How Do Drugs Get Into US? CBP Seized About Four Tons Of Drugs Everyday In 2016, John Kelly Says

U.S. had witnessed the highest number of death rates due to drug overdose in the past two decades. Around 52,404 lethal drug overdoses were reported in 2015 with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 12,990 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2015, and the number is just increasing, according to American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM).

Opioids are the main driver of drug overdose deaths and 33,091 deaths in 2015 were due to opioid overdoses, which have quadrupled since 1999. Heroin-related overdose deaths have more than quadrupled since 2010, according to ASAM. It is not unknown that the country has always been combating the rise in number. While the numbers are worrisome and has been rapidly increasing, have you ever wondered where does all the drug in the U.S. come from?

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While, the booming deaths have been a major cause of concern for officials since years, they are also trying to catch those persons who smuggle in these drugs to the U.S.

Recently, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, John Kelly, said at George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security that transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) are responsible for smuggling major portion of drugs to the U.S. From marijuana and hard drugs such as cocaine, heroin, counterfeit opiates, fentanyl, and meth amphetamines, TCOs smuggle across the U.S. borders to feed both the recreational and addictive drug demand in the nation.

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Coast Guard all bear witness to the massive quantity of drugs TCOs are bringing to our homeland every day—with devastating consequences,” Kelly said, in the press release of the Department of Homeland Security.

Kelly said that the Coast Guard has been combating to curb the inflow of cocaine in the country and has already seized about 243,000 pounds. Kelly also pointed out to the rising seizures of heroin and methamphetamine this year is an issue of concern, given the fact that it’s only halfway through the fiscal year. CBP had seized an average of four tons of drugs every day last year and that number is only rising, which indicates the seriousness​ of the drug problem in U.S.

According to a report published by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) in August last year, which is the nonpartisan agency that provides with policy and legal analysis, “Mexican TCOs are the major suppliers and key producers of most illegal drugs smuggled into the United States. They have been increasing their share of the U.S. drug market – particularly with respect to heroin. The U.S. still receives a large portion of heroin from South America (primarily Columbia) and, to a much lesser extent, Southwest Asia.”

The report also said the bulk of heroin smuggled into the U.S. transits across the Southwest border. Heroin seizures in this area between 2010 and 2015 increased from 1,016 kg to 2,524 kg.

Among the recent cases of drug seizure, on April 11, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 35 pounds of meth, heroin and cocaine worth more than $201,000, during an inspection of a truck driven by an unidentified 22-year-old Mexican man. Also on the same day, more than a pound of heroin was seized from a teenager who was trying to walk across the border from Nogales, Arizona. The officers spoke of similar cases where people were held for possessing drugs, according to reports.

The drugs movement into the U.S. works through cartel system.

In 2015, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) assessed six Mexican TCOs that had the greatest drug trafficking impact on the U.S. They were - the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Juarez Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas Cartel, and Beltran Leyva Cartel. These cartels have distribution cells in designated cities across the U.S. that report to TCO leaders in Mexico or communicate through intermediaries.

Asian TCOs are also a major threat to the U.S. According to a 2016 National Drug Threat Assessment by Drug Enforcement Administration, “Asian TCOs will remain a drug trafficking threat of concern in the U.S., particularly in East Coast and West Coast drug markets in the near term.”

The cartels also use technology to smuggle drugs into the U.S. Rear Admiral Christopher Tomney, director of Joint Interagency Task Force for the U.S. Coast Guard had told BBC in December 2015: “The cartels are very innovative. Due to their large profits, they have a lot of money they can throw at technology… In the early days of this task force - and we've been around for 26 years - we saw much higher movement using non-commercial aircraft to fly the drugs northwards.” He added: “ We've seen growing use of self-propelled semi-submersibles (SPSSs) - low-profile vessels made out of marine-grade plywood [and] fibreglass with commercial engines. The smugglers spend up to a $1m to build one of these SPSSs for what is often just a one-way voyage. ”