Cocaine

Contemporary availability of cocaine worldwide is the result of centuries of transnational trade, both legal and illegal. Like tobacco and opiates, coca [Page 53]made its journey to the global northwest on the back of European colonialism. In more recent years, globalization has accelerated the movement of people, goods, and technologies around the globe, facilitating both licit and illicit trade. The international cocaine trade is of particular importance to scholars of transnational crime and justice. In addition to being one of the largest forms of transnational crime, it is also one of the most politically important.