Susceptibility of the impoverished to drug trafficking

Victimization of drug traffickers
Health hazards of drug couriers

Nature

Illicit drug trafficking, moving hundreds of tons of drugs around the world, besides using organized crime distribution rings, also depends on younger tourists and poor people, of whom tens of thousands illegally transport drugs each year.

Incidence

Twenty percent of women in prison in the UK are drug couriers. At one prison 120 inmates, around half, are drug smugglers from Third World countries, one third of them Nigerian. Their average sentence is six years and they face an additional five years on their return to Nigeria. Most are not professional drug traffickers, not even drug users, but women from poor circumstances who were tempted by money in ignorance of the risk.

Claim

Drug use is a way of life in some countries. Peddling drugs is one way the poor can earn money.

Counter-claim

Most drug peddlers and couriers are addicts or become addicts. The money they earn does not help them or their families; they are merely supporting a drug habit. As their addiction deepens, new "clients" must be found to bring in more money to buy more drugs. Thus they seek new users for their products. Each street-drug peddler is the last link in the corruptive chain of criminal activity, not only destroying lives, but destroying neighbourhoods and terrorizing citizens as well.