NCJ Number
105010
Date Published
1985
Length
587 pages
Annotation
The President's Commission on Organized Crime held 2 days of hearings in Miami to examine trends in illicit drug use and heroin trafficking.
Abstract
Testimony was presented by Federal and local law enforcement agents who have been significantly involved in heroin trafficking, as well as by private individuals who provided first-hand information on their participation as leaders or couriers for heroin trafficking networks. While testimony shows that law enforcement authorities have substantially disrupted large-scale networks for heroin importation and retail distribution through successful investigation and prosecution, heroin trafficking continues to be a complex and challenging problem. Opium production worldwide continues unabated and international networks of diverse ethnic origins have become increasingly sophisticated and efficient in their tactics. The problem is further complicated by the increasing prevalence of synthetic heroin and other synthetic analogs that can be manufactured domestically and need no extensive networks for international transhipment and importation. Despite strides in drug law enforcement, many of the Nations supplying opium are unlikely to respond to diplomatic pressure, and international cooperative efforts often are thwarted by locations in which both the terrain and the population are inhospitable to law enforcement activities.< Finally, no effective law enforcement or public health response has been formulated to the dangers posed by synthetic heroin and designer drugs. Appendixes contain prepared statements, photos, and illustrations.