Award Winning Harvard International Review Essay

Dear all WhoAskedHu? readers,

I'm deeply sorry for my nearly four-month absence from this website as I have been focusing on school and other extracurriculars over these few months.

Nevertheless, I recently entered the Harvard International Review Academic Writing Competition and was awarded a silver medal. The process was immensely educational as not only did I have to write a paper (read below) but I also was required to give a thesis defense/dissertation in front of the HIR staff. Overall, this was a fun project and I hope to be posting more soon!

Terahertz Imaging: A Potential to Stimulate International Cooperation in Combating Drugs

(All the works cited have been hyperlinked within the essay)

Each year, thousands of human mules deliver packages across international borders; however, only the cartel and the victimized carrier know that they have up to a kilogram of illicit substances wrapped and transiting in their stomachs after being ingested. In reaction to the increased domestic demand for illicit drugs, countries like the United States intensely monitor their borders. Consequently, cartels have been forced to adapt their forms of smuggling—human mules being a favorite for their cost-effectiveness. In the case of the collapsing bilateral cooperation between the United States and Mexico, a new strategy is required to combat cartels and eliminate the use of human drug mules. A new technology, Terahertz Imaging, could be the key to revitalizing cooperation.

The Plight of Drug Mules and the Reasoning Behind Cartels 

It is recognized that although drug mules complete illegal tasks, they are not entirely responsible for the acts they commit. Apart from being a human trafficking victim, there are two key reasons for being coerced into becoming a drug mule: fear and substance abuse. First, some individuals fear for their own life, as an interviewee from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) expressed, “My master was right next to me and he continued to say that if I said anything he'd kill me.” Others become drug mules in exchange for their families’ safety. Second, cartels use drugs as a reward to manipulate people facing substance abuse to draw them in and then use the same strategy to force obedience. Additionally, there is the danger of potent substances breaking through their packaging. This was the case in 2016 for a Lithuanian drug mule who died in Barcelona when one of the thirty-five cocaine capsules in their stomach broke. 

To cartels, drug mules are simply tools in transportation; they see mules from a purely economic standpoint. Instilling fear in drug mules is essentially free to powerful cartels; facilitating an addiction is also cheap. In 2013, the annual cost of cocaine addiction hovered around US$36,000, whereas the wholesale price of one kilogram of cocaine was US$28,750. Without taking into account travel costs, usually not exceeding US$500, the cartels can “buy” a mule for the money earned from two trips from the victim. If the mules are caught, the cartels lose the human and a small number of drugs, but in comparison to other trafficking methods, such as submarines and trucks, human drug mules are the most cost-effective as in most cases they are cheap, and, if caught, no vehicle would be lost.

Ineffective Solutions: A Drug War Case Study

Drug mules cannot escape their role until they are caught, killed, or released when either the cartel or the mule collapses. In cases of bilateral distrust, as seen in the US–Mexico relationship, countries must collaborate to combat cartels and save drug mules, or otherwise turn to other techniques.

American involvement in stopping drug trafficking within Mexico started in 2008 when President George W. Bush launched the Meridia Initiative. From 1990 to 2006 there was a fivefold increase in drug overdose deaths–26,400 deaths in 2006—giving President Bush a cause for action. Additionally, 90 percent of cocaine in the United States came from Mexico. Consequently, President Bush decided to collaborate with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. However, following the 2020 arrest of former Mexican defense minister General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda for drug trafficking by US officials, US–Mexico cooperation slowed. Mexico responded by restricting the power of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in its borders. According to Matthew Donahue, the DEA's deputy chief of operations, the Mexican police were purposely withholding information about cartels from their American counterparts. The paralyzation of cooperation has been followed by a switch from a slow linear rise to a rapid increase in drug-overdose deaths from 2019-2021. The halt in operations against cartels has negative implications for the futures of drug mules.

Terahertz Imaging: A Promising Fix

Now that action against cartels is at a standstill, X-ray technology at security checkpoints remains the primary method for catching drug mules. Currently, security X-rays only scan through clothes, revealing hidden firearms, but not drugs, inside the stomach. A study conducted in 2013 by Pascal Rousset et al. found that current medical abdominal scanning X-rays missed 70 percent of hidden packages in the human body. With X-rays not being a definitive technology for catching drug mules, it is often up to the intuition of border police—dependent on personal biases. A proposed solution is an emerging technology called Terahertz Imaging, which allows for increased accuracy and cost benefits.

Terahertz Imaging refers to the process in which terahertz waves, the waves between the microwave and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, interact with different materials. In a process known as terahertz spectroscopy, terahertz waves are emitted toward a material, and the intensity of the reflected or refracted waves are analyzed, as different materials provide unique responses. Through this, Terahertz Imaging differentiates between drugs, human tissue, and other materials; contrary to X-rays which produce a basic image. In addition to its increased accuracy, Terahertz Imaging could be deployed worldwide due to its cost-effectiveness when compared to other methods. For example, MRI scans, which provide comparable results, may cost five to ten times more.

Initially, Terahertz Imaging encountered obstacles such as being incapable of penetrating the human body which has a high water content and electrical conductivity. However, in 2017, researchers discovered a way to penetrate through liquids. This rapidly evolving technology could prove helpful for individual countries in stopping drug mules when there is a lack of multilateral cooperation on the ground.

A Tool, Not a Solution

Powerful cartels cover all corners of the globe, furthering their reign with drug mules. These mules are prevalent in the United States and Mexico, but are present everywhere. The frozen effort against drugs in the Americas is just one instance of the need for action. Although Terahertz imaging is quickly becoming a viable tool to catch drug mules, it does not remove the need for joint cooperation between countries. Without countries collaborating against cartels, new drug mules can always be created cheaply.  

Consequently, cooperation must be present to increase efficiencies and share cost burdens, especially with new technology. For instance, countries like Brazil lack the necessary funds to send drug mules back to their origins. The victims are then stuck in a country where they are not eligible to reach citizen status, obtain a job, buy shelter, and so forth; essentially, leaving them in a state comparable to being a drug mule. If this new technology is correctly applied, there could be an influx of captured mules, flooding poorly run systems, thus increasing the necessity for international cooperation. With the increased use of Terahertz Imaging and the inherent growth of the number of captured drug mules, much-needed international cooperation could see a parallel rise, saving these seemingly ordinary victims from living as entrapped mules and not as human beings.