Drug Trafficking in
the
United States
by Karen Littleton
The illegal drug market in the
United States is one of the most
profitable in the world. As such,
it attracts the most ruthless, sophisticated
and aggressive drug traffickers from
all over the globe. According to the U.S.
Customs Service, each year 60 million
people enter the United States on more
than 675,000 commercial and private
flights. Another six million come by sea
and 370 million by land. In addition,
116 million vehicles cross our borders
with Canada and Mexico.
More than 90,000 ships dock at U.S.
ports. These ships carry some nine million
shipping containers and 400 million
tons of cargo. Another 157,000
smaller vessels dock at dozens of
coastal towns. Amid this voluminous
trade, drug traffickers conceal cocaine,
heroin and marijuana shipments for
distribution all over America.
Drug dealers from Mexico have been
smuggling cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine
(meth), amphetamine and marijuana
into the United States since the
1970s. These groups now are expanding
drug distribution into eastern U.S. markets.
Finally, criminal groups based in
Southeast and Southwest Asia are smuggling
heroin into the United States, using
New York City as a distribution hub.
Besides these criminal groups
based abroad, domestic dope dealers
cultivate, produce, manufacture or distribute
illegal drugs such as marijuana,
methamphetamine, PCP and LSD.
With consumer demand skyrocketing
(especially in the West and Midwest)
the number of illicit laboratories in
the U.S. that supply methamphetamine
has grown exponentially.
COCAINE
Cocaine trafficking, distribution and
abuse of cocaine and crack cocaine have
spread from urban environments to
smaller cities and suburban areas of the
country, bringing a commensurate increase
in violence and criminal activity.
The U.S./Mexico border is the primary
point of entry for cocaine shipments
being smuggled into the United
States. Though organized crime groups
operating in Colombia control the
worldwide supply of cocaine, they often
work through Mexican intermediaries
who distribute the cocaine to America in
exchange for a portion of the drugs.
CRACK
Crack, the inexpensive, smokable
form of cocaine, continues to be distributed
and used in most major American
cities. Crack usage has stabilized, but at
a high level. Street gangs and criminal
groups of Dominicans, Puerto Ricans
and Jamaicans dominate the domestic
retail market for crack.
HEROIN
Heroin is readily available in many
U.S. cities. Criminals in four foreign
source areas produce America’s stash of
heroin: Colombia, Southeast Asia (principally
Burma), Mexico and Southwest
Asia/Middle East (principally Afghanistan).
The increased availability of highpurity
heroin, which can be snorted,
has given rise to a new, younger user
population. While avoiding the stigma
of needle use, these users are ingesting
larger quantities of the drug and progressing
more quickly toward addiction.
METHAMPHETAMINE
Domestic methamphetamine (meth)
production, trafficking and abuse are concentrated
in the western, southwestern
and midwestern United States. Meth also
is increasingly available in portions of the
South and eastern United States, especially
Georgia and Florida. Clandestine
labs in California and Mexico are the
primary sources of meth in the U.S.
Over the last decade, meth trafficking
and abuse in the United States
changed dramatically. In 1994,
Mexican drug traffickers operating“super labs” (capable of producing
more than 10 pounds of meth in 24
hours) based in Mexico and California
began to take control of the domestic
production and distribution of meth.
The crystalline form of methamphetamine,
known as “ice,” “glass,” or“crystal,” is gaining popularity. Converted
from powder by criminals in
Southeast Asia, Mexico and the United
States, ice traditionally was used in
Hawaii and southern California. More
recently, its use has spread along the
West Coast and Southwest border areas.
Marijuana is the most widely
abused and readily available illicit drug
in the United States, with an estimated
11.5 million current users. At least onethird
of the U.S. population has used
marijuana sometime in their lives.
Marijuana smuggled into the United
States, whether grown in Mexico or
shipped from other Latin American
areas, accounts for most of the marijuana
available in the United States. Mexican
marijuana remains the most widely
available. High-potency marijuana also
enters the U.S. from Canada. The DEA
suggests increased availability of domestically
grown marijuana.
According to 2000 Domestic Cannabis
Eradication/Suppression Program
(DCE/SP) statistics, the five leading
states for indoor growing activity were
California, Florida, Oregon, Washington
and Wisconsin. DCE/SP statistics indicate
that the major outdoor growing
states in 2000 were California, Hawaii,
Kentucky and Tennessee; these states
accounted for approximately threequarters
of the total of eradicated outdoor
cultivated plants.
Mexican crime groups have smuggled
marijuana into the United States
since the early 1970s. These groups
maintain extensive networks of associates,
often related through familial
or regional ties to associates living in
the United States, where they control
drug smuggling and wholesale distribution
from hub cities to retail markets
throughout the United States.
Canada is becoming a source country
for high-potency (15 to 25 percent THC)
marijuana destined for the United States.
Such operations have become an enormous
and lucrative illicit industry, producing
a potent form of marijuana that
has come to be known as “BC Bud.”
Canadian officials estimate that cannabis
cultivation in British Columbia is a
billion-dollar industry, and that traffickers
smuggle a significant portion of the
Canadian harvest into the United States.
As long as Americans have an appetite
for illicit drugs, it appears that foreign
drug dealers are only too happy to
cater to that appetite.
The DEA was the source for this article's content.
