ABSTRACT
Beginning in the 1960s, world drug production and consumption increased, fueled by the rise of international drug trafficking and facilitated by growing globalization and world trade, as well as improved means of transportation and communication. One of the surest ways to provide organized crime groups with a foothold in any country's underground economy is to outlaw a commodity that consumers want. From America's colonial era to the present, there are countless examples of how legal regulations and cultural restrictions helped create a demand and an entrepreneur emerged to take advantage, creating a new criminal industry. Prohibiting various goods and services, in this case, alcohol, gambling, prostitution, and drugs, has always failed to prevent individuals from producing and consuming them anyway. One thing that did not change from one era to the next was the fact that the typical arrestee was from the lower economic groups and the marginalized, whether it was alcohol or crack cocaine.
