Drug trafficking organizations have posed high crime threats such as human smuggling, crimes of extortion, oil theft among others. Drug traffic organizations have relied on violence as an intrinsic feature in the illicit drug trades. Traffickers have relied on violence to settle disputes with the administration, offer a semblance of order with buyers, suppliers, and creditors, and intimidating potential competitors. These kinds of drug trafficking-related violence have routinely occurred in United States cities. For instance, drug trafficking-related violence against the state occurs when law enforcement attempts to curtail the business.
The weakening of drug trafficking organizations by the state has increased drug-related violence and made corruption more vital to their operations. In the past, drug trafficking organizations used corruption to influence policies as well as the implementation of policies to facilitate the operation of their business leading to less violence linked to drug trafficking. Centralized control ensured that corruption was largely held and managed. However, over the past few years, the patterns of corruption have shifted with distinct consequences such as increased violence and conflict among the drug trafficking organizations. Decentralization of drug trafficking organizations has created more corrupt interactions with the state officials leading to less reliable guarantees to the drug traffic organizations with regards to their bribes.
Corruption has undermined enforcement and increased inter-cartel violence since most of the state administrators working for competitors have resulted in violence against the government as cartels attempt to oppose the support. For instance, within a centralized state, the drug trafficking organizations will largely carry out their operations without any threat from competitors and utilize corruption safely to avoid law enforcement issues. However, under a decentralized state, competing drug traffickers will utilize corruption and violence to defeat their competitors and target state fraudulent officials. High enforcement has generated both corruption and violence due to the need for the cartels to create their preliminary structures and get their means of protection. Increased enforcement has led to more direct violence where the state tries to fight the drug traffic organizations while the drug traffic organizations fight back.
