THE CHANGING FACE OF THE COUNTY DRUG TRADE

Mexican drug trafficking organizations considered by the US Department
of Justice to be responsible for the large marijuana grows on public
lands in Mendocino County are now the main supplier of illegal drugs
in the United States.

These organizations do not limit themselves to the cultivation and
distribution of marijuana; they are leaders in nearly every form of
illegal drug distribution, especially in the Western states. The
biggest Mexican drug cartels continue to be run by four main families
and are known as the Tijuana, Gulf and Juarez cartels and the
Federation. These groups have their roots in the early days of
prohibition and the heroin trade. For many years, growing opium
poppies was legal within Mexico although illegal in the United States.

When the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect with
Mexico in 1994, it appears to have changed the face of the drug trade
in both the United States and Mexico. As commercial truck, train and
ship traffic increased between the countries, the flow of drugs and
money also increased along the 2,000-mile border.

Mexican DTOs now bring in about 90 percent of the cocaine used in the
United States, even though nearly all the coca continues to be grown
in Columbia.

The Columbian drug cartels appear to have found the Mexican DTOs to be
effective distributors for their product. In the year 2000, cocaine
importation from Mexico was estimated at 500,000 pounds and by last
year, it had grown to nearly one million pounds. The total amount of
cocaine confiscated by law enforcement in either country during those
same years ranged from 61,000 to 100,000 pounds.

Heroin made from poppies grown in Mexico is now the most widely
distributed heroin in the United States with 20,000 pounds imported in
2000 rising to 60,000 pounds more recently. While only five percent is
confiscated in its finished form nearly 40,000 Mexican soldiers are
involved annually in wiping out marijuana and poppies in the fields.
In 2005, about 27,000 acres of poppies were eradicated leaving an
estimated 8,000 acres in cultivation.

As precursor chemicals for methamphetamine became harder to get within
the U.S., labs in Mexico began to supply a bigger and bigger
percentage of the U.S. market. Mexican meth production has not been
reliably estimated but 1,100 pounds were seized in 2000 and about
6,000 pounds were intercepted in both 2005 and 2006.

Marijuana imports remained strong starting at more than 1.5 million
pounds in 2000 and peaking at 3 million in 2003. Nearly 30 percent of
the packaged marijuana imported into the U.S. was intercepted, based
on estimates by the US General Accounting Office. Most of the Mexican
eradication efforts are focused on destroying the crops in the fields
with 43,000 acres of marijuana either sprayed with herbicides or
destroyed by soldiers. An estimated 14,000 acres of marijuana remained.

Editor's note: This is the first article of two examining drug
trafficking organizations affecting Mendocino County. Information was
gleaned from recent publications by the US GAO, DOJ and the Drug
Enforcement Agency.