Drug Cartels

The Rise and Impact of Drug Cartels

Since the 1980s, Colombia has been responsible for 80% of the cocaine that annually enters the United States (Filippone, 1994). The geographic location of Colombia made it a perfect base of operation from which to monopolize the international drug trade. Coca, the plant from which cocaine is derived, is harvested mainly from Bolivia and Peru, which are in close geographic proximity to Colombia. Additionally, Colombia has ready sea and air access to the United States, which became established ways to smuggle drugs. During the 1980s, the Medellin cartel, based in the Colombian city of Medellin, was the best-known cartel, controlling at least 60% of the Columbian international drug trade. This cartel was controlled by Pablo Escobar, who further established the Medellin cartel as a violent, highly structured organization supplying cocaine to the U.S. drug market.

Other countries, such as Mexico and Jamaica, also produced drug cartels. Much like Colombia, Mexico and Jamaica serve as major transit points for marijuana and cocaine shipments entering the United States. Several primary Mexican cartels linked to increased drug trafficking include the [Page 224]Gulf cartel, the Juarez cartel, and the Tijuana cartel. Although not typically called cartels, Jamaican drug-smuggling organizations compete with Colombian and Mexican cartels.

The Drug Enforcement Agency and Customs and Immigration Enforcement have reported a link between Jamaican drug organizations and criminal drug activity within the United States. As reported by several researchers (Jones, 2002; Maingot, 1989; McDonald, 1988; Stone, 1991), Jamaica is responsible for a substantial percentage of the marijuana imported into the United States. Jamaican drug organizations, known as posses, are believed to have been operating as early as the 1970s, distributing guns and marijuana into the United States. These posses began to deal in crack cocaine upon its onset in the mid-1980s. The influence of Jamaican posses is concentrated in the northeast United States around New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, and in Miami.

Initially, Jamaican posses used substantial violence when their drug-selling territory was challenged. Jamaican posses have more recently forged relationships with West Coast gangs and traditional organized crime, and they have strengthened ties with Colombian cartels to further aid in the distribution of drug flow into American markets. Once the drugs have entered the United States, cartels establish a distribution network to pass the drugs on to users. To do this, the cartels organize drug dealers. Although it is difficult to determine exact numbers of minorities utilized by cartels, specifically African Americans and Hispanics, it is logical to argue that cartels have exploited such minorities to distribute drugs (Hebert, 1997; Tonry, 1994).

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