Smuggling drugs into the United States has been with us for many years. Mexicans growers and drug traffickers were the United States main source of marijuana. The drug was smuggled into the united stated mostly by car or truck however the drug was also flown into the United States. The Mexicans monopoly on drug trafficking ended in 1975 and eradicated the crop all around the boarder and spraying a chemical called paraquat, a potent herbicide toxic to humans. It was used widely in the eradication program, and contaminated much of the Mexican crop. By 1979 Mexico supplied only an estimated 11 percent of the marijuana available in the United States and by 1981 that figure dropped to 4 percent. When the 1970’s hit, Mexico and Jamaica, two of America number one suppliers had very little drug to export and Columbia came in and took over the drug trafficking of marijuana.

There is a major difference in the amount of drugs produced in other countries such as Mexico, Jamaica, and Columbia than the United States. With the United States being one of the largest consumers of marijuana it only produced about 12 percent of the total amount of marijuana that users consumed. Hawaii, California, and Oklahoma are among the few states in the country that produce the majority of its own marijuana, however there is more production beginning in other states as people begin to realize that marijuana is not as serious of an issue as it once was. For example in the past marijuana use was considered a felony however in today’s society one may just receive a small fine. Also in today’s society applications for employment exclude cannabis as a drug.

Marijuana users who grow their own are known typically as landowners, people who live at home and grow their own recreational drug. Squatters however operate independently or in small groups. Most of these are known as drug dealers and try to make profit off of the drug they grow. Different locations they grow their crops in are federal fields, forest lands, private clandestine plots, or green houses, and scattering the drug near other plant or trees to hide its presence.

This short history of marijuana trafficking demonstrates how much other countries are distributing drugs into the United States and how they are making a major profit off of it. If the United States were to legalize the growth of marijuana in its own countries, other countries or drug traffickers’ demand for drugs would decrease significantly putting many drug smugglers out of business.

http://www.libraryindex.com/pages/2362/Drug-Trafficking-MARIJUANA.html
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/govpubs/amhab/amhabc3a.htm
http://www.justice.gov/dea/agency/penalties.htm