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By Greg Bartlett

Money and drugs form a powerful, potentially lethal alliance. This dangerous alliance forms daily, at home and abroad. Millions of Americans empower the drug trade by exchanging money for the brief and powerful escape from life provided by drugs. According to the United States’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 8% of the United States population, 12 years of age and older, are current illicit drug users. These legions supply the fuel that ignites the illegal drug industry: money. Why, reasonable people may wonder, does the “drug problem” seem to get worse every year? Why is the drug trade so hard to snuff out? In a word, money.

GPS Tracking & Drugs

Money fuels the drug engine. Compare the estimated cost of one kilogram of cocaine ($17,000-$37,000) to one kilogram of gold standard (approximately $36,000) and saffron (approximately $10,862). The cost of cocaine is average for drugs sold in the illicit drug market (some drugs are cheaper, others more expensive). The estimated bottom line for the illicit drug trade is huge: more than $321 billion. More than $100 billion of the estimated $321 billion in revenue comes from Americans. By comparison, the United States government budgets approximately 5 billion dollars for drug treatment and prevention. Obviously, the government cannot match the illicit drug trade money for money. Rather, the government must use its modest monetary resources effectively.

GPS tracking keys provide an efficient and effective means for fighting the drug trade in the USA. GPS tracking keys are passive tracking devices that use the Global Positioning System to determine, plot, and record coordinate locations over time. These devices are cheap and easy to conceal in, on or under vehicles. The DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) busted up a Connecticut-based drug trafficking ring in 2007 using, among other things, GPS tracking devices. During the bust, DEA officers recovered $60,000 cash, 10 vehicles, 30 pounds of marijuana, 5 kilograms of cocaine, and related drug paraphernalia. By comparison, GPS tracking keys cost $160-250 each. The intelligence gathered by these devices led to the conviction of Louis Ojeda, one of the men busted in the aforementioned 2007 DEA raid.

Law enforcement officials, using a GPS tracking key, silently stalk the white dragon (aka cocaine). The drug industry is as powerful as drugs are potent. Fighting the drug industry can be as difficult as kicking the drug habit. Law enforcement representatives need the assistance of affordable, effective technology to fight successfully against the drug trade. Millions of lives will be made better when the white dragon dies.