Jamaica's geographic location makes the island an ideal mid-way point for drug shipments between South America, the United States and Europe. The United Nations International Drug Control Programme estimates that 248 metric tonnes of cocaine enter the US through the Central and Eastern Caribbean each year. This is about 40 percent of the cocaine entering the US, up from 30 percent in the early 1990s. Altogether 61.8 percent of all cocaine leaving Latin America transits the Caribbean corridor. In the mid-1990s, when transatlantic drug dealers began to come under increased scrutiny from narcotics security forces, women were recruited to act as couriers in the trade.
Women present an attractive means of transporting narcotics.
Dundeen Ferguson, president of Woman Inc, a local NGO said many drug pushers are now opting to peddle their wares in Britain rather than the United States. The US has tightened up and they have strict laws. According to Ferguson, women are lured into the drug trade for various reasons. A lot of it is material gain. Many of these girls are from a background of poverty and dependence and they're easily swayed by the promise of easy money.