Illicit trade is everywhere. After watching the film
"Illicit: The Dark Trade" it made me think. Is buying a knockoff
product, such as a knockoff handbag or fake sneakers, really harmless? By
purchasing these items we fuel black market corporations who make billions of
dollars. Anything you can think of is being illegally copied somewhere in the
world. Countries ship counterfeit all across the globe. Is it wrong? Yes, and
it goes beyond retailers. Shutting down an illegal retailer is like cutting one
head off of a three-headed monster. Another one will grow in their place and
the speed that they grow is significantly fast. What is unfortunate is that the
authorities really can do little to stop it. The black market trade industry is
moving faster than the authorities. Viewing the film really opened my eyes up
to something that is happening even my hometown. I personally, know many
friends and family that frequent places like swap meets, trying to find a
bargain. They even make and distribute counterfeit drugs. That alone concerns
me. Not to mention, the hazardous materials they make them with. Now how can I
when buying a bottle of Aspirin at my local market if it is real or not? The
knockoff products are becoming harder and harder to identify as knockoffs. This
is scary to know, especially with something as important as medicine. People
have already died as a result of counterfeit drugs and this monster of an
industry is growing day by day, it never sleeps. The trade networks in this
business are very close knit. In the film, they stated that, "thousands of
fake products are destroyed everyday..." However, this does not even touch
the number of products being produced, distributed, and sold. How can we stop
such a thing that travels all over the world? It is going to take governments
working together speedily and effectively if we even want to begin to hurt that
illicit trade market.
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