Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Drug Smuggling For Dummies



The first time I ever did cocaine I was in the parking lot of the Rainbow Room in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It was 2 am in the morning. My friend lined up a couple rails of coke and I snorted them off the dashboard of his BMW. Then we proceeded to party until 10 am.

At the time I was not conscious of where the white powder came from or how it found it's way to Las Vegas. I had no idea at what price my night on the town really cost, and how many lives were ruined just so I could get high.

Since that time I've driven all the way to the cocaine source in Colombia. I've traveled extensively through Mexico and every country in Central America. I've talked to narcos and visited their territories. I've driven though well over 150 military check points in 10 countries. Through these experiences I have learned a lot about drug smuggling.

Have you ever wondered how all those drugs actually make it into the US? There are dozens of ways, and you can read about them all in my new best selling book, Drug Smuggling For Dummies.

But for now, I will share one trafficking route with you. Check this out...

PRODUCTION - First the coke has to be grown without the military finding it.

Over 80% of the worlds cocaine comes from the mountains of Colombia. These are extremely rugged and remote areas with no road access. Perfect for production.

By using the threat of violence, the narcos (FARC) force the local mountain people to plant tons of coca underneath their regular food crops to hide it from the military planes.

If the military suspects that coca is being planted, they will spray the entire area from the air. Often times they are wrong, and local food sources are decimated leaving hundreds of poor subsistence farmers without any way to feed their families.

TRANSPORTATION - After the cocaine is produced, it needs to be transported from the mountains to the Pacific ocean. There are two ways to do this.

By Road - This method only works if the narcos can control the highways. There are only a couple roads that access the very remote Pacific ocean and the FARC is currently at war with the military for control of those corridors. Hundreds of innocent people are dying. READ MORE HERE - FARC TERRORIST ATTACKS

By Air - This is an easy way to get cocaine to the Pacific. In order to hide the air strips, narcos will build fake houses on wheels, (no shit). They put them in long rows over the dirt runway. When a transport plane arrives, they wheel the houses out of the way, exposing small landing strips.

They then fly to remote areas on the Pacific coast where there are no roads, no cities, and very few people. They land on long flat beaches at low tide, exactly like the beach where our friends house is located in the photo below.

This plane was abandoned by a drug runner several years ago near our friends house.


After the drugs reach the Pacific, their next mode of transportation is by boat, and the destination is Mexico. 77% of the drugs that now reach the US go through Mexico.
In order to move the drugs to Mexico, the narcos hire local fisherman to pilot specially built speed boats. The guy who ran our dive boat the other day had done two drug runs to Mexico. For each run they earned 3 bricks of cocaine, which is worth around $7500. That is a lot of money for these guys. Despite being good people, they take high risks to support their families.

And the risk is great. The speed boats, also know as "Go Boats", are insanely fast. Nevertheless, there is significant danger involved. The military's policy is simple. When they find these boats, they blow them up, along with anyone aboard. The BBC has documented this in detail.

Once the drugs arrive in Mexico, they are sold by the Colombian cartel to a Mexican cartel, most likely the Sinaloa.

It is widely known, although not in the US, that the Sinaloa cartel is in bed with the Mexican government, who is using the military to take out the rival cartels. Since this alliance was formed the Sinaloa territory has rapidly expanded while the rivals have been pushed into Central America, specifically Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The war in Mexico is wreaking havoc on innocent people and is ruining the country.

With the support of the military, the Sinaloa are easily able to move the drugs by land, right through  hundreds of check points, straight to the US border.

From there, drugs are moved across the border in a variety of ways. The latest and most popular is through tunnels. These can be up to 100 feet under ground and over 3000 feet long. The US is discovering these all the time, but it is believed there are hundreds, if not thousands more secret passageways. 

Once the drugs arrive in the US they are sold to violent street gangs who usually have strong ties to the cartel.

These gangs then distribute the drugs down to local dealers who sell them on the streets in ghettos across America.

Of course, no sane white person is going to buy their drugs from a certified brown or black killa, so at the very bottom of the food chain we find the yuppy white wanna-be gangster dealer.

The yuppy white wanna-be gangster dealer is most likely the guy from whom my friend in Las Vegas bought the drugs. And it was shortly after that sale that those same drugs finally went up my nose.

There you go. Drug Smuggling for Dummies.

The war on drugs is out of control, and it is not working. There is only one way to end this crazy cycle. It sounds radical, but it WILL work. It has been proven to work.

We must LEGALIZE ALL DRUGS, NOW.
(read my plan on how this could work, click here)

I actually have no hope that this will happen, despite it being the best solution on the table. Do you think that most of the Americans are just too afraid, too brainwashed, or too ignorant on the issue? It seems that if they cared, everyone would be calling for change. I think the tragedy and violence and repercussions are just too far from home.

"Vacation to Mexico, oh hell no. That's too dangerous. Lets just go to Hawaii this year."

I'm curious to know what you think?  Will we ever get involved as a populace and demand change? Or will the drug war go on forever? What do you think is holding America back?

TREE


Related Sprinter Life Posts:
- La Paz Baja - The Drug War in Mexico
- Good Bye Mexico - How dangerous is Mexico?
- The Drug War Spills Into Guatemala
The War On Drugs Cannot Be Won
FARC Stikes Out - Terrorist Attacks in Colombia

9 comments:

Darren said...

Dude, loving your insights on the drug war. Great posts man. You guys have learned a lot down there. Thanks for sharing, seriously.

Stevie said...

I love how on the trafficking map NOT ONE SINGLE boat lands in Cuba.

Anonymous said...

When I and Anna were in the Peruvian Amazon we were informed by the locals that the east side of the entire Huallaga valley is used to grow coca by native campesinos. Leaves are then sold to Colombian dealers who take care of processing it. Talking with the locals, we just realized that very poor people is growing coca because there is no governmental support to grow food (rice, maize, beans, whatever), while dealers offer broad assistance and ensure the survival in a place completely forgotten by authorities. As governments insist to forget the population, there will always be a drug dealer ready to embrace poor people. The same happens in the favelas of my country, Brazil. Solving the drug problem include creating opportunities for those who grow and distribute it!
PS: we are following your blog closely! Every visit is a wonderful experience! Hope to see you again, maybe in Brazil? Ivan.

Anonymous said...

Sprinter Life, you speak TRUTH. I love your blog.

Chris said...

Half the people don't care. Unless the gun battles are happening in their back yard, they won't give a shit. The other half of the people are just flat out against drugs. They think everyone is going to get addicted. They just don't get it.
In the end, nothing is going to change

Rick said...

"My plan outlined above is a simple solution for solving the drug problem and ending the war" - Tree

Love you Dude but there is no simple solution to the world wide drug problem. Legalization is not an option but rather 'decriminalization' as has been in practice in some western European countries.

With government taxing and monitoring there will continue to be a huge illegal trade due to the fact that the illegal drugs will be far more affordable than the legal versions. So the flow from illicit sources will be bigger than ever since the population will then have no downside to using the drugs.

I wish there was a simple solution and glad you are woking on it. Maybe when you get to Portugal and the Netherlands you can check it out first hand.

Keep on keepin on,
Rick

Tree said...

Hi Rick,
Good points my friend. My thoughts...

1) prices of drugs would most likely be lower than illegal drugs, even with the government taxing them. I haven't seen any research on this, but the efficiencies would dictate it.

2) even if the drugs were slightly higher in price, most people would still buy from stores for the safety. Sure, some people would make their own drugs or buy in the street, just like some do with alcohol, but most wouldn't bother.

3) I would support decriminalization in a second. It's a great idea. But only full legalization would eliminate the crime and the cartels.

4) Statistically drug use goes DOWN in countries that have decriminalized drugs. In other words, the "downside" has not been an effective deterrent. We would be far more effective if we put the money into education and treatment. Research shows that would work far better than restrictive laws.

Looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks. We can chat more!
TREE

Manny said...

I just wanted to point out that glue is legal, and most people choose not to huff it. Same goes for nitrous oxide, dust-off, and paint thinner. On the flipside, making alcohol illegal in the 1920's did NOT curb consumption. So, I'm not so sure that keeping drugs illegal really helps anything at all.

Anonymous said...

Great post. I will be going through a few of these issues as well.
.
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