NCJ Number
125244
Date Published
1990
Length
49 pages
Annotation
Law-enforcement efforts to control the drug supply to illicit markets in the United States must be evaluated from three perspectives: their efficacy in reducing drug availability, their impact on the wealth and power of ongoing criminal organizations, and their impact on the foreign-policy objectives of the Federal Government.
Abstract
Evidence indicates that supply-reduction measures have been successful in countering heroin trafficking and perhaps the marijuana supply, but they have not significantly reduced the cocaine supply. Federal efforts to obstruct the drug supply system include an international program to eradicate drug-related crops, interdiction of shipments crossing U.S. borders, investigations and prosecutions of high-level drug traffickers, and State and local suppression of street-level drug dealing. The supply-reduction efforts most likely to be effective must involve a coordinated portfolio of multiple measures, more resources for current efforts and improved enforcement techniques, the obstruction of trafficking connections, and evaluation of supply interdiction efforts so as to improve their cost-effectiveness. 57 references