The real challenge was penetrating these fast criminal drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and gaining insight into their structure and personnel. By definition, these organizations exist in the shadows. Talking to us, especially on camera, letting us see their transportation methods, [and] the production of illicit drugs, was extremely dangerous. Many of the people could go to jail or be killed by their own organizations just for talking to us. Luckily I have spent a decade covering and gaining access to cartels. I have spent time making drugs in clandestine labs in places like Colombia, Peru, Mexico, and Afghanistan. I was able to use many of my sources to help us gain entry into these murky worlds. My experience and knowledge of cartels, coupled with Amaryllis’s espionage skills I think was a differentiating factor in getting into these underground worlds.
What is the most effective form of drug smuggling in the U.S.?
It really depends on the drug and the route. In episode 1 we trace cocaine from leaf to street [sic]. It became obvious that the Colombian cartels had long ago outsourced distribution to the Mexican Cartels. This was a business decision with profound consequences like the resulting violence in Mexico [that is] killing tens of thousands of people annually.
When you look at narcotrafficking through the lens of economics, the way we did, you find that these cartels are essentially multinational corporations. And just like Amazon or Apple, they have complex supply chains with built-in redundancies. In the end, drugs are moved to the U.S. by sea, land, and air (my favorite acronym!). While maritime trafficking has taken more preeminence in the last couple of years, the other methods still have value and are moving lots of products. Also, it’s important to remember that something like the opioid crisis which we cover in the last episode, was a good old fashion domestic product. While the series does look at the importation of drugs like Fentanyl from China and India, the real genesis of the opioid crisis was drugs made by American pharmaceutical companies distributed through licit channels, like your friendly neighborhood doctor or dentist.
Who are the big players in the international and U.S. market nowadays?
The most important thing we learned while making the Business of Drugs series is how interconnected everything is. The Cartels or the supply side exists because of the consumers or demand. The U.S. is still the most lucrative market for drugs in the world, but that is quickly changing and the cartels are increasingly diversifying their business model and going global. Brazil is now the second biggest market for cocaine outside the U.S. There are Colombian restaurants popping up in West Africa. We tracked meth labs in Myanmar supplying markets in southeast Asia. It’s truly an international demand curve, and where there are customers, there will be drugs.
We also found that it’s not enough to look at the business from a strict lens of buyers and sellers. There is an entire industrial complex built around drugs and the war on drugs. The war on drugs has cost, by many estimates, over $1 trillion dollars in the U.S. alone. In the series, we really try and open the aperture and look at the total economics around the global narcotics industry. In doing so we found that it’s not just cartels vs cops. Government, militaries, media, all have a stake in this continued multi-billion dollar trade.
Any thoughts for a second season?
Looking at narcotrafficking through an economic lens revealed incredible new insights into how drug cartels and narcotrafficking works. It is a powerful and insightful analytical tool to understand these enigmatic worlds. In its highest manifestation, good journalism is intelligence gathering. Amaryllis and I are formerly of that business, and it was cool to use those same skills to do a deep dive into the global drug trade. I think it would be powerful to bring those skills to bear to understand other worlds, whether that’s issues of war and conflict or human trafficking. I spent half my career dedicated to fighting the Global War on Terror, and I’d love to continue to explore that world.
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