NCJ Number
122425
Journal
Journal of Social History Dated: (1989) Pages: 315-337
Date Published
1989
Length
23 pages
Annotation
During the period between World War I and World War II, perceived excesses in the use of recreational drugs resulted in a vigorous international suppression effort that was centered in the League of Nations and that resulted in drug manufacturing for the illicit market being pushed irrevocably into the hands of organized criminal entrepreneurs.
Abstract
At the beginning of this period, the illicit trade in refined narcotics depended largely on diversions of legally manufactured narcotics. However, tightened procedures for the large legitimate firms gradually changed this situation. At the end of the two decades professional criminals owned clandestine drug factories around the world. Their opportunity was a consequence of the League's limited success in controlling legitimate production through exhortation and regulation. Organized criminals in Europe, China, Japan, Korea, and the Middle East were all active in international drug trafficking. The organized criminal activities tended to integrate ethnic and national minorities within powerful coalitions or syndicates with many significant points of contact with legitimate society. 71 footnotes.