Africa Becomes Part of the International Drug Trade

The illicit drug trade and money laundering are usually perceived as problems related to the Americas, Europe and parts of Asia. Yet, in the 1990s, Africa is joining the chain of drug production, trafficking and money laundering. What makes Africa ideal for greater incorporation in the international drug trade is the difficult straits of most of the continent’s economies, relatively porous borders, well-established traditions of smuggling, and inadequately trained law enforcement. The major factor, above all else, is Africa’s geographical location of sitting east of the cocaine-producing areas of South America, west of the heroin-producing parts of Asia, and due south of the lucrative European consumer market…[more]