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.
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
