Cocaine use in the U.S. has soared to record levels, fueling massive profits for the Mexican drug lord at the center of the trade.
According to drug-testing company Millennium Health., cocaine consumption in the western U.S. has jumped 154% since 2019, while the East Coast saw a 19% rise in the same period. Meanwhile, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows fentanyl use has been steadily declining since mid-2023.
The Trump administration has pledged to clamp down on cartels, even imposing strict economic sanctions on Mexico to curb the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs. A primary focus is the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), led by Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, considered the most powerful trafficker of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine in Mexico.
Sources told The Wall Street Journal that record cocaine production in Colombia is flooding the U.S. market, pushing supply up and prices down. Morgan Godvin, a researcher with Drug Checking Los Angeles, noted that pure cocaine prices have “plummeted” to just $60–$75 per gram—about half of what they were five years ago.
The U.S. has sanctioned Oseguera Cervantes and four other cartel leaders, offering a $15 million reward for information leading to his capture. Despite multiple U.S. indictments since 2017, he remains out of reach, hiding in the Sierra Madre mountains under heavy guard. Reports say his security detail includes RPG-7 rocket launchers capable of piercing tank armor, and visitors are blindfolded for the six-hour trip to his compound through mine-laden terrain.
Oseguera Cervantes has benefited from America’s earlier focus on fentanyl and the downfall of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in 2016, which weakened the rival Sinaloa cartel. Trump’s aggressive deportation push has also redirected federal agents away from anti-drug operations.
According to The Journal, two border patrol checkpoints in Arizona—on a major fentanyl-smuggling corridor—were left unmanned after officers were reassigned to migrant processing.
CJNG profits further by charging migrants thousands of dollars to cross territory it controls and, per the Treasury Department, running call centers that defrauded elderly Americans out of hundreds of millions in bogus timeshare schemes.
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