Cocaine trafficking and abuse in California's Central Valley region

¶ … Cocaine in California

Cocaine production and abuse for years has posed as the greatest drug threats in the Central Valley HIDTA region of California. Cocaine is available and abused at so many various high levels all over the region and is linked with most of the drug-connected property crime and violent crime. Most of the cocaine available in the area is transferred by Mexican DTOs from foundation places in Mexico or then produced in local secret laboratories underground somewhere. Increased cocaine obtainability in the California region has caused in a weakening in wholesale prices from just about $20,000 per pound all through the fourth quarter of 2009 to $16,000 per pound throughout the fourth quarter of 2009.[footnoteRef:1] This region of California has been on the rise with Cocaine for the longest and officials have actually been having a hard time trying to crack down on it. With that said, this paper will discuss the history of cocaine in California and its effect on the state today. [1: Callaghan, R.C., Cunningham, J.K., Allebeck, P., Arenovich, T., Sajeev, G., Remington, G., Kish, S.J. "Methamphetamine use and schizophrenia: A population-based cohort study in california." The American Journal of Psychiatry 19.5 (2012): 23-28.]

Drug Threat Overview California

Research shows that during the 50s 60s and 70s The Mexican Drug War played a big role with drugs being smuggled into this region of California. The Mexican Drug War is a continuing armed battle among rival drug cartels combating each other for regional control and in contradiction of the Mexican government forces. Well one of the things that need to be understood is that wherever there is a border, there is continuously going to be the smuggling of drugs. And actually the history of trafficking drugs along the U.S.-Mexican border goes all the way back to the founding of the border. There has always been a trade there of weaponries, of alcohol that was going back and forth and then of course there were other things such as the illegal drugs. People began seeing drugs come on the scene sometime in the early 1900s when the United States started to hold down on marijuana. And so a great deal of these Mexican gangs that had trafficked other items began smuggling marijuana through the United States border. Then later on, during the '50s and '60s and into the '70s, as the United States appetite for harder drugs started to go up, experts note that the Mexicans started getting involved in smuggling things like pharmaceuticals, heroin, and even cocaine.[footnoteRef:2] [2: "The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics." Davenport-Hines, Richard. New York City W.W. Norton & Company; First edition, 2002. 1-576]

However, after looking into the cartels, initially there was one, very large cartel that is considered to be the grandfather of most in the modern cartel groups that many recognize, and that was called the Guadalajara Cartel. The Guadalajara Cartel became prevailing really in the 50s, 60s and 70s in Mexico. Research shows that cartel are the ones that ran into a problem in the mid-1980s when the cartel went out and kidnapped, tortured and murdered a United States DEA agent who went by the name of Enrique Camarena. When this took place, the United States government really got keyed up and focused on the Guadalajara cartel from Mexico and its affiliation with HIDTA. Research shows that they did go in and mainly broke up and arrested the Guadalajara cartel. Now after they managed to break up the cartel, its leader who is a guy that goes by the name of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, sort of divided up his turf, his fiefdom, into several segments.

Illegal cannabis cultivation processes are particularly universal and are swelling on public lands and in national forests. During the year of 2009, HIDTA police force officials eliminated virtually 1.8million cannabis plants (about 23% of all plants detained in California) in the Central Valley HIDTA (Vega).[footnoteRef:3] [3: Hernandez, M.T., Sanchez, M.A., Ayala, L., Magis-RodrAguez, C. "METHAMPHETAMINE AND COCAINE USE AMONG MEXICAN MIGRANTS IN CALIFORNIA: THE CALIFORNIA-MEXICO EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SURVEILLANCE PILOT." AIDS Education and Prevention 21.9 (2009): 34-44.]

The Laws

Crack cocaine, Cocaine, coca leaves and every other type of cocaine are known as Schedule 2 on the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act (Forster). In the state of California Cocaine is illegal to possess up under the California Health and Safety Code 11350. Since the late 19th century, the state and federal governments of the United States have passed laws and guidelines to dissuade the distribution and use of illegal drugs. These laws and policies have not merely considered what drugs are illegal and legal, but have also recognized consequences for the distribution and possession of these substances and recognized federal agencies to control drug use and manage drug law implementation.[footnoteRef:4] [4: Forster, G. "Quotas in the drug war." Policy Review 29.9 (2004): 21-28.]

Over the years, California has tried to become very strict with their laws. For instance, possession for the sale of cocaine salt which is known as the ("powder") is a drug that is prohibited up under the Health and Safety Code 11351. However, history shows that the first American law that banned the use of a detailed drug was an 1875 ordinance approved by the city of San Francisco which disqualified the smoking of opium in opium dens (4). [footnoteRef:5]This law, on the other hand, was not accepted to stop the sale and use of opium. The decree was passed for the reason that widespread fear that Chinese men were enticing white men and women to their ethical "devastation" in opium dens ("The History of"). The law limiting cocaine was likewise [5: ibid]

racially driven. Previous to the early 20th century, cocaine was willingly accessible at drugs stores for the public's use. Cocaine was likewise an important element in the popular soft-drink, called the Coca-Cola. With cocaine addiction and use becoming widespread, the media used the public's habit to power racial tensions. Numerous publications instigated printing articles causing attacks on white women to the prevalent cocaine use going on among black men ("Cocaine"). Today, that sentence of selling cocaine with preceding related offenses could perhaps serve a lot of years in the California state prison, ever since succeeding preceding beliefs could perhaps add 3 years per conviction to the period provided for the conviction itself. Numerous improvements are real in the California Health and Safety Code for trading cocaine which could possibly result in prison terms that are very long, for instance vending to a minor, and then selling in a school zone, and also selling large amounts of the drug. [footnoteRef:6] [6: Vega, W.A., Alderete, E., Kolody, B., & Aguilar-Gaxiola, S. "Illicit drug use among mexicans and mexican-Americans in california: The effects of gender and acculturation." Addiction 12.9 (2009): 12-54.]

Drug Trafficking Organization

Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization's and criminal groups are the ones that actually pose the biggest organizational drug danger in the Central Valley HIDTA in California. They are the known as the key illegal drug producers, transporters, and wholesale providers in the area. Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization's throughout history have been the ones that have been dominating cocaine and outdoor marijuana production processes during the course of the area and frequently transport extensive amounts of cocaine, marijuana, and also the black tar heroin from Mexico into the region for distribution.[footnoteRef:7] Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization stereotypically stress their exertions on wholesale-level sales and then be able to provide small African-American, Hispanic, and Asian criminal groups that give out the drugs at the retail and midlevel. [7: ibid]

Asian Drug Trafficking Organizations (characteristically ethnic Hmong, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Laotian,) function during the course of the HIDTA region and are the leading manufacturers of high-effectiveness indoor-grown marijuana (Forster). However, the Asian Drug Trafficking Organizations likewise deliver wholesale mounts of high-strength marijuana and MDMA, plus MDMA joint with BZP that comes from Canada all the way into the region. Associates of Asian Drug Trafficking Organization's naturally limit participation in their drug trafficking actions to persons of parallel race/ethnicity and familial association; on the other hand, they sometimes are able to function with other groups, mostly criminal groups that are functioning within the Indo-Canadian community, to carry illegal drugs across the United States -- Canada border. For instance, in November 2010, the Fresno Police Department detained 138,000 MDMA tablets, which is considered to be the biggest MDMA capture in the subdivision's history, from an Indo-Canadian associate of a criminal group that had trafficked the cocaine from Canada all the way to the Central Valley HIDTA region in California.[footnoteRef:8] [8: van Gorp, W.,G., Wilkins, J.N., Hinkin, C.H., Moore, L. "Declarative and procedural memory functioning in abstinent cocaine abusers." Archives of General Psychiatry 56.1 (2009): 85-9.]

Street gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) distribute illicit drugs at the midlevel and retail level. These gangs are extremely violent as they establish or maintain control of their drug trafficking operations and are involved in other criminal activities, including shootings, carjacking's, and armed robberies.[footnoteRef:9] Hispanic street gangs, affiliates of Surenos and Nortenos gangs, primarily distribute methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. African-American street gang members, primarily affiliates of Bloods and Crips, distribute crack cocaine and marijuana in the HIDTA region. Asian street gangs dominate distribution of MDMA and high-potency marijuana at the retail level.[footnoteRef:10] Members of the OMGs, most notably Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC), are the ones that are really known to distribute powder cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana at the midlevel and retail level. [9: Vega, W.A., Alderete, E., Kolody, B., & Aguilar-Gaxiola, S. "Illicit drug use among mexicans and mexican-Americans in california: The effects of gender and acculturation." Addiction 12.9 (2009): 12-54.] [10: "The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics." Davenport-Hines, Richard. New York City W.W. Norton & Company; First edition, 2002. 1-576.]

Distribution

The Central Valley HIDTA region is considered to be a regional and regional-level distribution center for ice methamphetamine and cocaine created in the region as well as ice cocaine, marijuana, and heroin trafficked all the way from Mexico into the United States.[footnoteRef:11] Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations are the main wholesale distributors of these types of drugs in the region, naturally utilizing stash sites which are located in residences that are private, warehouses, and storage facilities in towns and cities all over the region. Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations utilize the region as a base of operations for illegal drug distribution to marketplaces all over the United States. For instance, Central Valley HIDTA administrators guess that about 85% of the cocaine shaped in the region is carried from the Central Valley to other states, particularly to major distribution regions for instance places like Atlanta, Georgia, and Chicago, Illinois (van Gorp). Prison gangs, and Street gangs, and OMGs that are known to operate in the HIDTA area are the ones that issue illicit drugs to their equals in cities located all over the country to take advantage of on the higher incomes that can be made in those cities. Numerous traffickers in the area, as well as Asian Drug Trafficking Organization, Caucasian criminal groups, and independent dealers, are the ones out there distributing cocaine which is created in the Central Valley and Canadian high-potency marijuana to other parts of the nation so as to meet request for the drug. [11: ibid]

Transportation

The research shows that the Central Valley HIDTA region's closeness to illegal drug sources and its complicated transportation infrastructure has been enabling traffickers in order to transport important amounts of illegal drugs into the region and all over the nation. Important Major highways that are in the region, for instance Interstate 5, allow the traffickers with direct admission to drug source regions areas in places such as Mexico, California, and Canada.[footnoteRef:16] Cocaine and marijuana which has been produced inside of the HIDTA are looked at as frequently delivered from the region in commercial and private vehicles, chiefly on I-80, to drug marketplaces all the way through the United States. [16: van Gorp, W.,G., Wilkins, J.N., Hinkin, C.H., Moore, L. "Declarative and procedural memory functioning in abstinent cocaine abusers." Archives of General Psychiatry 56.1 (2009): 85-9.]

Prohibition of cocaine in the United States

Calls for prohibition had started long before the Harrison Act had been passed by Congress in the early part of 1914 -- a law which required narcotics and cocaine to be distributed simply with a doctor's order.[footnoteRef:17] However, before this, several factors and groups were able to act on chiefly a state level persuading a move in the direction of prohibition and away from a laissez-faire insolence. [footnoteRef:18] [17: ibid] [18: Forster, G. "Quotas in the drug war." Policy Review 29.9 (2004): 21-28.]

However, by the time it had reached 1903 cocaine consumption was something that had been growing to about five times that of 1890.[footnoteRef:19] Those that were Non-medical users were the ones that accounted for almost the whole growth as cocaine-users started to protract the outside the middle-aged, professional class and white. Cocaine turned out to be related with youths, laborers, the urban underworld and blacks.[footnoteRef:20] [19: ibid] [20: Forster, G. "Quotas in the drug war." Policy Review 29.9 (2004): 21-28.]

The research shows that the popularization of cocaine first started with laborers who were able to utilize cocaine as some kind of stimulant to increase output. (Forster) Cocaine was habitually delivered by those that are the companies (Callaghan). Cocaine was usually supplied to workers that were of African-American origin, who a lot of employers believed were better physical workers; cocaine was thought to provide added strength and constitution and according to the Medical News, made blacks "impervious to the extremes of heat and cold." (Davenport-Hines) On the other hand, users of cocaine rapidly learned a status as unsafe and in 1897, the principal state bill of control for cocaine deals is what came from a mining county located in Colorado. Spillane, (Vega)

However, the popularization of cocaine use was not really restricted to just African-Americans or even the simple laborers. In cities that are in the North, cocaine use has really increased among those that are poor individuals -- in fact, cocaine was habitually inexpensive than things like alcohol. [footnoteRef:21]However, in the Northeast in specific, cocaine turned out to be a drug that was popular among workers in places like textile mills, factories, and even on the railroads.[footnoteRef:22] In some examples, cocaine use added or swapped caffeine as the drug-of-selection in order to keep workers awake and then working overtime. [21: ibid] [22: ibid]

Drug Related Crime

Cocaine trafficking and abuse are the guiding most donators to property crimes and violent crimes in the Central Valley HIDTA district. In actual fact, 22 of the 28 state and local law application officials replying to the NDTS 2010 report that cocaine is the drug that most donates to violent crime in their dominions; 36 respondents are the ones that reported the similar for property crime.[footnoteRef:23] Law enforcement officials are the ones that report that most occurrences of armed robbery assault, and homicide that happen in the region are committed by memberships of Drug Trafficking Organization s, street gangs and criminal groups, in the course of their drug trafficking processes. Property crimes for instance, identity theft, property theft and burglary are committed by cocaine abusers. Furthermore, a large portion of domestic violence and child abandonment occurrences are cocaine-related. [23: "The Pursuit of Oblivion: A Global History of Narcotics." Davenport-Hines, Richard. New York City W.W. Norton & Company; First edition, 2002. 1-576.]

For instance, police force officials are the ones reporting that children of cocaine abusers are the ones that often live in conditions that are looked at as being unsanitary and are sometimes revealed to the toxic chemicals utilized in the cocaine production procedure, which results in long-term health issues. In the year of 2012, the Fresno cocaine Task Force had to place something like 28 children into protective custody under their drug-endangered children service.

Research shows that the violence that is connected with outdoor cannabis cultivation is likewise an important threat in the area. HIDTA officials are the ones that were reporting that people at cannabis cultivation places are most of the time armed so that they are able to protect their crops from rival growers and law enforcement.[footnoteRef:24] For the reason that cannabis crop tenders are time and again prepared to protect these sites, these agriculture operations are usually what represents a threat to the safety of police force officers and unknowing hunters, visitors, and hikers. [24: ibid]

Abuse

Through the research, there was information that showed that the public treatment admissions in the Central Valley HIDTA region stay high in spite of the preliminary 2011 information displaying reductions, the exclusion being the "other drug" category. As stated by the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, cocaine was acknowledged more frequently than any other type of drug as the central material of abuse that took place anytime from 2006 through 2012.[footnoteRef:25] In 2011, around 40% of persons acknowledged to public treatment midpoints in the HIDTA region were admitted for cocaine abuse.[footnoteRef:26]Treatment admissions for marijuana abuse are likewise high nonetheless are not measured to be as important as those for cocaine abuse, the properties of which are much more problematic to treat. Cocaine is likewise abused during the course of the Central Valley, nevertheless to a much lesser extent. [25: Vega, W.A., Alderete, E., Kolody, B., & Aguilar-Gaxiola, S. "Illicit drug use among mexicans and mexican-Americans in california: The effects of gender and acculturation." Addiction 12.9 (2009): 12-54.] [26: ibid]

Illicit Finance

Traffickers are the ones that move and launder illicit drug proceeds produced in the HIDTA region by means of numerous approaches. Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations and criminal groups usually are the ones that transport cash in wholesale to places such as the southwestern states, where the reserves are characteristically combined and finally trafficked to Mexico.[footnoteRef:27] Once they get in Mexico, bulk cash is over and over again dropped into a Mexican bank or a casa de cambio which is known as the (exchange house) and then deported to the United States. Asian Drug Trafficking Organizations and criminal groups likewise utilize wholesale cash trafficking to move their illegal profits out of the region; they classically transport illicit wages to Canada in private automobiles by means of the POEs which are along the United States -- Canada border. As stated by the NDTS 2010, 22 of the 28 police force respondents in the Central Valley HIDTA area are the report that bulk cash trafficking is the most common technique used to move drug earnings.[footnoteRef:28] [27: Callaghan, R.C., Cunningham, J.K., Allebeck, P., Arenovich, T., Sajeev, G., Remington, G., Kish, S.J. "Methamphetamine use and schizophrenia: A population-based cohort study in california." The American Journal of Psychiatry 19.5 (2012): 23-28.] [28: ibid]

In 2009, beyond $4.5 million in cash was detained by law enforcement bureaucrats in the area, a 49% rise over the about $2.8 million detained in 2008. Other money washing methods used by Drug Trafficking Organization in the region consist of cash-intensive businesses, money services businesses, and real estate purchases.

Outlook

It appears that the Central Valley HIDTA region is a place that has strategic drug trafficking and marketing meaning for Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations as a national-level creation, distribution and transportation, center for illegal drugs (Hernandez). The supremacy that Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization are the ones out there exerting over extensive ice, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin delivery in the area is not anticipated to be defied by other Drug Trafficking Organization in the near period. Asian Drug Trafficking Organization and illegal groups will be the ones that will expand most of their influence and other operations in the district, predominantly the trafficking and national delivery of high-potency marijuana and cocaine.

The abuse of cocaine and trafficking will not reduce in the near-term and will continue to be the most important drug threat. Request for the drug is high, and Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization in the area has organized distribution and production and operations for countless years. Point-of-sale limitations that are placed on pseudoephedrine will always endure to ready local cocaine producers to enlarge their trafficking activities outside the HIDTA area in order to evade law enforcement inspection and get adequate supplies of the precursor.

Conclusion

It is clear that the history of Central Valley HIDTA region of California shows that there is a lot of drug trafficking. Over the years with different gangs and populations the smuggling of cocaine as increased greatly. It appears that this region has become a district that needs to be watched especially since there has been an increase of trade among Mexico.