Globalization and new technologies: challenges to drug law enforcement in the twenty-first century

Globalization and new communication technologies have brought innumerable benefits to our society. These benefits have been economic, educational and cultural and have bridged gaps that seemed insuperable only 10 years ago. Since the end of the cold war, restrictions on international commerce and finance have fallen away and deregulation and liberalization have boosted global trade, while the collapse of communism in the former East bloc has stimulated the growth of new, free-market economies and the intense cross-border movement of people, goods and capital. The number of Internet users around the world virtually doubles every six months and is expected to reach 700 million by the end of 2001. The information technology industry has become a global wealth generator in which developed and developing countries alike have a major stake.

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