Impacts of drug trade in select states of Latin America

In the introduction of my thesis, devoted to the drug trade in select states of Latin America, I will address the topic of cocaine and its history. This is important for understanding the significance of the drug in the world, and -- especially in Latin America -- for comprehending that in these countries cocaine has such a strong tradition that attempts to prevent the cultivation of coca and subsequent trade with the drug will probably never succeed. I will further examine the economic and social situations in countries of Latin America and emphasize the fact that people there often have no other alternative than to engage in criminal activities, again for the most part related to cocaine. I will evaluate anti-drug policies in select Latin American countries and their effectiveness -- or rather ineffectiveness -- and conversely attempt to describe how great an influence the narco-mafia has on the economics and politics of given states and on their representatives. I intend to focus my thesis primarily on three Latin American states: Colombia, as the largest supplier of cocaine; Mexico, which is the primary transit country, through which drugs travel from Colombia to the United States, and Brazil, where children's gangs connected with drugs form.