No, Legal US Drugs Aren’t Being Trafficked Into Mexico En Masse
By Colleen Curry
December 3, 2014
The US Drug Enforcement Agency has now walked back statements it made this week about the trafficking of marijuana grown in the US to buyers in Mexico, after being met with skepticism by other law enforcement agents and experts and being pressed to divulge more information on the allegedly burgeoning problem.
The claim that Mexican drug cartel members were taking US-grown weed and selling it at a premium to Mexican customers first emerged this week in a broader NPR report on the effects of legalized marijuana on the illicit drug trade. NPR reported that the worth of Mexican marijuana had declined as high-grade US-grown weed had become more favorable to US customers.
Lawrence Payne, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Agency, told NPR that Sinaloa cartel members were now taking American pot and bringing it back across the border to sell at a premium to Mexican customers.
That claim was then repeated by Payne in a US News report, in which he said that "traffickers who are operating in the US are securing marijuana in the US that is much higher quality and more expensive for the purpose of smuggling back into Mexico for sale and distribution."
But other drug enforcement agents asked about the trend by VICE News said they would be surprised if it is true.
"We have not heard that," said Tom Gorman, director at the Rocky Mountain division of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program (HIDTA). "We have not seen that, and have not heard about our marijuana being grown here going back to Mexico. We know it's being diverted out of Colorado to other states, but we've not been able to confirm it's going back into Mexico."
"No," said William Ruzzamenti, director of California's Central Valley division of HIDTA, when asked if he'd seen marijuana grown in California being trafficked back to Mexico. "I'm a bit surprised, actually. Nothing should ever surprise you in the drug world, but as far as I know we haven't seen any of that."
"We believe a tremendous amount of marijuana is being diverted out of the state of Colorado, but whether it's actually going down to Mexico, I don't know," said Marc Vasquez, a former investigator in Colorado's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division and now chief of police in Erie, Colorado. "It's a lot easier to do that and ship it across state lines as opposed to the international border."
Seth Crawford, a sociologist at Oregon State University who researches the marijuana marketplace, said that the idea of US-grown marijuana being smuggled into Mexico didn't make sense in the current market conditions.
"It goes against everything we know about cartels and the US," Crawford told VICE News. "The quality up here, because of the way they have to produce it in in large fields, is nowhere near what it could be and the ecology is better in Mexico."
Continued here https://news.vice.com/article/no-legal-us-drugs-arent-being-trafficked-into-mexico-en-masse
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By Colleen Curry
December 3, 2014
The US Drug Enforcement Agency has now walked back statements it made this week about the trafficking of marijuana grown in the US to buyers in Mexico, after being met with skepticism by other law enforcement agents and experts and being pressed to divulge more information on the allegedly burgeoning problem.
The claim that Mexican drug cartel members were taking US-grown weed and selling it at a premium to Mexican customers first emerged this week in a broader NPR report on the effects of legalized marijuana on the illicit drug trade. NPR reported that the worth of Mexican marijuana had declined as high-grade US-grown weed had become more favorable to US customers.
Lawrence Payne, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Agency, told NPR that Sinaloa cartel members were now taking American pot and bringing it back across the border to sell at a premium to Mexican customers.
That claim was then repeated by Payne in a US News report, in which he said that "traffickers who are operating in the US are securing marijuana in the US that is much higher quality and more expensive for the purpose of smuggling back into Mexico for sale and distribution."
But other drug enforcement agents asked about the trend by VICE News said they would be surprised if it is true.
"We have not heard that," said Tom Gorman, director at the Rocky Mountain division of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program (HIDTA). "We have not seen that, and have not heard about our marijuana being grown here going back to Mexico. We know it's being diverted out of Colorado to other states, but we've not been able to confirm it's going back into Mexico."
"No," said William Ruzzamenti, director of California's Central Valley division of HIDTA, when asked if he'd seen marijuana grown in California being trafficked back to Mexico. "I'm a bit surprised, actually. Nothing should ever surprise you in the drug world, but as far as I know we haven't seen any of that."
"We believe a tremendous amount of marijuana is being diverted out of the state of Colorado, but whether it's actually going down to Mexico, I don't know," said Marc Vasquez, a former investigator in Colorado's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division and now chief of police in Erie, Colorado. "It's a lot easier to do that and ship it across state lines as opposed to the international border."
Seth Crawford, a sociologist at Oregon State University who researches the marijuana marketplace, said that the idea of US-grown marijuana being smuggled into Mexico didn't make sense in the current market conditions.
"It goes against everything we know about cartels and the US," Crawford told VICE News. "The quality up here, because of the way they have to produce it in in large fields, is nowhere near what it could be and the ecology is better in Mexico."
Continued here https://news.vice.com/article/no-legal-us-drugs-arent-being-trafficked-into-mexico-en-masse
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