Everyone knows the United States and Canada are two of the greatest places to live in the World.  This may be true, but do they know of the major problems that still exist in these great countries today.  Drugs are one of the many problems still existing in the United States and Canada.  This drug problem includes drug trafficking/ trade, drug use, and illnesses and death due to drugs.  Drugs are one of today’s issues happening in North America. 

          Drug trade and the illegal drug market as a whole is one of the world’s most profitable markets existing.  Unfortunately these markets exist in North America, mostly in the United States, but also in Canada.  Trafficking and distribution of illegal drugs are often from diverse, criminal groups operating from South America, the Caribbean, and mostly Mexico.  These groups south of the United States get illegal drugs to their destinations in a variety of ways, including maritime, land, sea and even international air routes.  Most of the smuggling has occurred on the southwest Mexican border of the U.S. from the 1970’s, all the way until now.  Attempting to expand drug distribution, these Mexico-Based groups are getting into American markets in the east.  They are so successful, because they can conceal their products in any of 675,000 flights, 6 million people by sea, 370 million by land, and of course in any of the 116 million vehicles that cross the Mexican border into the United States.  Drug trade and trafficking in Canada are less than in the United States, but still pose a big problem.  For about one quarter of all the marijuana that goes into the United States, Canada is the source.  This drug trade is fueled by an increasing amount of indoor cannabis cultivators that Canadian law-enforcement agents are working to track down. 

          Drug use in the United States is still prominent, but is declining.  This is due to natural decline in drug use, not executive reinforcement.  Cocaine, Heroine, Marijuana and methamphetamine are some of the main drugs that are used and that still pose a problem to the United States.   We are the western nation who is having the largest drug problem.  Drug use is most often found in minority neighborhoods near major cities.  These neighborhoods also often have higher crime and disease rates among their population.  An example of drug use being in these types of cities is that the epidemic of crack cocaine originated in the cities of New York and Los Angeles in 1982.  This problem obviously spread to cities all over the U.S., but has since declined in severity.  The drug methamphetamine started on the west coast of the United States, somewhere near San Diego in the 1980’s.  It has since moved eastward and has increased in its number of users, but has never come close to its peak in the 1990’s.  Marijuana is the most widely- used drug in the population of the United States.  A study shows that one out of every two births since 1960 has tried marijuana or some other drug during their lifetime.  Canada isn’t doing so well either, because one study shows that about 3.1 million people from age 12 to 25 have used over-the-counter drugs to get high.  These Canadian drug-users are getting high off over 140 different non-prescription medications that act as a hallucinogenic drug.  All of these facts are proof that these North American countries still have problems that are affecting them. 

Illegal drug use is responsible for thousands of American deaths every year. The death rate for Americans due to illegal drug use has increased every year from 1990 to 1997.  Most of these deaths, money spent and hospital mentions are all about the illegal drug called cocaine.  Over use of cocaine and just trying cocaine for the very first time may lead to serious injury or even death.  This horrible drug, cocaine, may cause death in many different ways.  Cocaine can cause death by brain and heart hemorrhages, overdose leading to starvation, accidental artery injection, body-packer rupture, and many other painful ways.  Some drugs such as Heroine which are used illegally in both the United States and Canada can lead to sudden death due to allergic reactions or other health problems.  Many Canadians die prematurely in the ages of 8 to 16 years old due to illegal drug use and the infections that come with them.  These people that are slowly killing themselves don’t realize it, and sometimes die right away.

It is easy to see why illegal drug use may pose a problem for these two countries.  It is simply, because these peoples mistakes often cost them their lives and others time and money.  If your citizens are dying of illegal drug use then you are losing people from future generations to keep your country going.  This is why illegal drug use in Canada and the United States poses a problem for its entire population, not just the drug users.