Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling: Lessons from the Inside

Potential Responses by Law Enforcement

uncertainty is the key to disrupting active distribution chains. Disorder disrupts smugglers’ confidence and produces a loss of trust; in the absence of a structured organization with formal rules and channels of communication, trust is key to the way the drug smuggling operation functions. The absence of a structure that can overcome or counter disruptions to the market appears to be a point of vulnerability for less structured organizations. Potential Responses by Law Enforcement A key challenge to law enforcement is the high profitability of cocaine smuggling. However, the profits are not evenly distributed across the roles involved in growth, production, shipping, and wholesaling the drug. As MacCoun and Reuter (2001) found for street-level crack distribution, the profits from such sales are often relatively small compared to the large sums of money made in wholesaling the drug. Zabludoff (1997) and Schiray (2001) made similar observations about the roles involved in international cocaine distribution; those involved in putting together loads or arranging for shipping in Colombia stand to make large profits, but the people at either earlier or later stages of the distribution chain may not fare as well. In addition, many of those at the later end of the distribution chain may be paid in product, exposing them to further risk of apprehension as well as discounting their gain. It is important to recall that a great deal of the profit margin in the production and distribution of cocaine is a result of the illegality of the drug. Much is produced and lost, reflecting the volume of raw product that is produced and the very high profits associated with the drugs that make it from the source country to the consumption country. Law enforcement faces other challenges in generating an effective response to drug smuggling. It is worth asking the question : at which points does disorder affect the production and distribution chains of narcotics, and how does the disorder affect the people at those points? The growth of coca plants seems to 154 b Chapter 7 involve little risk of exposure to arrest or prosecution. The risk increases at the harvesting and processing of the crop, but it remains lower than at other stages in the production and distribution of the drug. These observations are particularly true of the role that U.S. enforcement plays in disrupting drug markets. Because these two steps occur outside the sovereignty of the U.S. government, they are more difficult to penetrate and disrupt. Once the plants are grown and processed, loads must be put together for transport. This is a significant stage at which money and product must be exchanged, producing some vulnerabilities. Again, because these steps generally occur beyond the reach of the U.S. government, they are less vulnerable to enforcement efforts without the assistance of a willing and able partner. When the product leaves the source country (Colombia in our study), it becomes vulnerable to increased surveillance and suppression efforts, though our work has documented the difficulties faced by enforcement efforts.The arrival of the drug into the United States is another point of high vulnerability for disrupting and interdicting the drug. However, once the drug has been moved from wholesale to retail distribution levels, the task for law enforcement becomes more difficult because the distribution agents, while more visible, are lower level, more plentiful, and more easily replaced if arrested or taken out of the supply chain. Zabludoff (1997: 34) argues that the distribution chain is most vulnerable where money is exchanged, and it is there, consequently , where law enforcement efforts to suppress and disrupt drug distribution must be focused. Poor countries, whose sovereignty is often destabilized by a strong drug economy, may have economic dependence on the production and marketing of the drug, may be unable to effectively counter the organization of drug production, or both. In addition, because the initial stages of growth, production, and preparation for shipping of cocaine occur outside the sovereignty of the United States, partnerships are critical for effective enforcement. For these reasons as well as because of inadequate or corrupt law enforcement in the source country, such cooperation Making Sense of Drug Smuggling b 155 is either difficult to obtain or comes at a high price. But even when cooperation is forthcoming, the high demand for cocaine in the United States effectively thwarts or subverts suppression efforts. Indeed, one of our subjects told us that if demand was not...