Globalization of the world’s economy has fostered the growth of transnational crime, according to a professor from North Georgia College & State University in Dahlonega.

And of all organized crime, 70 percent of the profits are generated by the illicit drug trade, said Brent Paterline, a professor of criminal justice at NGCSU.

Paterline gave a lecture in Gainesville on Monday for the college’s Great Decisions 2010 series. He will make his presentation on global crime again in Cumming Wednesday, marking the end of this year’s lecture series.

Organizers say the series will return again in February 2011.

While Paterline touched on other issues of global crime Monday — cyber crime, the international sex trade and counterfeiting — much of the lecture focused on the international drug trade.

Without multinational task forces to combat the drug trade, Paterline said, enforcement actions have had a “push-down, pop-up” effect. Drug agents crack down on different areas of the industry, while other areas flourish.

“We don’t have a lot of cooperation between the United States and other (countries),” he said.

For example, drug enforcement agents focused on ports of entry in South Florida, and more drugs began to enter the United States through Mexico, Paterline said.

Now, as the Mexican border has been patrolled more heavily, the Canadian border has become more accessible for drug traffickers, he said.

And as Mexican authorities focus their energy on methamphetamine by banning the commercial sale of pseudoephedrine, Colombia may emerge as a leader in the methamphetamine market, Paterline said.

He added that most of the heroin sold in the Atlanta area is from Colombia even though Afghanistan and Pakistan supply about 80 percent of the world’s heroin.

“Colombians always follow the market of what the United States wants,” Paterline said.