And while economically, the USA may be the loser, people continue to die as a result of cartel violence every year in Mexico – in fact, over the past 10 years, about 100,000 people have died as a result of drug violence in Mexico.
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Acting Chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration Chuck Rosenberg made a comment last week that angered medicinal marijuana patients and started a petition demanding Rosenberg to resign.
Even though drugs are illegal now, millions of Americans are still struggling with drug addiction, and many of them can not afford the treatment they need.
Several studies also claim that the availability of medical marijuana and its legalization reduced painkiller abuse rates and deaths due to drug overdose.
The report also found Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations, like the Sinaloa Cartel, remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the USA and control practically all drug trafficking across the Southwest border.
Finally, Rosenberg notes, “Domestically, affiliated and violent gangs are increasingly a threat to the safety and security of our communities”. “They profit by buying drugs from regional Mexican criminal affiliates and then supply American streets with these unsafe drugs, particularly heroin”.
Surprisingly, the report suggests there has been a bit of a decline in the number of people abusing prescription medications, although this population still remains larger than the population who uses cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, phencyclidine (PCP), and methamphetamine combined. More than 700 heroin deaths have been caused by the addition of fentanyl to the batch without the user’s knowledge. Much of the proceeds of the sale of designer synthetic drugs from China flow to Middle Eastern countries such as Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.
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The NDTA provides an up-to-date look at the many challenges that local communities face related to drug abuse and trafficking. The DEA recently surveyed more than 1,000 law enforcement agencies about what they saw as the biggest drug threats. Around 40% more people have died from heroin overdoses in 2013 than 2012.
