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STRATFOR
Despite growing momentum for drug policy reform in Latin America, continual carnage in Mexico and a U.S. government-sponsored study that rips U.S. drug policy, America's 40-year war on drugs is still raging.
This week retired Colombian police Gen. Mauricio Santoyo turned himself in to the DEA on charges that he helped drug gangs and right-wing paramilitaries smuggle cocaine to Mexico and the U.S. while he was the head of security for the president of Colombia.
We've covered how cocaine gets from the fields in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia to the world's largest drug market .
The U.N.'s World Drug Report 2012 showed us how the U.S. has high demand for marijuana , cocaine and painkillers . Ironically, the more America spends on the drug war, the cheaper drugs become.
All this got us thinking about how drugs make it from Latin America to American cities, so we put together a series of maps to get a better idea.
Most of the drugs that enter the U.S. come from Central and South America
Congressional Research Service, 2010
Mexico is the transit zone between the biggest source of drugs and the biggest consumer
Justice.gov
95 percent of American cocaine imports are brought by Mexican cartels through Mexico and Central America
UN World Drug Report 2010
The drugs are shipped in a variety of ways
STRATFOR
And flow through a variety of cartels
STRATFOR
Despite wars between cartels, most shipments make it through Mexico to the U.S. border
STRATFOR
Here's a look at which cartels tends to handle which drugs (though the dominant Zetas are conspicuously missing on this map)
STRATFOR
The battle to control the border claims the most lives
Congressional Research Service, 2010
As a comparison, here's how heroin makes it to its largest markets
UN World Drug Report 2010
Demand is geographically skewed in the U.S. as the West prefers methamphetamine (red) and the east prefers cocaine (blue)
National Drug Threat Survey of 2007
The supply routes for meth follow the demand
DOJ National Drug Threat Assessment 2011
The same goes for coke so sellers can reap the biggest possible profit
DOJ National Drug Threat Assessment 2011
Marijuana distribution, like preference for it, is more balanced
DOJ National Drug Threat Assessment 2011
Here are the aggregate answers from local law enforcement agencies when asked: "What drug poses the greatest threat to your area?"
National Drug Threat Survey of 2011
All things considered, the drug superhighway is running smoothly as cocaine is causing more trouble than ever in its largest markets (U.S. and Europe)
UN World Drug Report 2012
