Sec. 2. Findings

325 words·~1 min read·/bill/113/hr/4640/ih/section-2

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Congress finds the following: According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2012 in the United States, an estimated 23,900,000 persons age 12 or older were current drug users. There were an estimated 1,600,000 users of cocaine, 440,000 users of methamphetamine, 335,000 users of heroin, 18,900,000 users of marijuana, and 6,800,000 non-medical users of prescription-type drugs. On September 13, 2013, President Barack Obama identified 22 countries as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries.

Of these, 17 are located in the Western Hemisphere. They are The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Nearly all cocaine consumed in the United States originates in the Andean countries of Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru and most of the heroin consumed in the United States originates in Colombia and Mexico. The cultivation, production and trafficking of cocaine and heroin generate violence, instability, and corruption.

In the transit countries of Central America, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and other Caribbean countries, drug trafficking is central to the growing strength of organized criminals to threaten local and national law enforcement, political institutions, citizen security, rule of law, and United States security and interests. Drug trafficking-related violence continues unabated in Mexico. According to Government of Mexico estimates, some 70,000 people died in Mexico and 25,000 people disappeared as a result of drug trafficking and organized crime-related violence between December 2006 and December 2012.

According to analysts, more than 11,500 more people died in Mexico in 2013 due to the violence. Foreign Terrorist Organizations and their supporters in the Western Hemisphere, including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

(FARC)and Hezbollah, have used drug trafficking to finance their activities. The United States obligated roughly $15,700,000,000 ($18,600,000,000 in constant 2012 dollars) for counternarcotics programs in Latin America and the Caribbean between 1980 and 2012.