Running Head: ESSAY 4 1

Essay 4
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Institution Affiliation
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Essay 4

Law enforcement in the U.S. comprises local, state, and federal law enforcement

agencies. At the federal level, is the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) that is tasked with

crime, drug trafficking and terrorism prevention. The U.S. Secret service is tasked with

protecting the president and looking into crimes of public interest. Other law enforcement

officers comprise the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S Postal Inspection

Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the U.S. Marshals service amongst others. The

DEA enforces federal controlled substances laws in the fifty states within America. However, a

majority of drug crimes are dealt at the state level (Alexandris, 2017). Whereas law enforcement

efforts to tackle drug trafficking mostly happen inside the U.S., federal agencies do carry out

operations outside the U.S. The United States ascribes to 1961, Single Convention on Narcotic

Drugs, which was engineered to control international and domestic traffic in marijuana,

narcotics, coca leaf, and cocaine.

Strong law enforcement system in Japan is considered to be the reason why the country

has a relatively low crime rate. The 1954 Japanese law enforcement still holds the reason for the

low crime owing to its element of community policing. Consistent with the U.S. system, the

Japanese police also has a mix of decentralization and centralization. Police administration is left

to the 47 prefectural police force, whereas policy development is left to the National Police

Agency. The National Public Safety Commission and the National Police Agency constitute

Japan’s national police organization. As of 2017, the authorized police strength is 493,588

countrywide, wherein 11,721 belong to the National Police Agency and 481,867 to the forty-

seven prefectural police forces (Alexandris, 2017). In Japan, Narcotics Agents in liaison with
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prefectural Police, Japan Cost guards do seize a lot of drugs being smuggled into the country.

The Japanese law enforcement system, in fighting off drug trafficking, goes into cooperation

with the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) and other related bodies in

determining routes that narcotics are likely to enter Japan.

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) is China’s administrative organ tasked with law

enforcement in China. The ministry controls the Public Security Bureaus (PSBs), which offer

national law enforcement services in various towns and cities with China. National Central

Bureau (NCB) in China is fundamental in upholding regional and national security. Multiple

specialized units are within the MPS to tackle terrorism, drug trafficking, cybersecurity, etc. The

increase of illegal drugs into China from the “Golden Crescent” region, that is Iran, Pakistan, and

Afghanistan, has led to increased concern within the Chinese law enforcement system (Lu et al.,

2016). The issue is because the Chinese law enforcement system usually gives little attention to

the deficiencies of their own law enforcement work, which leads to increased trafficking.

Chinese law enforcement system indicates that drugs coming from the “Golden Crescent” region

constitute a significant percentage of illegal drugs seize by MPS. Law enforcement officials in

China contend that sophisticated methods employed by drug traffickers make it hard to detect

drugs on transit within the Chinese border.

Drugs can destroy a nation, and therefore the Chinese government takes a lot of

precautions to prevent drugs from entering its border. I believe the Chinese government has

implemented a comprehensive policy in drug control by issuing punitive laws and regulations. It

has developed strong counter-narcotics law enforcement teams in the last decade. The highest

authorities lead in the fight against drugs at the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), where then

the Narcotics Control Bureau has been enabled with enough supervision and funding to combat
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drug menace in China. Moreover, the Chinese government has undertaken the sensitization on

drug control as a tool employed to tackle the issue of drug abuse (Lu et al., 2016).

I feel confident in the Chinese system used to curb the spread of drugs within its borders

is working. For instance, the country wants to ensure that all related drug activity is completely

eliminated and has put techniques in place such as analyzing sewage water to establish traces of

drug substances such as meth. Consequently, the Chinese are better placed at identifying,

rejecting, and watching out for illicit drugs.

If I were Chinese, I would vie the drug menace in the U.S. as being out of control. For

decades, America has accounted for the highest percentage of cocaine emanating from Asia. A

lot of this cocaine comes from Mexico or Central America and via sea it goes to the United

States. I would view the U.S. War on dugs as mostly failing owing to non-proactive policies and

failure on the federal and state officials to take this issue with the seriousness it deserves. Since

its inception, the U.S. war on drugs has severally led to wastage, corruption, fraud death, and

violence with states such as California taking measures like legalizing marijuana. Within the

U.S., inadequate information on the effects of drug-related illness led to drug-related deaths.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over one death per 100,000

in America were linked to drug overdose (Coyne, 2017).

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References

Alexandris Polomarkakis, K. (2017). Drug law enforcement revisited: The “war” against the war

on drugs. Journal of Drug Issues, 47(3), 396-404.

Coyne, Christopher J., and Abigail R. Hall (2017). Four Decades and Counting: The Continued

Failure of the War on Drugs. CATO Institute. N.p., 12 Apr. 2017. Web. 6 Apr. 2020.

Lu, H., Miethe, T. D., & Liang, B. (2016). China's drug practices and policies: regulating

controlled substances in a global context. Routledge.