The author was trained by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and the Dept. Of Justice to enforce drug laws within the State of California and he worked as a narcotics officer (and an undercover officer) for many years during his career in law enforcement. This is his story.
Today things are a lot worse than when I was active in the early 90’s. Back then we thought it couldn’t get much worse – we were wrong. One of the most destructive drugs we hoped would phase out was crank, (methamphetamine) it hasn’t and there is more of it than ever.
Our seizures were in order of quantity, marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, LSD, PCP, or some variation of these drugs called designer drugs, then prescription drugs and everything else.
I doubt that seizures have changed any, my guess is they are still pretty much in the same order.
Marijuana has long been labeled the gateway drug, where people get their first taste of the illegal drug market. But, I never saw much connection being pot growers, pot sellers and other hard drugs. At the street level (being the end users) yes, we ran across people possessing marijuana and other drugs, but I would not call pot the reason they were holding the other drugs. I think it was more just coincidental, pot was readily available and cheap; hard drug users, like other recreational users, enjoyed it and that’s about the extent of the pot connection. IMHO
Most of the drug abusers, like heroin addicts, cokeheads, etc., like to smoke a little weed, but I just can’t call pot the drug that led them to do these other drugs. My personal belief is only a small fraction of the drug abuse cases could be traced to starting out on marijuana and graduating to something else.
When I worked undercover we didn’t waste out time on small time pot dealers. The main enforcement emphasis was on the crank labs. A whole lot of criminal activity seemed to center around crank labs. So you shut one of the labs done and you really made a dent in the local crime. Of course any good agent would be thrilled to bust a heroin or cocaine dealer, even though the two drugs are miles apart on their impact on people’s lives.
Most of the time our cases were developed around an informant. This was typically someone who was busted as a street level dealer. In return for a light sentence they rolled over on the next guy up the line. If we were really lucky we would get back to at least the midlevel or one step above – the multi-pound crank and coke wholesaler or multi-ounce heroin dealer. Sounds easy, but it wasn’t.
Most investigations ended at the mid-level. Informing on anyone higher than mid-level was too risky for the informant. If they got caught later, they usually were whacked. So unless the mid-level dealer was facing some really serious time, there was not a lot of incentive to give up his major connection. When working biker gangs we almost never got beyond the street dealer. Anyone who snitched on them for anything was in big trouble. Rolling over on a brother biker was very uncool (and dangerous) and it rarely happens.
So those were the people I had to deal with in my every day life, lowlife street dealers, biker thugs, HIV or AIDS addicts, mentally ill types, psycho’s, ex-cons and death dealing outlaws. Real great bunch of friends to hang with.
Working undercover was one way to detect smuggling, but other methods were probably just as effective and whole lot less dangerous.
Today the DEA and State Agencies make use of surveillance aircraft, ships, small craft on patrol, Board Patrol, high tech airport screening, seaport cargo inspections by customs, satellite surveillance, special enforcement units that work like SWAT. Narcotic raids established a lot of the rules that SWAT employs today. It’s no stretch to say that our drug raid tactics led to a lot of best tactics used by the military special ops. Door breeches, room searches, special weapons, special vehicles, air recon, dealing with IED’s, vehicle pursuits, high value take downs, air assaults, water assaults, even SEAL type tactics where we were put in on water and made our way to clandestine floating drug labs. We did it all, long before there was a SWAT team in most departments. And it’s still being done on an even grander scale.
There are only three ways drugs can enter the USA, land, sea and air. Air was the most convenient and lucrative for the longest time. From the 60’s through the 80’s, aircraft were extremely popular ways of smuggling drugs. They were fast, minimal labor, minimal risk and the money would more than justified the risk, if you were so inclined.
The money made pilots with no record give it a try once or twice, usually to bail them out of some financial jam. The smart ones called it quits after a few loads of marijuana, coke or heroin or some combination thereof. But the money was the hook that kept too many of them coming back and sooner or later it got them caught. It was always lets do one more and quit, but they never did. By the tenth border crossing I guarantee you there were enough telltale signs and the word was getting around and that would give away their activity.
Obviously I can’t tell you what the signs were, this is still classified however, it’s some pretty clever stuff you would never suspect that led to some really big captures. But, I can tell one that has been reported frequently on the news. That is the black tire tracks from planes landing on desolate stretches of paved roads like you might find in places like Arizona or Nevada. By measuring the width of the skid marks from the aircraft touch downs we had a pretty good idea of the size and type plane being used and that led to other discoveries. The trick was to catching them. Surveillance of the landing site could take days, weeks or months and unless we had intel to justify spending that kind of time, we almost never did. It was too costly and labor intensive. More often than not it was just kicked back to the local sheriff’s department to be on the lookout in that particular area and call us if you have something.
Today, it’s my opinion that the old days of using aircraft in the night to drugs is far less than it was 20 years ago thanks to improved radar and additional radar sights that close holes in our border screening. Now even the most remote canyon can catch low level flights trying to sneak in. It was dangerous flying and every now and then we would find some light plane impaled on a power pole or scattered across an unexpected rock outcropping
Don’t get me wrong, we still have small aircraft trying to smuggle and yes, some do make it. But the odds aren’t nearly as good as 20 years ago. Today we might find a small aircraft, like a rented Cessna 150, being used by solo operators for small shipments. Typically the pilot will fly parallel to the border then quickly dip to the other side as if this is going to fool anyone. Then they popup again entering the US side about 30 minutes later. They almost always get caught if the air resources are available.
We also see small remote control planes being used to get their small cargo a few miles across the border to a waiting pickup. All for a couple of ounces of pure cocaine, crank or heroin. It pays, but it’s high risk to hanging around that close to the border. These deliveries represent a fraction what was once shipped by air and they don’t pose much of a threat. Not like the large twin engine planes, the 210’s or STOL aircraft once posed.
Commercial airport smuggling has become a lot tougher too since 9-11. However, you have to keep in mind that passenger screening is only as good as the outbound airport, the receiving airports don’t screen the passengers unless they have some tip-offs. They just do the usual cargo checks too and this means drug sniffing dogs give the bags a once over.
The sea route is still popular, mostly because the only authority at sea is the Coast
Guard and their resources are spread pretty thin. The one big plus for our side are the new ocean vessel tracking satellites. They can spot the smallest boats and track them wherever they go.(picture of cocaine on cargo ship – see white bundles) The satellites have done what once could only be done by a virtual armada of ships and small craft. The only problem here is being able to prioritize the vessels to check and the sheer number of vessels going to and from foreign ports makes this a real tough job – the manpower just isn’t there to do the job as it should be done. But sat activity coupled to intel helps us focus our manpower where it really counts. The vessels that are watched and checked could be anything from sailing sloop to a large fishing boat or even cruise ship. A popular method still used by smugglers is to meet the mother ship in international waters, load up fast small craft and make a run for port. Logistics makes it really hard to interdict these shipments unless we’re ready for them via tip offs from intel or sat activities.
I recall a popular cruise ship was found to have several pounds of cocaine secured to its hull by powerful magnets; they were placed there while in a Mexican port, then it was removed by a cooperating crew member when it docked in San Diego and after the ship had been inspected. Port authorities do an amazing job considering the volume of cargo they inspect, but this is still a weak spot in our defensive line.
Overland is the mainstay of the smuggling industry. There are so many ways to smuggle by land; the methods would fill an encyclopedia. But, let’s just touch on the most obvious, in cars at border check points and by persons on foot crossing in desolate areas. Everybody knows about the cars, motor homes, trucks with false walls, etc., so let me skip by this.
Huge amounts or illicit drugs are being hand carried across the border by illegal aliens. This is either in exchange for a promise of safe passage and money or they are forced to do it under the threat of death by persons in Mexico.
The victimizing of these people is almost beyond description; they are often beaten, murdered, ripped off, the women are raped, and many are simply left to die in the dessert once they have been relieved of their cargo. The ruthless brutality by Mexican cartels has always been a problem, but today it’s a bloody massacre, it’s like a national epidemic. Over 40,000 people have died in the most brutal ways at the hands of cartels in just last 6 years. This is a war with no boundaries and no limits. There are easily over 30 major US cities where drugs are now controlled by Mexican cartel members – that’s unacceptable in my book.
The propaganda about a war on drugs in the US has gone stale. There was never a serious effort made and nobody every believed that BS. Maybe the voters, but nobody on either side of the smuggling issue believed it. We all thought it was a total farce.
The reason we’re losing ground against drug smuggling is simple. There is no limit to ingenuity of human beings to smuggle drugs – if the money is worth it. And so far it is.
It’s an impossible mission to stop it. In fact by the DEA’s own estimate almost 96% of the drugs smuggled get through, even today. And as for the drug money…there’s no shortage of people willing to take the chance for cash and this is all pure profit. And that’s the bottom line, profit, a lot of profit!
This is why I’m more convinced than ever that eliminating the profit motive is probably the last, best, way to stop the carnage in Mexico, to stop the illegal border crossings and to manage as much as humanly possible, the drug abuse and addicts in the USA.
How do you propose to eliminate the profit motive? At least the under ground profit motive. The production of all drugs in the US is profit motivated.
In Guatamala they have basically open pharmacy. If you have the money you can buy drugs with or without a prescription. If you get into trouble under the influence without enough money to bribe the cops they put you in a very dangerous jail. Sure, swift and sever punishment is serious derturent. They have their share of dead end users. Kids sniffing glue and drinking denatured alcohol. Both are so cheap they don’t have to steal to support their suicide. They are outcasts staying to themselves and die young. Their culture never glorified drug use like ours has. But then the people have to be careful not to say things that are contrary to government policy.
In our free society there are alway going to be people that want to change the way that they feel. How can you reduce that demand still preserving personal liberty? My answer is personal responsibility. I don’t care what people take, drugs or alcohol. But they always affect the lives of other people. Our taxes pay for their damaged families.
We passed a Prop that decriminalized 2xconvicted users. How did that work out?
You are the expert. What are the solutions?
CLAP,CLAP,CLAP!!!ECT…
Pypr: There is no perfect solution to decriminalizing drugs and taking the profit motive out of it, however there are common sense things we can do right now that will certainly make major progress. Here’s some ideas and you may have some of your own to add… move substance abuse for addicts from the criminal system to the medical. Incarceration as opposed to outpatient treatment should only be as a last resort and then it should be a psychiatric facility.
The problem is we will still have these designer drugs that pop up because of some fad or underground social movement. The only thing you can do there is to make the penalties for manufacture and distribution so severe they would only do it once. If it takes the death penalty then so be it. And we have to be ready to follow through and do it, no more doing life on death row.
History taught us that prohibition did more to promote alcohol than ad campaign ever could. This new approach would not be a carte blanche legalization for any drugs for any person. But it would decriminalize the use of the most addictive drugs, meth, cocaine and all the various opiates and that’s a big number. The cost savings from moving this to medical from criminal would be enormous. But, the best part is the addicts won’t have to commit crimes, like theft, burglary, robbery, and prostitution just to obtain their drug – maintenance would be medically available along with counseling for rehab. Again, it’s not perfect but it would be a whole lot better than what we’re doing, because what we’re doing is a losing battle that drains billions away from better places.
Jack the proposal sounds attractive, however, moving the cost from criminal to medical won’t save much it will just shift costs and possibly explode Medicade/Medicare/Obamacare cost…won’t it?
I don’t think decriminalization and legalization is the answer. I have no answer, other than education.
How can you get people to just think about it? The deliberate inhaling of the toxic smoke from any burning plant or any other substance is just plain stupid. Sucking refined crystallized powders up your nose, be they cocaine, methamphetamine or whatever is just plain stupid too. Ingesting alcohol isn’t too bright either but who ever has suggested that taking methamphetamine in moderation was not destructive? Who seriously enhances a meal with a selection of marijuana or meth instead of a bright Cabernet, Chardonnay or other flavorful wines?
I can almost understand people with severe pain sucking the hot, toxic chemical laden smoke of marijuana into their soft, pink lungs but as recreation?
Seriously, as recreation???
Think about it before you enable it. California has already enabled it with the stupid “medical” marijuana law. By enlarge, the customers of medical marijuana frauds are under 30 years old, and many are under 18. Medical??? Oh puhleeeese.
he demand creates the crime. Drug addled users create the crime. Dope dealers create the crime. The bottom line is —
How do you address the demand?
Pi I tend to agree with you. We have way too many dysfunctional people raising more dysfunctional people and there is very little pressure on any of them to awaken to their own dysfunction. Morals and education are the answer but it would require a concerted effort and emphatic demand from the people over a long period. We’re asking fir a shocking cultural shift…our president derides people in America clinging to their religion. Too many citizens find that funny and he gets away with it but it’s not leadership. We could use some leadership. Too many kids don’t get it at home, at school, or even in their political leaders.
Pie, you asked a serious question and unfortunately I lack the wisdom of Solomon to give you a really good answer in return, and apparently so does the Drug Enforcement Administration – they’re totally lost. So, I’ll just have to give it my best shot and it will be far from perfect, but here goes…..
Decriminalizing drugs isn’t a universal fix and I don’t advocate creating an open market place for drugs on Thursday night in the downtown with people selling various drugs at their stalls. That’s not my idea of decriminalizing drugs.
But, for those folks with a serious addiction decriminalizing them offers up an alternative to risking prison in order to support their habit. That’s a huge step in the right direction, if we could only do that much. I’m talking about a serious maintenance program to keep them from doing crime.
For really bad cases it might require rehab in a psyc ward, but thats still better than a prison lock up plus the medical.
However, maybe we should start by looking around the world and see what is working in other countries. I’m not a fan of reinventing wheels.
A really great deterrence is to use the Saudi Plan:
Chop off external body parts for every offense!!! If you chop off the head that’s a sure cure- they’ll never be a repeat offender! But for petty offenses it could be a hand or something. Castration would be a big incentive not to be dope dealer. Well, that’s not going to happen here, er, uh, not for at least another 15-16 years anyway, thats when we’re ruined by democrats and the Chinese or the Muslims will have under their iron fist.
So what do we do in the meanwhile?
Lock em up for extended stays in the Greystone Manner? History says that does not work and besides they get drugs in there too and worse, they get a great education how to do more crime and or beat the system.
I grant you, rehab is costly and worse, it has at least a 90% chance of failure, so the maintenance program seems to be the only viable choice for those addicted to hard drugs, short of killing them.
People using proper maintenance amounts of heroin can actually function very well in society – you would hardly even know they were using. Other drugs like meth or cocaine may require a substitution that does less harm to the system, but provides them with some relief for their addiction.
Whatever we do that is different than what we are doing now is probably going to be better, because the plan today is a total failure.
So, maybe we’ll get lucky, but we gotta be willing to try other stuff. Maybe we can come up with something that can work half the time or better. That would be a small miracle, if we could. Imagine removing 50-60% of the drug offenders and all the crime that goes with them from the criminal justice system? That would really be amazing.
On this I have to depart from Jack and Tina. Friends can disagree and still remain friends.
We could easily remove drug offenders from the criminal justice system with a stroke of the pen. But I do not believe for a minute that would reduce, end, or mitigate drug related crime.
Pie, you could be right on this, but I’m all for giving it a try. Lets decriminalize narcotics, but do it in safe and sane, manageable, way with medical supervision.
I hope we can agree the so-called war on drugs was never a war, but more like a campaign slogan. And second, that we were never too serious about controlling the spread of illegal drugs or we would have had a whole different approach years ago. Tougher laws, tougher sentences, more enforcement, etc., but gov. just barely had a coherent drug policy. It was never more than…poor. I think I’m being generous calling the policy poor too! Oh, they did a lot of press releases, every big bust got headlines, but in reality the illegal drug trade was flourishing and making billions for criminals here and South of the border. And every year for the last 40 years it’s been getting worse.
We really need to rethink the way we’ve been handling this situation and be prepared to be creative!
Just think of it in terms of “feral capitalism” or it’s the natural free market.
Decriminalization appears to be working http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html
Treatment only works when the addict has had enough of being sick and wants to quit. I guess they reach that point quicker. Ware housing them in CA’s drug rehab prison doesn’t work. A heroin addict quits one of two ways. They are tired of being an addict or they overdose. Either way the problem is solved. I saw news program about a person in a major US city running a ministry to junkies who was dispensing OD shots. I think that unless we are willing to accept casualties the cost will break us. Dispensing needles in Portland just resulted in more dirty needles on the streets and allys.
Since we have gone this far with marijuana why not go the rest of the way? That would take away the profit except for large production facilities. What we have now was designed by Denis Parone to increase the market without much thought or care about the long term consequences.
Sadly…that’s quite funny, Jim. Coulter funny!
Pypr, good thoughts – glad when we’re tracking.
I know all about addiction. I was once a nicotine addict. It has been 20 years since I have used/abused tobacco. It took every bit of my will and six months in hell to give it up.
Would I love to smoke a fine, tasty, hand rolled cigar? No.
I will never go back.
Let us make a simple contrast. Contrast tobacco to marijuana. Is one really any more stupid or evil than the other? While our government is sanely and rightly, marginalization tobacco abuse we at the same time are enabling marijuana abuse?
Should our government be handing out free tobacco products instead of needles that are reused and spread more disease?
Make that anti-OD shots. They have a cheap heroin antagonist drug. The junky whose life they saved complained that it ruined his high. Some people are going to kill themselves abusing drugs. Incarcerating them to “save their lives” makes no sense to me.
This year’s CAMP raids seem bazaar to me. Considering I drive past a backyard marijuana grow every day. It’s huge and they set up lights like a Christmas tree lot. The Paradise police know full well that it is there and bigger than it was last year. It is about 30ft x 50ft.
Re Pypr: Some people are going to kill themselves abusing drugs. Incarcerating them to “save their lives” makes no sense to me.
Agreed. But that is not why they are incarcerated. They are incarcerated for the real danger they pose to other people’s lives and property.
It would be wonderful to save the life of a methamphetamine addict. I have lived next to methamphetamine addicts. I have been the victim of methamphetamine addicts. I have seen what methamphetamine addicts do to their innocent children.
Screw methamphetamine addicts.
Ah, now … this, this is what I’m accustomed to hearing. Steve did confuse me with all that pseudo sensible drug policy talk.
Pie, without a doubt the methamphibians are trolls with a short life. Their brain gets fried and their heart goes out early. A Darwin thing? Perhaps.