/ Library of Congress: Thomas Legislative Information]
- [http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=Vontz&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=authors&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&objectId=0900000b801b5845 Teaching about the U.S. Congress]
- [http://www.govtrack.us/ GovTrack.us] United States ja:アメリカ合衆国連邦議会

Smuggler

border, 1853, by Vasily Hudiakov.]] Smuggling is illegal transport, in particular across a border. Taxes are avoided; or the goods themselves are illegal; or people are transported to a place where they are not allowed to be. It has a long and controversial history, probably dating back to the first time at which duties were imposed in any form. In Britain, smuggling became economically significant at the end of the 18th century. The high rates of duty levied on wine and spirits, and other luxury goods coming in from mainland Europe at this time made the clandestine import of such goods and the evasion of the duty a highly profitable venture for impoverished fishermen and seafarers. In certain parts of the country such as Cornwall and East Cleveland, the smuggling industry was for many communities more economically significant than legal activities such as farming and fishing. The principal reason for the high duty was the need for the government to finance a number of extremely expensive wars with France and the United States of America. One method of defeating smuggling is to legalize the activity the smugglers are undertaking and reducing or eliminating the taxes which the smugglers are avoiding, thus reducing the profit potential and making the smuggling activity uneconomic as the goods would then be available for a lower price via legal channels. Smuggling now is considerably diversified: the smuggling of immigrants, armaments, illegal drugs, as well as the historical staples of smuggling, alcohol and tobacco are widespread throughout the Western world. In many parts of the world, particularly the Gulf of Mexico, the smuggling vessel of choice is the go-fast boat. In addition, many smugglers also fly, either on private airplanes or on regularly scheduled airlines, to traffic their illegal products. A large number of suspected smugglers are caught each year by airport police worldwide. The high level of duty levied on alcohol and tobacco in Britain has led to large-scale smuggling through the Channel Tunnel. Lately, as many first-world countries have struggled to contain a rising influx of immigrants, the smuggling of people across national borders has become a lucrative extra-legal activity.

Human trafficking

Trafficking in human beings, sometimes called human trafficking, or sex trafficking (as the majority of victims are women or children forced into prostitution) is not the same as people smuggling. A smuggler will facilitate illegal entry into a country for a fee, but on arrival at their destination, the smuggled person is free; the trafficking victim is enslaved. Victims do not agree to be trafficked: they are tricked, lured by false promises, or forced into it. Traffickers use coercive tactics including deception, fraud, intimidation, isolation, threat and use of physical force, debt bondage or even force-feeding with drugs of abuse to control their victims. Whilst the majority of victims are women, and sometimes children, forced into prostitution, other victims include men, women and children forced into manual labor. Due to the illegal nature of trafficking, the exact extent is unknown. A US Government report published in 2003, estimates that 800,000-900,000 people worldwide are trafficked across borders each year. This figure does not include those who are trafficked internally.

Black market

The black market is the sector of economic activity involving illegal economic dealings, typically the buying and sellin

Drug trafficking

Soft drugs

Anabolic steroids trade

Anabolic steroid production

Anabolic steroid trafficking

Anabolic steroid distribution

Cannabis trade

Cannabis high-demand strains

Cannabis production

Cannabis Terms related to production

Cannabis wholesaling

Cannabis trafficking

Cannabis trade jargon

Ecstasy (MDMA) trade

Ecstasy production

Ecstasy trafficking

Ecstasy distribution

Ketamine trade

Ketamine production

Ketamine trafficking

Ketamine distribution

LSD trade

LSD production

LSD trafficking

LSD distribution

GHB trade

GHB production

GHB trafficking

GHB distribution

PCP trade

PCP production

PCP trafficking

PCP distribution

Psilocybin Mushroom trade

Mushroom Types

Mushroom production

Mushroom trafficking

Mushroom distribution

Alcohol

Tobacco trade

Hard drugs

Cocaine trade

Cocaine production

Cocaine trafficking

Cocaine distribution

Crack Cocaine trade

Processing

Street selling

Heroin and opium trade

Heroin and opium trafficking

Heroin and opium distribution

Methamphetamine trade

Methamphetamine production

Methamphetamine trafficking

Methamphetamine distribution

Manufacturing and processing

Distribution and wholesaling

Retail selling

Punishments in various countries

Australia

The Netherlands/Holland

Indonesia

See also

External links

Legislation

See also

Drug

United States/Congress

History

Composition

Officers

Women, ethnic and racial minorities

Restrictions on office holding

Powers

Checks and balances

Legislative procedure

Term

Joint sessions

Bills and resolutions

Quorum and voting