Topic: Escalating Violence in the International Drug Trade
Country: New Zealand
Delegate Name: Jake Vroon
School: Forest Hills Northern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All New Zealand position papers GLIMUN 2010 committees
The drug trade between international countries has been a problem for many years, but it has been dangerously escalating in the last decade due to an alarming amount of in and out drug trafficking in New Zealand. New Zealand officials have tried monitoring the in and out of drug warfare in New Zealand but have not gotten a full grasp on the drug cartels. In New Zealand sentencing for importing and exporting drugs depends on the type of drugs concerned. Getting caught importing or exporting Class A controlled drugs (Methamphetamine, Magic Mushrooms, Cocaine, Heroin, LSD) can result in life imprisonment, For Class B controlled drugs (Cannabis Oil, Hashish, Morphine, Opium, Ecstasy and other Amphetamines) you can face up to 14 years imprisonment, and for any other controlled drug (Cannabis plant or seed, BZP) it can be up to 8 years. Transferring drugs into another country and getting caught will lead you to get prosecuted under that country’s terms and penalties.
A recent report examined the focus of national crime manager Detective Superintendent Win Van der Velde. A series of operations in the last two months of 2009 targeted methamphetamine manufacturers and distributors. Twelve of these operations included more than 380 staff and resulted in almost 400 arrests for drug-related offenses. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of methamphetamine, cannabis, stolen property and property obtained as the result of criminal activity.
There is a crisis in international drug policy. After three UN treaties spanning four decades and many billions spent on co-ordinated international drug control and enforcement, the market for illegal drugs continues to expand. The negative impacts of these illegal markets expand equally. This crisis has been precipitated by the collision of rising illegal drug use with policies formulated in an era when patterns of use were unrecognizable from today. The huge demand for prohibited drugs has created the illegal drug market now worth an estimated $100 -200 billion a year. The inflated prices of illegal drugs provide an extraordinary profit opportunity for trans-national criminal organizations, whether traditional organized crime networks, or newer terrorist groups. As an adjunct to illegal drug supply activities, such groups are invariably also involved in murder, assault, fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, intimidation and corruption.
In the wake of rising global drug use and production during the 90's, calls grew for a review of the efficacy and viability of the UN drug control system's enforcement oriented strategy. These calls were led by Mexico, which in 1993 called for the 1998 UNGASS (UN General Assembly Special Session) to be convened. The idea was for a global review of anti-drug strategies, with a view to improving and adapting them for the next century. New Zealand believes in cracking down on the international drug trade and warfare, so that independent countries can use national, local, political, and authoritative groups to target cartel and consumer groups of drugs. These drugs have to be coming from somewhere, so New Zealand needs to target where they are coming from.
