The Drug Trade: An Introduction
• Illegal drug trade in US worth around $350
billion
• Major drugs include heroin, cocaine,
methamphetamine and marijuana.
• Since early twentieth century, US government
has waged a “war on drugs”
Race and anti-drugs legislation
• US anti-drugs policies have repeated linked certain out
of favor racial or ethnic groups with the use of certain
narcotics.
• 1890s – Chinese and opium
• 1900s – Cocaine and African Americans
• 1930s – Mexicans and marijuana
• 1980s – Crack and African Americans
African Americans and the war on
Drugs
• 1996 60 percent of prison population were in on drug charges.
• Same weight of crack and powdered cocaine carried 30 times more
prison time.
• African Americans make up a substantial part of this population.
• Black male born in 1990s will have a 30 percent chance of ending
up in jail.
• 1 in 3 African Americans between 20 and 29 are under some form
of criminal justice supervision.
The Drug Trade
• Cocaine, grown in Peru/Colombia/Bolivia, transported
by Mexicans
• Heroin, grown in Middle East, Asia, Colombia, Mexico,
transported by various groups
• Marijuana, grown and consumed globally
• Methamphetamine, produced using household and
Chinese chemicals, fabricated in US south and Mexico,
consumed in the US.
The Drug Trade in Mexico
• Mexican drug trade has gone through four
stages.
• Stage 1, 1930-1975:
– Marijuana and heroin produced by peasants
– Concentrated in Mexico’s “Golden Triangle”
– Fabricated and transported by
ranchers/merchants
– Controlled by state governments
Stage 2: Federal Control, 1975-1984
• Controlled by federal government through Mexican version
of the FBI, the Dirección Federal de Seguridad.
• Major drug traffickers subordinate to Miguel Angel Felix
Gallardo aka El Padrino, head of the Guadalajara cartel.
• Cartels and individuals gifted pre-arranged plazas.
• 1984 Dead of DEA agent Kiki Camarena puts end to explicit
arrangement.
• 1989 El Padrino is arrested and jailed.
Export of marijuana to the US (metric
tonnes)
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
Value of Mexican heroin exports
(millions of dollars)
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo
Stage 3: Two major cartels (19852000)
• Gulf Cartel (Based in west Mexico, Tamaulipas)
– Led by Juan Garcia Abrego
• Sinaloa cartel (remnants of Guadalajara cartel)
– Led by Joaquin el Chapo Guzmán
• State played off one cartel against the other
– President Salinas (1988-94) favored Gulf cartel
– President Zedillo (1994-200) favored Sinaloans
Juan Garcia brego
Stage 4: Disintegration of bipolar
structure (2000-2012)
•
2000 Mexico governing party, PRI, loses presidential election to opposition PAN
•
Lack of control generates emergence of rash of new, smaller cartels and high levels
of conflict between them
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
•
Sinaloa cartel
Juarez cartel
Tijuana cartel
La Familia
Gulf Cartel
Zetas
Knights Templar
La Nueva Generacion de Jalisco
Beltran Leyva brothers
2006-2012 100,000 Mexicans have died due to drug violence