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S. HRG. 114–749 

CARTELS AND THE U.S. HEROIN EPIDEMIC: COMBATING DRUG VIOLENCE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 

CRISIS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON WESTERN 

HEMISPHERE, TRANSNATIONAL CRIME, 

DEMOCRACY, CIVILIAN SECURITY, HUMAN 

RIGHTS, AND GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

MAY 26, 2016 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: 

http://www.govinfo.gov 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS

BOB CORKER, Tennessee, Chairman

JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho 

MARCO RUBIO, Florida 

RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

CORY GARDNER, Colorado 

DAVID PERDUE, Georgia 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia 

RAND PAUL, Kentucky 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey 

JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire 

CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut 

TIM KAINE, Virginia 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

TODD WOMACK, Staff Director

JESSICA LEWIS, Democratic Staff Director

JOHN DUTTON, Chief Clerk

SUBCOMMITTEE ON WESTERN HEMISPHERE, TRANSNATIONAL 

CRIME, CIVILIAN SECURITY, DEMOCRACY, 

HUMAN RIGHTS, AND GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES 

MARCO RUBIO, Florida, Chairman

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

CORY GARDNER, Colorado 

DAVID PERDUE, Georgia 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

TIM KAINE, Virginia 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

(II)


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Rubio, Hon. Marco, U.S. Senator From Florida .................................................... 1 

Boxer, Hon. Barbara, U.S. Senator From California ............................................ 3 

Foote, Daniel L., Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of International 

Narcotics and Law Enforcement U.S. Department of State, Washington, 

DC .......................................................................................................................... 5 

Chester, Kemp, Associate Director for the National Heroin Coordination 

Group, Office of National Drug Policy, Washington, DC .................................. 6 

Jacobs, Hon. Teresa, Mayor of Orange County, Florida ....................................... 23 

Dudley, Steven, Co–Director, InSight Crime, Washington, DC ........................... 25 

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

Additional Questions Submitted for the Record by Members of the Committee 

Responses to Questions Submitted to Assistant Secretary Daniel Foote by 

Senator Marco Rubio ........................................................................................... 37 

Witnesses Prepared Statements 

Prepared Statement of Daniel L. Foote, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau 

of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs ................................. 40 

Prepared Statement of Kemp L. Chester, Associate Director for the National 

Heroin Coordination Group, Office of National Drug Policy ............................ 41 

Prepared Statement of Teresa Jacobs, Mayor of Orange County, Florida ......... 45 

Prepared Statement of Steven Dudley, Co-Director, Insight Crime .................... 46 

Prepared Statement of Jack Riley, Acting Deputy Administrator, Drug Enforcement Administration .................................................................................... 49 

(III)


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER

FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
(1) 

CARTELS AND THE U.S. HEROIN EPIDEMIC: 

COMBATING DRUG VIOLENCE AND PUBLIC 

HEALTH CRISIS 

THURSDAY, MAY 26, 2016 

U.S. SENATE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON WESTERN HEMISPHERE, 

TRANSNATIONAL CRIME, CIVILIAN

SECURITY, DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS, 

AND GLOBAL WOMEN’S ISSUES, 

Committee on Foreign Relations 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:03 a.m. in Room 

SD–419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Marco Rubio, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. 

Present: Senators Rubio, Gardner, Boxer, Kaine, Menendez, and 

Markey. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARCO RUBIO, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA 

Senator RUBIO. Good morning. This hearing on the Subcommittee of the Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s 

Issues will come to order. I thank you for being here today. 

The title of this hearing is ‘‘Cartels and the U.S. Heroin Epidemic: Combating Drug Violence and Public Health Crisis.’’ 

Before we begin the meeting, on a matter of personal privilege, 

I wanted to acknowledge the contributions of a loyal and a dedicated staffer because behind every one of us here in the Senate, 

there are loyal and really hardworking people. Literally they sit behind us at these meetings, and they do all the hard work behind 

the scenes to make sure that we are briefed and prepared to cast 

votes and advance public policy that makes a difference. 

Since 2011, Maggie Dougherty has been an instrumental part of 

our policy team, and she has logged in countless hours working on 

all sorts of complex and important issues for our office. She has 

also logged in countless hours sitting behind us here in these committee meetings, but no longer. Today is Maggie’s last Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting. In a week’s time, she will depart our office to even a bigger and better opportunity. So I just 

briefly wanted to thank her for everything she has done for us. We 

are very proud of her work. [Applause.] 

Senator RUBIO. So the title of this hearing, ‘‘Cartels and the U.S. 

Heroin Epidemic’’—we have two panels testifying. The first is an 

official panel that will feature Mr. Daniel Foote, the Deputy AssistVerDate Mar 15 2010 08:15 Mar 20, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\2016 HEARINGS -- WORKING\HEROIN - 5 26\28-7

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ant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics 

and Law Enforcement at the U.S. Department of State, and Mr. 

Kemp Chester, the Associate Director for the National Heroin Coordination Group for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. 

The second panel will present the Honorable Teresa Jacobs, the 

Mayor of Orange County, Florida, and Mr. Steven Dudley, the CoDirector of InSight Crime. 

Thank you all for being here today. We appreciate your time. We 

appreciate your dedication. I would also like to thank all of those 

who worked alongside my staff and making this hearing possible. 

Drug cartels operate out of countries in the western hemisphere, 

and they do so by using sophisticated distribution systems that 

move narcotics into and across the United States. Heroin supplied 

by these cartels has created a public health epidemic and fueled 

drug violence across this country. 

The heroin epidemic, drug war, and fight against drug violence 

are, unfortunately, becoming part of everyday events in our society. 

It is our duty to find the best possible avenues and allocate resources to provide the best tools to equip those on the front lines 

to fight this public health crisis. We need to examine what the 

United States, Mexico, and other regional partners are doing to cooperatively address the rise in heroin and in drug trafficking. Promoting the efficacy and proper execution of U.S. initiatives to stop 

the spread of heroin and combat the drug cartels should be one of 

our top priorities. 

Here are some facts. One of the primary culprits in this fight is 

called fentanyl. It is a synthetic opiate that is 25 to 40 times more 

potent than heroin and it may be used to treat pain associated with 

advanced cancer. While fentanyl is legally prescribed in the United 

States, the CDC states that most cases of fentanyl-related 

overdoses are associated with non-pharmaceutical fentanyl. It is a 

type used as a substitute for heroin or mixed with heroin or other 

drugs, sometimes without the user’s knowledge. 

In 2015, the DEA’s National Drug Threat Assessment Summary 

reported that Mexico and China have been cited as the primary 

source country, though some analogs of fentanyl are manufactured 

in China. These supplies are often trafficked into the United States 

across the southwest border or delivered through mail couriers. 

Transnational criminal organizations also use Florida as the point 

of arrival for South American cocaine and heroin. Much of the illegally diverted and produced fentanyl is found in the same U.S. 

markets where white powder heroin is found. 

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 

Administration, the estimated number of individuals who used heroin was 914,000 people in 2014. 

In addition, there are about 586,000 individuals, or basically .2 

percent of the 12 and older population, who had a heroin disorder 

in 2014. 

While there has been an increase in heroin overdoses and heroinrelated deaths across the United States, the Midwest and the 

Northeast regions have been areas of particular concern. To this 

day despite the administration’s efforts, heroin-related overdose 

deaths increased by 244 percent between 2007 and the year 2013. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
3 

The U.S. has responded to such findings by launching the Heroin 

Response Strategy, leveraging upon the 15 high intensity drug trafficking areas across the country. 

Mexico, our regional partner, has displayed willingness to cooperate with U.S. authorities, but despite these operations, the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report estimates that less than 

2 percent of cocaine that comes through Mexico is seized by this 

country’s authorities. Under the Merida Initiative, Congress has 

provided billions in funds to the Mexican Government to improve 

security and the rule of law, and I applaud the continued efforts 

of the Mexican Government to continue its drug crop eradication 

efforts and to arrest drug kingpins. However, we are still far from 

the finish line. 

I think the Congress can continue to work in constructive ways 

to promote legislation addressing opiate abuse. I am proud to be 

the cosponsor of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, a 

bipartisan bill that overwhelmingly passed the Senate. I also applaud the House for working to address this issue, and I hope soon 

we will be able to send this legislation to the President’s desk. 

It is my hope that today’s hearing will shed light on the consequences that this epidemic will have in our society and future 

generations if left unaddressed and not given proper attention. I 

am optimistic this hearing will serve as the opportunity to learn 

about the administration’s priorities in combating the heroin epidemic and drug violence. And I hope you will address these issues 

in your testimony as well. 

With that, I will now turn it over to our ranking member, Senator Boxer, for her opening statement. 

STATEMENT OF HON. BARBARA BOXER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA 

Senator BOXER. Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for holding 

this important hearing. 

The abuse of illegal and legal drugs in America is an absolute 

crisis, and to fight it, we need to act on many fronts. 

Take the case of opioids. These are legal prescription drugs that 

are killing approximately 125 people every single day here at 

home. The CDC says that in 2014, 47,000 people died from opioid 

abuse. Just imagine that. 

We need to do much more than we have done so far to put real 

dollars behind the effort to stop this madness. 

Then there is the issue we will focus on today of illegal drugs 

being transported into this country. 

Recently I visited Costa Rica, and I learned that this peaceful 

country is very alarmed about drug cartels infiltrating their population. We must help them stop this real threat. And I hope to ask 

a question about that. 

And while we are working cooperatively with the Mexican Government, specifically an initiative called the Merida Initiative, and 

while we have to date seized more than $4 billion in narcotics and 

illicit currency, let us face it. That is a drop in the bucket. We simply have to address the demand in the United States for these lethal products. And I know that is not your job, and I am not going 

to even ask you about that. But I am making a statement as a 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
4 

United States Senator. We have to address the demand in the 

United States for these lethal products. 

Supply and demand go hand in hand. A long time ago, I was an 

economics major. It is like economics 101. When people demand a 

product, we know what happens. The supply will come. And when 

even more people demand a product, the price will go up and it 

goes around in a circle. 

Years ago, too many to even mention—so I do not even know 

where my chairman was at that time it was so long ago, very 

long—when I first came to Congress, I wrote a bill called Treatment on Demand because what I found out, Mr. Chairman and 

members, is that when there is a person in America with a terrible 

addiction, at that time—and it is so true today—they wake up one 

day and they say I have done it, I have had it, I need a new life. 

They cannot get in anywhere. So people say, very good, come back 

in 2 weeks. This is an emergency circumstance in many ways, but 

it is not considered that. So they will go in. Maybe they will get 

a pat on the back. Come back in 2 weeks. And by then, maybe they 

have even overdosed. 

Now, I know we are working with Colombia and Guatemala helping farmers develop alternatives to opium production. But again, 

we need to be even more aggressive in our policies regarding drug 

production, trafficking, and consumption here at home. 

In California, we have four of those areas that my chairman 

spoke about that are designated as high intensity drug trafficking 

areas by the Obama administration. I am extremely grateful to the 

administration. We had that help under George Bush as well. 

When you identify an area, it means you are going to get some attention, some Federal dollars, some Federal help because a lot of 

these local people, our police forces and so on, really do need that 

help. So I am very grateful for that. 

We have also discovered tunnels from Mexico to San Diego, 

which act as conduits for thousands of pounds of cocaine. And this 

points to the continuous challenges we face in dealing with these 

dangerous cartels. They are really good at what they do, and they 

intimidate everyone. And that is why this fight is so critical. We 

need even stronger partnerships with Mexico and other countries 

in the region. 

And I want to say this. Alienating our Latin American neighbors 

and our Latinos here at home is the worst possible thing we can 

do, first of all, on a human level because in my view it is prejudice 

and bigotry. But it does not make sense if we are really trying to 

crack down on these cartels. We need our friends to work with us. 

We do not need to escalate some kind of ridiculous debate about 

walls and all the rest. 

I do want to thank our witnesses for being here today. There is 

a lot of burden on you, and this is very difficult. The war on drugs 

has not been a success. And I think the reason is we have not done 

enough on the demand side or on any side. We need to do much 

better. 

And I want to thank my chairman because I think this is really 

well-timed given what we are facing with the opioid crisis. Thank 

you. 

Senator RUBIO. Thank you, Senator Boxer. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
5 

Before we begin with the testimony, I did want to recognize the 

senior Senator from New Jersey, who has done an extreme amount 

of work on western hemisphere issues but also issues regarding 

transnational crime, if he wanted to give any opening comment. 

Senator MENENDEZ. No, thank you. 

Senator RUBIO. With that, please join me in welcoming our first 

witness, Mr. Foote. Thank you for your testimony before us here 

today. 

STATEMENT OF DANIEL L. FOOTE, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE, BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT U.S. DEPARTMENT OF 

STATE, WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Mr. FOOTE. Chairman Rubio, Senator Boxer, Senator Menendez, 

Senator Gardner, thank you for this opportunity to appear before 

you to discuss the work of the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs to combat the production and trafficking of heroin particularly by Mexican-based 

drug trafficking organizations that are responsible for the vast majority of the heroin on America’s streets today. 

In the United States, we face an epidemic of opioid abuse. Well 

over half of the more than 47,000 American deaths from last year 

were due to either domestically produced controlled prescription 

pain relievers or heroin, which is often combined with other deadly 

drugs such as fentanyl. 

In Mexico, drug trafficking organizations have killed tens of 

thousands of citizens, and these organizations continue to foment 

violence, instability, corruption, and addiction. 

This scourge is broader than just the United States, and we will 

not solve it alone. 

The overwhelming majority of the heroin in the U.S. is produced 

or distributed by Mexican drug trafficking organizations. For many 

years, they have been trafficking not only heroin but also much of 

the cocaine, methamphetamine, and other illicit drugs that enter 

our country. Most of these drugs enter through our border with 

Mexico. 

The United States and Mexico developed the Merida Initiative in 

2007 with major focus on combating the production and trafficking 

of illicit drugs across our borders. Today the Pena Nieto and 

Obama administrations remain committed to Merida’s strategic 

goals. Our Merida partnership, which brings together significant 

investments and capabilities of both countries, continues to help 

build Mexico’s capacity to fight narcotics trafficking, organized 

crime, and violence. Together, we are aggressively responding to 

this threat by putting the leaders of drug trafficking organizations 

in jail, by seizing their drugs and money, and by dismantling their 

organizations. Today, through Merida, INL is professionalizing and 

building the capacity of Mexican law enforcement agencies, supporting the Mexican Government’s efforts to strengthen border 

management and security, and helping advance reform across 

Mexico’s justice sector. 

Bilaterally we have agreed that targeting the production and 

trafficking of heroin, as well as fentanyl and other dangerous synthetic substances, is a top shared priority. To that end, INL and 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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DEA are providing training to law enforcement officers, investigators, and analysts increasing Mexico’s ability to identify, investigate, and dismantle clandestine heroin and fentanyl labs. 

With our interagency partners, we are also improving information sharing between our governments on heroin and fentanyl 

working together to get better assessments on opium poppy cultivation and heroin and fentanyl production in Mexico and continuing 

to explore other avenues to enhance our bilateral cooperation and 

effectiveness. 

Building strong, effective Mexican justice sector institutions, capable of confronting organized criminal enterprises, is a difficult, 

long-term challenge. This work must be sustained, for it is only 

through a committed, coordinated effort that sustainable capacity 

to deter the cultivation, production, and trafficking of illicit drugs 

will be strengthened. The significant investments of both of our 

governments are producing results, and with your continued support, this successful collaboration with Mexico will continue. 

Thank you. 

[Mr. Foote’s prepared statement is located in the Additional Material Submitted for the Record section at the end of this transcript.] 

Senator GARDNER [presiding]. Thank you, Mr. Foote. 

Mr. Kemp Chester, Associate Director for the National Heroin 

Coordination Group, please begin your testimony. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF KEMP CHESTER, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR 

THE NATIONAL HEROIN COORDINATION GROUP, OFFICE OF 

NATIONAL DRUG POLICY, WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Mr. CHESTER. Chairman Rubio, Ranking Member Boxer, and 

members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me here this 

morning to discuss the public health and public safety issues resulting from heroin use, the Government of Mexico’s efforts to reduce the availability of heroin in the United States, and U.S.-Mexico cooperation to address heroin issues in both countries. 

In 2014, the most current year for which we have data, more 

than 47,000 Americans, or approximately 129 people each day, died 

from a drug overdose. Of the overdose deaths in 2014, 22 percent 

involved heroin. 

The threat posed by heroin has continued to grow dramatically 

over the past several years, and since 2007, deaths involving heroin 

have risen 340 percent from 2,402 in 2007 to 10,574 in 2014. 

Heroin use has spread into suburban and rural communities and 

is growing among most socioeconomic classes, age groups, and 

races. 

Mexico is currently the primary supplier of heroin to the United 

States with Mexican drug traffickers cultivating opium poppy, producing heroin, and smuggling the finished product into the United 

States. Poppy cultivation in Mexico has increased substantially in 

recent years, rising from 17,000 hectares in 2014 to 28,000 hectares 

in 2015, which could yield potential production of 70 metric tons 

of pure heroin. 

The heroin crisis is being compounded by the reemergence of illicit fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid more potent than heroin. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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Illicit fentanyl is sometimes mixed with powder heroin to increase 

its effects or mixed with dilutants and sold as synthetic heroin. Increasingly fentanyl is being pressed into pill form and sold as counterfeit prescription opioid pills. The majority of the illicit fentanyl 

in the U.S. is clandestinely produced in Mexico or in China. 

Fentanyl is extremely dangerous and deadly. In 2014, there were 

more than 5,544 drug overdose deaths involving synthetic narcotics 

other than methadone, a category that includes fentanyl. This 

number has more than doubled from 2 years earlier. 

U.S.-Mexico engagement regarding heroin has been robust. In 

October 2015, ONDCP Director Michael Botticelli participated in a 

bilateral security dialogue where the importance of increased poppy 

eradication efforts by the Government of Mexico, as well as drug 

interdiction, clandestine laboratory destruction, and the disruption 

of precursor chemical trafficking were all highlighted. 

In early March, Director Botticelli, Ambassador William 

Brownfield, the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and I met with the Mexican 

Attorney General Gomez, and she announced her role as the synchronizer of Mexico’s efforts to disrupt the production of heroin and 

illicit fentanyl. Importantly, we agreed then to jointly develop a focused national plan to concentrate Mexico’s efforts against heroin 

and fentanyl. 

The urgent need to sustain progress toward addressing the Nation’s heroin and fentanyl crisis requires increased collaboration between Federal agencies and with our partners working at the 

State, local, and tribal level where the crisis is felt most deeply. 

In November 2015, the team that I lead, the National Heroin Coordination Group, was created within the Office of National Drug 

Control Policy to form the hub of a network of interagency partners 

who will leverage their home agency authorities and resources and 

to harmonize interagency activities against the heroin and fentanyl 

supply chains to the United States. 

The ONDCP-funded high intensity drug trafficking areas, or 

HIDTA program, the locally based program that responds to drug 

trafficking issues facing specific areas of the country, has also been 

instrumental. In August 2015, ONDCP committed $2.5 million in 

HIDTA funds to develop a heroin response strategy. This innovative project combines prevention, education, intelligence, and enforcement resources to address the heroin threat through seven regional HIDTAs covering 17 States and the District of Columbia. 

So while we have laid a firm foundation to address the heroin 

crisis, much remains to be accomplished. For example, we do have 

gaps in our capability to detect illicit fentanyl at our borders, and 

our Mexican partners could certainly do more in the areas of opium 

poppy eradication and clandestine laboratory identification and 

neutralization. 

And while my remarks have focused on addressing the supply 

side of the opioid crisis, we must address opioid use disorders with 

a balanced approach that also regards addiction as a public health 

matter, using substance abuse prevention and treatment strategies 

and recovery support services. In his fiscal year 2017 budget, President Obama proposed $1 billion in new mandatory funding to expand the availability of evidence-based strategies such as medicaVerDate Mar 15 2010 08:15 Mar 20, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\2016 HEARINGS -- WORKING\HEROIN - 5 26\28-7

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tion-assisted treatment and to extend the availability of substance 

abuse treatment providers. 

ONDCP will continue to work with our international partners, 

Federal Government Departments and agencies, and our partners 

at the State, local, and tribal levels to reduce heroin and fentanyl 

production and trafficking and the profound effect these dangerous 

drugs are having in our communities. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and I would be 

happy to answer any of your questions. 

[Mr. Chester’s prepared statement is located in the Additional 

Material Submitted for the Record section at the end of this transcript.] 

Senator RUBIO [presiding]. Thank you. 

And I am going to defer my questions because I know members 

need to be in other places, and I will basically be here throughout 

the duration. And so I will turn over to the ranking member for 

her questions. 

Senator BOXER. Thanks. I just have two questions for Mr. Foote. 

So, Mr. Chester, breathe. You are off the hook here. 

Mr. Foote, in 2008, Mexico’s Congress passed a series of significant reforms to its criminal procedures, new laws to promote greater access to justice, and strengthened measures to combat organized crime, measures that would make the Mexican justice system 

look a little bit more like our own. These reforms were intended to 

be implemented by 2016. Where does the implementation of these 

judicial reforms stand, and how has the United States assisted in 

this process? And how do you feel about whether they are really 

doing what they committed to do? 

Mr. FOOTE. Thank you, Senator. 

As you know, Mexico committed and passed legislation to implement a new criminal justice system which is an accusatorial justice 

system, much like ourselves. At this point, of the 32 Mexican 

states, 24 have implemented this with federal level crimes and I 

believe 9 have implemented it at state level crimes. Obviously, this 

is a long-term process, and some of the states in Mexico will not 

meet next month’s deadline. 

We remain committed and continue to work closely with them on 

a number of issues. Thanks to the gracious appropriations of Congress, we have dedicated approximately $250 million to these efforts between the Department of State and USAID through issues 

such as training judges, prosecutors, courtroom personnel, law students. Over 4,000 have been trained to date through Department 

of Justice’s OPTAT prosecutorial training program. We also have 

a number of law school and institutional exchange programs 

through the American Bar Association and a number of universities here in the United States. 

We are preparing law enforcement for their new roles in the 

accusatorial justice sector. For instance, our Department of Justice 

partners in ICITAP have trained thousands of law enforcement in 

crime scene investigations, provided equipment for units and 

forensics, fingerprinting, and other collection there so that Mexico 

can comply with international standards. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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Senator BOXER. Okay. Thank you. What I am getting from you 

is that there is progress being made, although not everyone will 

meet the deadline. It is an optimistic report. 

And so that leads me to my final question, which I alluded to in 

my statement. As we continue to work with the Mexican Government—and that is just critical. We have to. We have to work here 

at home to reduce the demand. We have to work across the border 

to reduce the supply. And that is where the rubber meets the road 

in both of these areas where we need to work with Mexico. 

I am concerned about the rhetoric in the presidential campaign 

describing our relationship with Mexico. I know it is a tough question for you. I just want you to say what you feel in your heart because we need to know. Mexican officials have said on the record 

that some of the proposals mentioned on the campaign trail—we 

know who we are talking about here, a candidate who is talking 

about building a wall, having Mexico do it, insulting Mexican 

Americans here at home—that some of the proposals would have 

a cataclysmic effect on our bilateral relations. 

Has this divisive rhetoric affected diplomatic relations with Mexico at this point? Has it impacted the United States’ ability to work 

with the Mexican Government to combat drug trafficking? And are 

you concerned that that type of rhetoric could just completely undermine what we are trying to do here? 

Senator RUBIO. Just for the record, she is not talking about me. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator BOXER. I am so not talking about you. 

Mr. FOOTE. Excellent. Well, I will try to strike a balance between 

answering your question and not entering too deeply into our own 

domestic politics here. 

Senator BOXER. I know it is a tough one, but you know what? 

When people talk, it has real-life impacts, especially presumptive 

nominee. 

Mr. FOOTE. You have all seen some of the reactions from south 

of the border from our Mexican brothers and sisters. You have seen 

President Vicente Fox’s reactions and others. 

From the embassy bilateral level to date, we continue to work 

very closely together. In my personal opinion, I do not believe it 

has gravely affected our ability to do business together. Mexico in 

the last several months has reiterated its commitment to continuing with the Merida Initiative. Where the populace of Mexico 

stands on this may be another matter. But we continue to be able 

to work closely together bilaterally on all—— 

Senator BOXER. So the words have not had an impact on what 

is going on at the very top levels in your opinion on the work that 

you were doing at this point. 

Mr. FOOTE. Not in their dealings with us. 

Senator BOXER. That is excellent. 

Now we have to make sure that those policies never come into 

effect. 

Thank you very much. 

Senator RUBIO. Thank you, Senator Boxer. 

Senator Menendez? 

Senator MENENDEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling the 

hearing. It is an important one. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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And thank you both for your service to our country. 

Mr. Foote, how many agencies are involved in interdiction and 

eradication efforts with respect to Mexico’s border with us in our 

efforts to stop interdiction, stop flows, use intelligence? How many 

agencies are involved? 

Mr. FOOTE. U.S. agencies I hope is what you are asking? 

Senator MENENDEZ. U.S. agencies. 

Mr. FOOTE. Thank you. INL, Department of State. You have Department of Justice, DEA, FBI to a certain extent. Department of 

Homeland Security is heavily involved through Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland 

Security investigations. Our military supports some of the border 

efforts of Mexico’s military. And then we have some ancillary agencies who are based in Mexico City, but while their chief focus is not 

the border, they do peripherally work on it such as ATF and the 

U.S. Marshals. 

Senator MENENDEZ. And if you had to guess how much money 

has been spent on interdiction and eradication efforts in Mexico 

since the start of the epidemic that we are experiencing here, 

would you put it at? 

Mr. FOOTE. My understanding is $2.5 billion has been appro- priated, of which approximately $1.5 billion has been obligated or 

committed to specific projects, of which we still have at this point 

new initiatives for about $700 million. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Now, are you speaking just Merida specifically? 

Mr. FOOTE. Pardon me? 

Senator MENENDEZ. Are you speaking just of Merida specifically? 

Mr. FOOTE. Largely. 

Senator MENENDEZ. There is money spent far beyond Merida. 

Mr. FOOTE. There certainly is, Senator. I am not in a position to 

comment on Department of Justice’s appropriation. I just do not 

have the figures. That is something we could get for you. 

Senator MENENDEZ. I was not looking just at appropriation. I 

look at all the agencies you mentioned, your own, INL, Department 

of Justice, DEA, FBI, Homeland Security, Immigration, military, 

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. And I think to myself it has to be 

billions collectively. And I was one of the architects of the Merida 

Initiative, which I support. 

But $1.5 billion later, billions between all of our respective agencies, and what we have is an opioid epidemic. And as a policymaker, one has to take a step back and say to themselves, what 

is not working because something is not working. If billions of dollars later what you see is a spike versus a trend in the other direction, then something is not working. So if I were to say to you, 

what is not working, what do we need to change, your answer 

would be? 

Mr. FOOTE. First of all, Senator, I think we have in the past few 

years come to the realization that this is a shared responsibility between the United States and source countries and trafficking countries. I am heartened by the Senate’s recent passing of the opioid 

legislation. It is something that is going to help us. Certainly Mexico-specific, their capacities are far greater than they were when we 

started the Merida Initiative in 2007. Information sharing and colVerDate Mar 15 2010 08:15 Mar 20, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\2016 HEARINGS -- WORKING\HEROIN - 5 26\28-7

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laboration has led our own U.S. law enforcement agencies to interdict significantly more on our southern border due to Mexico cooperation. 

We still do have a way to go. I think we also need to get better 

here in the United States at demand reduction and treating the 

health issues of addicted people. It is a shared responsibility and 

it is no longer just a supply-side issue. 

Senator MENENDEZ. So as I listened to your response, it is everything that we are doing except for a more significant effort on demand reduction, but it is not suggesting that there is anything that 

we are not doing. And all I can look at and say if you are spending 

billions and instead of the trend going the opposite direction, it is 

rising, you have to raise the question what is it that we are either 

doing wrong or what is it that we are not doing that we need to 

do in order to meet the challenge because otherwise we can appropriate billions and billions, but still find ourselves in a trend that 

is undesirable. 

So the only thing I heard from you in your response to me was 

doing more demand reduction, which I certainly believe is true. But 

I did not hear about anything else. So you know, you have to question whether or not the continuation of this type of expenditure in 

this manner is the right policy. 

Let me ask you this. Do you believe that there is sufficient coordination, a seamless coordination between at least on our side of 

the border as it relates to all the agencies that you suggested are 

engaged in this fight? 

Mr. FOOTE. Senator, obviously, we can always get better at everything we do. Department of State kind of works from the southern border south. So I do not feel that it is our position to comment 

on interagency coordination north of the border. South of the border, we have robust interagency coordination through the country 

team at Embassy Mexico City. We can always get a little better 

there. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Your Mexican partners—are they doing everything that they can in order to meet the challenge on their side 

of the border? 

Mr. FOOTE. During the beginning part of President Pena Nieto’s 

administration, there was a pause in Plan Merida as I think we did 

a mutual assessment of the security relationship, particularly on 

their side, and over the past year and a half, we have seen much 

closer collaboration, an unprecedented openness and frankness in 

our bilateral dialogue. 

To answer your question, is Mexico doing everything that they 

can, they could improve. Some of their efforts are not yet at the optimal level, but we remain optimistic and positive that they are 

moving in the right direction. 

Senator MENENDEZ. Well, I appreciate the optimism, but I am 

seeking to introduce a little dose of realism into it. And so part of 

the challenge is that you have lawless states in some of the northern part of Mexico where I have heard U.S. citizens from the region 

who have come to talk to me say that many who had businesses, 

longtime relationships on the immediate other side of the border, 

that basically cannot operate there because the federal government’s presence—i.e., the federal government of Mexico’s presVerDate Mar 15 2010 08:15 Mar 20, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\2016 HEARINGS -- WORKING\HEROIN - 5 26\28-7

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ence—is not there. So if you have lawlessness and if you have uncontrolled states, then you have the opportunity for drug traffickers 

to avail themselves of that. And it seems to me that while I am 

an incredibly strong and have been for 25 years supporter of the 

U.S.-Mexico relationship, we need to be honest in this relationship 

in order to make sure that we are making the progress that we 

need here and for Mexico to be able to regain its sovereignty over 

parts of northern Mexico that it presently does not have. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator RUBIO. Thank you. 

Let me use some of my time that I yielded just to interject, to 

follow up on that. 

Secretary Foote, how would you assess the assertion made by a 

group of experts from the Inter-American Commission on Human 

Rights that there may have been another bus involved in the incident in which 43 students disappeared in Guerrero, Mexico that 

was packed with heroin bound for the U.S.? 

Mr. FOOTE. Senator, thank you for that question. Given that we 

have not seen the results of the final investigation from Mexico, I 

am not in a great position to answer that question right now. We 

would be happy to answer that for the record in writing. 

[The material referred to above was not available when this transcript went to press.] 

Senator RUBIO. Okay. 

Senator Kaine? 

Senator KAINE. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks to the witnesses. 

First, to get an idea of the scope of this challenge on the Mexican 

side in terms of the black tar heroin, is the poppy production for 

this heroin still significantly confined to the state of Nayarit or is 

it more broadly distributed? Mexico is a big country. So when we 

talk about a problem in Mexico, I worry that we are not being specific enough. 

Mr. CHESTER. Yes, Senator. Our latest crop estimate that was 

produced about 2 months ago shows two major growing areas in 

Mexico, one in the state of Guerrero and then another in what is 

called the tri-border region up in the northern part of the country. 

Those are the two major growing areas in Mexico, with very, very 

small kind of sporadic spots in other parts of the country, but they 

are basically concentrated in those two areas. 

Senator KAINE. And then the fentanyl is made in labs, and I 

gather that most of the fentanyl that comes in is either coming in— 

it is made in China and may be transited in through Mexico or also 

made in labs in Mexico. Are those the two main sources for 

fentanyl? 

Mr. CHESTER. That is correct. 

And I will tell you that our understanding and our awareness of 

fentanyl traffic has evolved dramatically over the last 6 months as 

we have seen the crisis rise. So in order of magnitude, I cannot tell 

you, but what I can tell you is that China is a significant supplier 

of fentanyl to the United States or it is ordered by individuals on 

the dark web around the Internet and then, using parcel post or 

the Postal Service, shipped directly to them. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
13 

We also know that fentanyl is shipped into Mexico in some cases 

mixed with dilutants and smuggled across the Southwest border 

and that there are precursor chemicals that are shipped into Mexico that can be used for the production of clandestine fentanyl in 

laboratories in Mexico. So as you look at the vectors coming into 

the United States, those are the two main ones that we see for finished fentanyl coming into the United States or its manufacture in 

Mexico. 

Senator KAINE. I want to talk, Mr. Chester, about your written 

testimony. I am sorry I did not get here for your entire oral testimony. 

But on page 1, there are several principal factors contributing to 

the current nationwide heroin crisis: the increased availability of 

heroin in the U.S. market, the availability of pure forms of heroin 

that allow for non-intravenous use, its relatively low price, and a 

relatively small percentage of non-medical users of opioid prescription drugs transitioning to heroin. 

I am trying to unpack that statement, and I am wondering if 

your statement puts enough of a finger on the prescription opioid 

problem. I have heard it stated through Michael Botticelli and others that 80 percent of those who OD on heroin in this country, not 

fatal ODs but total ODs, started their addiction to opioids by being 

addicted to prescription opioids and then transition to heroin because they could get it for a lower price. Is that an accurate statement? 

Mr. CHESTER. No, Senator. And I am glad you asked that question. Of the numbers of individuals who non-medically use opioids 

and then transition into heroin, that number is actually relatively 

small. It is about 3.6 percent. 

Senator KAINE. For non-medical use. 

Mr. CHESTER. That is correct. So the non-medical use of a prescription opioid like OxyContin and kind of the traditional ‘‘got it 

from the medicine cabinet, got it from friends or family members’’—the percentage of those individuals who transition to heroin 

use is relatively low. It is about 3.6 percent. 

But conversely, of individuals who are non-treatment users of 

heroin, 80 percent of them actually abused a prescription opioid in 

the past. So while there is not a direct causation between the two, 

the non-medical use of opioids is a strong risk factor for eventual 

heroin use. 

Senator KAINE. And even the medical use of opioids can be a risk 

factor for eventual heroin use. Correct? 

Mr. CHESTER. Yes, Senator, that is right. So an opioid in and of 

itself and its effect on the body—obviously, it is a very addictive 

drug and affects the body in unique ways, as an opioid. So those 

individuals who take opioids, whether they get them from a doctor 

or whether they get them from a friend or a family member for 

non-medical reasons are at risk for eventual opioid addiction if not 

used properly. That is correct. 

Senator KAINE. And you cite in the testimony the relatively low 

price of heroin—and that is relatively low compared to past trends 

but also compared to the cost of opioid-based prescription drugs. 

Correct? 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
14 

Mr. CHESTER. That is correct. So the street price of a gram of 

heroin compared to the street price, if you will, of an opioid pill or 

an oxy pill or something of that nature, that is correct. That is 

what we consider to be one of the contributing factors. So it is the 

availability and the general low price and then the purity that 

have all been contributing factors to the current crisis that we are 

in with heroin. That is correct. 

Senator KAINE. Mr. Foote talked about the work that we have 

done in this body and we are trying to harmonize with the House 

in this recent CARA, Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. 

We really believe it here—and I think it is now bipartisan—we are 

seeing in all of our States that if we do not get a hold of the culture 

of over-prescription of opioid-based prescription drugs, we are just 

hollowing out communities, rural, urban, suburban, rich and poor. 

And this was a drug addiction that came out of the medicine cabinet. In many instances it was a trusted professional in a white coat 

that was handing somebody this prescription saying this is going 

to do you good and it is not going to do you harm, driven by inadequate science, driven by frankly marketing scams. And that is inextricably related to this heroin issue. And so I think it is kind of 

hard to deal with the heroin issue in the abstract without talking 

about this culture of over-prescription, that hopefully we are working together to reel in. 

Last question I want to ask—and it is probably too early to know 

this. But in terms of the growth of the number of hectares of poppy 

production in Mexico, do we have any evidence to suggest whether 

that is at all connected with marijuana legalization in the United 

States? I actually kind of like this notion of the States as labs and 

they can experiment and we can see what happens. But I have 

heard it said—and I do not know whether there is any evidence to 

back it up—that the legalization of marijuana in some States that 

has allowed marijuana to be grown has taken hectares of land that 

were used for marijuana cultivation and, well, we do not have a 

market for our marijuana anymore because there is competition, so 

we will switch to something like poppies to produce black tar heroin. Is there any evidence of that? 

Mr. CHESTER. We have actually looked closely kind of at the crop 

transference to see if there is anything there, and I can tell you at 

this time, whether it is too early or whether it does not exist, we 

cannot definitively say that farmers have decided to switch from 

one crop to another in Mexico. We cannot say that with any degree 

of authority at this point. 

Senator KAINE. But that is something that you are going to continue to monitor. 

Mr. CHESTER. It is something that we do watch, yes. 

Senator KAINE. Great. 

Thanks, Mr. Chair. 

Senator RUBIO. To interject on that point, it is my sense—and 

you are both experts at this—that very few people wake up in the 

morning and say I am going to go shoot heroin just for the first 

time. There is a gateway to the heroin use. A lot of it is being driven by people that were prescribed prescription opiates. They now 

become physically dependent. The prescription opiate is cut off. 

They are going through severe withdrawal, and the only thing that 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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addresses that withdrawal, if they are not in treatment, is access 

to heroin, and that brings all sorts of problems. 

Absent that, what is the other gateway? How does someone get 

dependent on heroin minus the prescription drug gateway, which 

we have already discussed? 

Mr. CHESTER. Senator, it is a difficult question just because you 

are dealing with a number of variables down at the individual level 

as to the reasons why people engage in the behavior. We do know 

a couple things. Heroin in general terms is kind of at the end of 

a trajectory of long-term drug use and that a high number of heroin users are actually poly-drug users. And so they are not an exclusive heroin user. They get the drugs that are available to them, 

and because of the high availability of heroin, a lot of times that 

is heroin. 

The other thing that we look at—and we do a number of surveys 

to look at this. But what we realize is that youth behavior from the 

ages of about 13 to about 18 is a very strong factor in terms of risktaking behavior, in terms of underage drinking, tobacco, marijuana, 

things of that nature in shaping youth attitudes eventually that 

they carry with them for the rest of their lives in terms of risk-taking behavior for using other drugs. 

So what we cannot say is that we can put a finger on this or that 

particular reason why a person does something, but we do know 

that the availability of drugs in society obviously increases the 

chances that an individual who is inclined to use them is going to 

intersect them at some particular point. And I think that is one of 

the—with the discussion we had about the availability of heroin 

being the driving factor. 

Senator RUBIO. So just to understand your testimony, we understand the pill problem that leads to that. But what you are basically saying is if someone, especially at some point earlier in their 

life, begins to use a substance, alcohol, whatever it may be, an intoxicant of some sort, there now starts a potential trend where the 

next thing is, well, what is out there that is better, what is out 

there that is stronger. Once you have crossed that barrier, it could 

unleash this cycle of basically a set of dominoes that ultimately 

lead you to the heroin point. 

Mr. CHESTER. Yes, sir. And again, it is not direct causation, but 

it certainly is risk-taking behavior and patterns of behavior. 

And that is why the prevention strategies, particularly through 

programs like the Drug Free Communities Program that ONDCP 

manages are incredibly important because they are locally based, 

and they allow trusted individuals to be able to speak to people at 

very, very young ages about things just like that and their attitudes about drugs and foreign substances in the body and things 

of that nature. So they, through evidence-based prevention strategies, are able to talk to people at those young ages when they are 

vulnerable in shaping their ideas about drug use that they carry 

with them for the rest of their lives. 

Senator RUBIO. Senator Markey? 

Senator MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for 

this hearing. I think this is the most important hearing we are 

going to have on our relations with Mexico and with China this 

year in the Congress, and I thank you for it. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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This issue of fentanyl is to my way of thinking kind of the most 

important threat that we have to families in the United States at 

this time. I will just give you some numbers. In Massachusetts, in 

2015, 57 percent of the opioid-related overdose deaths in Massachusetts had a positive screen for fentanyl. Specifically of the 1,319 individuals whose deaths were opioid-related in 2015 where a toxicology screen was available, 754 of them had a positive screen for 

fentanyl. So we can talk about prescription drugs. We can talk 

about heroin, but fentanyl is now the issue. 

And we—that is, New England—are at the epicenter of it. It 

comes up from Mexico to Lawrence, Massachusetts, and then it 

goes out into New Hampshire, other States, but Massachusetts as 

well. 

So the pathway is China into Mexico, then into Lawrence, Massachusetts, into Ohio, into Virginia, into Florida. And when it is 

over half of the deaths now in Massachusetts, it is clearly a looming threat that is a preview of coming attractions to every single 

city and town in our country. 

So that is why this hearing is so important because it gets to the 

question of what is Mexico doing in partnership with China. We 

will start with that, Mr. Foote. What are specifically Mexico and 

China at the highest governmental levels doing in order to interdict 

this new synthetic formula that is lacing heroin with a drug 50 

times more powerful than heroin, so powerful that the DEA does 

not even let its dogs any longer sniff for fentanyl for fear that the 

dog will just die with the first sniff of fentanyl. 3 grams, 3 equivalent of salt grams, could kill a human being if they gained access 

to it. What are Mexico and China doing in cooperation with you in 

order to interdict that drug? 

Mr. FOOTE. Senator, first, I will touch on Mexico and China’s bilateral relationship on this. With our support, Mexico and China 

are meeting and discussing fentanyl regularly every year. They are 

both involved in the multilateral side of things. Just last month at 

the U.N. General Assembly special session on drugs, they were 

both there. China—their minister of public security led the conclusion statement. They were fully on board. And they are a member, 

both countries, to the three international drug conventions. 

We also sponsor in the United States two annual fentanyl and 

precursor chemical conferences with Mexico and China. 

Senator MARKEY. So how successful is this effort so far? 

Mr. FOOTE. That is a good question, Senator. Fentanyl is a new 

problem for the Department of State and INL, and it is one where 

we are applying lessons we have learned with other substances in 

other crime areas over the years, and at this point we are working 

as hard as we can to have success but I cannot quantify it. 

Senator MARKEY. Has it been elevated to the highest level? In 

other words, with human rights and copyright infringement, is this 

issue now at the highest level of negotiations with the Chinese 

Government and with the Mexican Government? 

Mr. FOOTE. It is. Mr. Chester went down in March with our folks 

and spoke to a large interagency group headed by the Attorney 

General in Mexico on this issue. We regularly engage with China. 

Our diplomats are going to China next week at a very high level 

diplomatic engagement where they will raise it. We raise it reguVerDate Mar 15 2010 08:15 Mar 20, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00020 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\2016 HEARINGS -- WORKING\HEROIN - 5 26\28-7

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larly in the joint liaison group on law enforcement, which has a 

counter-narcotics working group that meets throughout the year. 

We have actually seen some positive signs from China. 

Senator MARKEY. What is the evidence? If you were going to convict them of doing something, what would the evidence be to convict them? 

Mr. FOOTE. To convict? 

Senator MARKEY. Convict China of actually doing something to 

block this from coming into Mexico and then into the United 

States. What would the evidence be to convict them of doing good? 

Mr. FOOTE. Of doing good. 

We have seen encouraging progress. There is still plenty to do. 

Last year, their ministry of public security officially controlled 116 

new substances, including several analogs of fentanyl, and they 

have expressed high receptivity and continue to send information 

on new synthetic substances to help us to efficiently control them. 

So they are doing something. There is more that can be done, obviously. 

Senator MARKEY. Clearly we have the evidence in 2015 in Massachusetts, and it is going to be worse this year in 2016. There is 

slim evidence that this thing is being slowed down. In fact, it is 

very clear that it is intensifying and it is going to kill. It is going 

to kill ultimately tens of thousands of Americans every year—every 

year. There is no other threat to our country that even matches 

that. Every single year, fentanyl is going to be able to do that. So 

if we do not stop it, it dwarfs every other issue. Every other issue 

will be a footnote compared to the magnitude of the impact on 

American families. 

Mr. Chester, can we just go to Mexico? What is the level of cooperation that you are getting from the Mexican Government in 

interdicting fentanyl coming into the United States? We know it is 

el Chapo and his gang that is responsible for the traffic that comes 

up to Lawrence, Massachusetts, but pretty much for the whole 

country. What is your success level with the Mexican Government 

getting them to understand the magnitude of the threat to the 

American people? 

Mr. CHESTER. Senator, I would tell you that I personally have 

been down there twice and then have dealt with the Mexican Embassy here in the United States. I will tell you that they understand how seriously we take this issue in the United States. They 

understand that this is our top illicit drug priority, and they also 

understand that it is not just heroin but it is heroin and it is 

fentanyl. 

In a meeting down there in February, I put fentanyl on the table. 

And I will not say it was a ‘‘first heard’’ for them, but they were 

not really familiar with how serious the issue was in the United 

States. By the time we had gone down later with Director Botticelli 

and Ambassador Brownfield, that was part of the problem set that 

they agreed to work with us moving forward on. 

So I will tell you that the Mexicans understand the importance 

that we place on this issue. They are very engaged on it, and they 

are willing to conduct a joint planning with us on the issues not 

only of poppy eradication, which addresses the heroin issue, but 

also lab identification and neutralization specifically on issues of eiVerDate Mar 15 2010 08:15 Mar 20, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00021 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\2016 HEARINGS -- WORKING\HEROIN - 5 26\28-7

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ther fentanyl creation or the milling of fentanyl with dilutants and 

other inert matter as it is transported across the border. 

Senator MARKEY. Well, and it is a little bit disturbing to me if, 

from your testimony, it is a case of first impression for the principal law enforcement officials in Mexico, that they are just hearing 

about fentanyl, and it is just getting on their radar screen, and it 

is February of 2016, given the fact that more than half of all the 

people who died last year in Massachusetts, opioid-related, had 

fentanyl in their system. That is kind of a little bit disturbing to 

me. I am going to be very honest with you, and I do not like it to 

have just been introduced at that level. 

I would like to have heard that President Obama has raised this 

issue with the president of Mexico, that President Obama has 

raised this issue with President Xi in China just because of the incredible level of fatalities all across our country. And we know specifically what the source of their death is. 

So do you mind if I just continue a little bit? Thank you, Mr. 

Chairman. 

So give me some hope here that there is an aggressive strategy 

in place on fentanyl and that it has been elevated to a level where 

there is a no-nonsense conversation going on in terms of what the 

expectations of our government is. 

Mr. CHESTER. Right, Senator. In response to your concern, I 

know that the President did raise this with President Pena Nieto— 

the opioid issue with the Government of Mexico. 

Senator MARKEY. He raised the fentanyl issue with—— 

Mr. CHESTER. I will check if it was specifically fentanyl, but I 

know the heroin issue was raised and the opioid issue—— 

Senator MARKEY. Well, I am asking about fentanyl here. 

Fentanyl is the epidemic. Fentanyl is the epidemic. It is not heroin. 

It is fentanyl. Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful. Fentanyl is 

what is showing up in a majority of the deaths. So you are not sure 

whether or not he has raised it. 

Mr. CHESTER. And I need to make sure that fentanyl was part 

of that conversation between the two of them as well. 

Senator MARKEY. How about you, Mr. Foote? Has the State Department specifically raised fentanyl at the highest levels with the 

Chinese Government and the Mexican Government? 

Mr. FOOTE. We continue to raise it at the highest levels of dialogue that we have. 

Senator MARKEY. What is the highest level? 

Mr. FOOTE. Next week, our Deputy Secretary will be in China, 

and this is high on the agenda, if not top on the agenda. I cannot 

promise that President Obama raised it with President Xi, but certainly Secretary Kerry has raised it with the Chinese Government. 

Senator MARKEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator RUBIO. Thank you. 

Just a couple of points that I wanted to raise. First of all, why 

Lawrence, Massachusetts? Why New Hampshire? Why are these 

communities specifically targeted? In Florida, for example, central 

Florida, how does a community wind up targeted by these criminal 

gangs? What are the characteristics that are making them targets 

as opposed to some other part of the country? 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
19 

Mr. CHESTER. Senator, there are a number of variables, one of 

which is the existing structure, the existing trafficker structure, 

that is in place in particular areas. In some cases, it is transportation networks. In some cases, the traffickers from Mexico have 

personal or business relationships with traffickers in a particular 

area or that geographically a place lends itself to further distribution. There are a lot of reasons why a particular—— 

Senator RUBIO. But the Northeast is far from the U.S.-Mexico 

border. I mean, my question is why did they not stop somewhere 

along I–95 and target there. Is it because of these existing structures that were there before? 

Mr. CHESTER. We believe that there is very strong evidence that 

there are, that it is the existing structures that were there before. 

When we specifically talk about fentanyl, one of the things that 

we have looked at as we have tracked the fentanyl crisis is why 

the Northeast, why the Eastern United States, why so much not 

the Western United States. And we believe that one of the strong 

contributing factors is the fact that fentanyl is more easily mixed 

into the white powder heroin which was preferred in the eastern 

part of the United States than it is in the black tar heroin which 

was preferred in the western part of the United States, and that 

has traditionally been the heroin market in the United States. 

And so fentanyl is being mixed into powder heroin, and therefore 

it landed in the United States. And increasingly we are starting to 

see it be pressed into pill form and sold as counterfeit oxy or counterfeit opioids, but fentanyl has found a market in the Eastern 

United States probably because of those two reasons. 

Senator RUBIO. I spent some time in New Hampshire over the 

last year and from that experience found myself in a lot of small 

townships, not large places, throughout New England that faced an 

overwhelming problem, almost as if they were specifically targeted 

perhaps because trafficking networks knew that they had smaller 

police departments. If you are a small township, you are not going 

to have a 1,000-officer department. Is there evidence that some of 

that is in play for these trafficking networks, that in essence, they 

look to set up in places where they can overwhelm local law enforcement with numbers and capabilities? 

Mr. CHESTER. Senator, I do not know. I do not know whether the 

size of a population or the size of law enforcement was a particular 

reason why. 

But to your point, it is a matter of deep concern that you find 

increasing numbers of heroin or fentanyl users in rural areas who 

are starting to use the product alone, and they are far from treatment and they tend to be further from first responders. Those are 

all things that make this particular crisis particularly pernicious. 

It is the fact that it has moved into a lot of rural areas, which is 

not something that we have seen in previous outbreaks of heroin 

or—— 

Senator RUBIO. And I know what I am asking—and perhaps it 

is more appropriate to the second panel—is more of a domestic 

issue as opposed to a transnational one. But some of the stuff we 

used to hear—because the supply is also driving the demand. They 

are interrelated. In essence, the supply meant these traffickers, 

who now had the supply on their hands, had to be more aggressive 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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in finding market share. And one of the things I kept hearing a lot 

were that they were specifically targeting treatment centers, especially outpatient treatment centers where they knew people were 

getting treatment because of addiction, and they were waiting for 

them outside to tempt them to buy, that they specifically were targeting recovering individuals for the sale of this. And this is a pernicious, disgusting industry that we are dealing with here. 

In that realm, I wanted to ask—you know, since the arrest of el 

Chapo, Secretary Foote, this is part of Mexico’s, I believe, concerted 

policy to conduct high profile arrests of drug lords. And while it is 

positive that these organizations are being decapitated, have we 

seen any evidence that the arrest of a high profile individual impacts the ability of these organizations to continue to function specifically since el Chapo’s arrest? Is there any evidence that the operation has been impacted by it, or is it just one of those things 

that is now functioning the way a corporate entity would, irrespective of who is at the top? 

Mr. FOOTE. Senator, my personal experience is far more robust 

with Colombia where I led our programs several years ago. We 

have seen where the kingpin being arrested does certainly affect an 

organization. The question is how big is the structure, how organized is it, and how quickly can it recover. That is a question far 

better posed to our Drug Enforcement Administration guys than 

State. 

Senator RUBIO. Let me ask you about Colombia. It is not directly 

related to the opiate issue, but nonetheless cocaine. They suspended their aerial eradication program ostensibly for fear of the 

impact that the defoliants would have on the population environmentally. There is a counter-argument out there that some have 

made, in which I find some credibility, that this is also part of the 

peace process, that in essence, this deforestation effort and the 

eradication effort was an irritant in the peace process with the 

FARC and other elements. 

As a result, we now see numbers where for the first time in a 

long time there has been a massive increase in the amount of cocaine production in parts of Colombia that we had not seen in a 

while, and the assumption is that that cocaine is going to get sold. 

It is going to go somewhere and that we should expect at some 

point within the next couple years to see a spike in cocaine sales 

in the United States. 

Do you have a view, irrespective of the reason why they are 

doing it, of what these new numbers mean for the U.S. in the years 

to come? 

Mr. FOOTE. We are concerned about the suspension of aerial 

eradication. It is a sovereign decision of President Santos and the 

Colombian Government obviously. We believe while eradication 

and aerial eradication are not magic pills, they are valuable tools 

in any supply-side intervention on narcotics. It has long been a big 

part of our strategy in Colombia. We continue to work closely with 

the Colombians on the successor to Plan Colombia, which is Paz 

Colombia, Peace Colombia, and are in close contact to see which direction they decide to go if and when President Santos gets the 

peace process resolved. 


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Senator RUBIO. And here is my final question for the panel. And 

I thank you both for being here and for your testimony and for 

your work. The work you do is important and difficult. 

We now have two separate but interrelated problems, as the Senators just pointed out a moment ago, the production of synthetic 

fentanyl, the growth of opiate poppies. My understanding is that 

the amount of poppy-based opiates grown in the western hemisphere is a small percentage of the overall production in the world. 

In your view—or do you know this—if a poppy-based opiate is produced or fentanyl is produced somewhere in the western hemisphere, Mexico or anywhere else, what percentage of that is destined for the United States in particular? 

Mr. CHESTER. Senator, we believe that Mexico is the primary 

supplier of heroin to the United States and that the United States 

is the primary customer for Mexican heroin. That relationship in 

the western hemisphere is fairly solid. We do not see any widespread evidence of Southwest Asian heroin, Afghan heroin, Burmese heroin coming to the United States, although the Government 

of Canada does believe that Southwest Asia is its primary supplier 

of heroin. 

So one of the things that we have discovered is a risk and we 

have identified as a risk is if we are successful against the Mexican 

drug trafficking organizations in bringing down the supply of Mexican heroin into the United States, do we open up the door for others. 

Senator RUBIO. I think it is pretty clear that if you see a heroin 

overdose in the U.S., that heroin or that fentanyl came from Mexico or maybe in the case of fentanyl, China through the mail. I 

think that is pretty clear. 

Here is my question. Are the opiates being grown or produced in 

the case of fentanyl in Mexico being sold anywhere else in the 

world or should we basically assume that virtually all of it that is 

being grown there—you can see it from the camera—pictures are 

being taken—all of that is headed to a city near you in the United 

States? 

Mr. CHESTER. That is the assumption we make, Senator. Yes, 

that is correct. 

Senator RUBIO. Well, I want to thank you both for being here. 

Did you have a final question, Senator Markey? 

Senator MARKEY. Thank you so much. Again, for me this is the 

top topic. It does not get any bigger than this, and these are the 

gentlemen responsible for it in the United States. So to have them 

here and to know that they are the principal people working on the 

fentanyl issue I think is absolutely central. 

So let me just ask you this, Mr. Chester. Your title is Associate 

Director for the National Heroin Coordination Group. Do you think 

it is time for us to just change the name to the National Heroin 

and Fentanyl Coordination Group? Do you think we should change 

the name just so it advertises correctly what is going on to the 

American people? 

Mr. CHESTER. Senator, when we began our work this fall as the 

Heroin Coordination Group, and after Director Botticelli stood up 

this group within ONDCP in order to provide focused efforts 

against the heroin and the fentanyl problem. In our work what we 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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determined was that we were going to handle heroin and fentanyl 

as part of the same problem set for a lot of different reasons. What 

has evolved over time in our work and in our planning and our 

work with the interagency is that we have discovered the incredible 

importance of fentanyl more so than what was identified 6 or 8 or 

9 months ago. 

The other important thing about fentanyl that I would like to 

bring up is the fact that the emergence and the visibility of 

fentanyl is driven almost entirely by the postmortem testing that 

is done on individuals in overdose deaths around the country. And 

in those areas where the testing is done and fentanyl is tested as 

part of the toxicology panel, you begin to see more. So it leads us 

to believe that in looking at both the heroin and fentanyl problem, 

we have a significant fentanyl problem, as you identified, that we 

believe was being masked by this increased availability in heroin. 

So we handled both of them as part of the same problem set simply 

because it allows us to be able to deal with the trafficking and the 

supply chain and the effects on communities in the exact same 

way. 

Senator MARKEY. No, I appreciate that. So that is what I am asking. Should we add fentanyl to your title in your opinion? Does that 

make sense given what you now know and given how little Mexico, 

it turns out, knows when you had the conversation in February of 

2016 about fentanyl? They did not have it on their radar. Did we 

raise it so that they understand? The same thing is true for the 

Chinese. What do you think? 

Mr. CHESTER. The issue being raised to the Chinese—— 

Senator MARKEY. No, no. I am talking about Mexico. I am talking specifically here about Mexico right now. They did not know in 

February. 

And by the way, even when I say 57 percent, a lot of experts 

think that is an understated number because of the poor reporting 

that goes on in terms of the total number of deaths. 

And by the way, it is no secret why they do it. It is like a 300 

percent markup—300 percent markup—in terms of their ability to 

make money off this as opposed to heroin or other drugs. 

So again, from my perspective, this is the issue. This dwarfs any 

terrorist threat to the United States. This is what is going to kill 

people, tens of thousands, ultimately hundreds of thousands of 

Americans. It is going to be this fentanyl that comes into our country. You are the front line on this. Mexico just heard about it. I am 

not sure the Chinese understand the priority that we expect them 

to deal with this issue. 

Mr. Chester, earlier today in your testimony, you said that there 

are gaps in the interdiction of fentanyl from Mexico coming into the 

United States. Could you explain in more detail what those gaps 

are? 

Mr. CHESTER. We are speaking primarily about gaps in our ability to be able to detect fentanyl at borders, and what was brought 

up earlier is the ability of canines, canines being trained in order 

to be able to detect fentanyl because it is so deadly. 

And we work very closely with CBP both in terms of intelligence 

and in terms of policy to address those gaps to better detect 

fentanyl not only at the Southwest border but in our air freight loVerDate Mar 15 2010 08:15 Mar 20, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\2016 HEARINGS -- WORKING\HEROIN - 5 26\28-7

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cations in the United States whether it is U.S. Postal Service or 

whether it is a commercial company. That has been an area of ongoing discussion for us so that we can better determine how much 

fentanyl is getting into the country and to be able to detect it when 

it does arrive, and whether that is detecting the chemical, the 

fentanyl itself, or the dilutant with which it is mixed. 

Senator RUBIO. Gentlemen, I apologize. We have got to move to 

the next panel because in about 45 minutes, I have to preside over 

the floor and I turn into a pumpkin here. Not literally. [Laughter.] 

Senator MARKEY. If I may just conclude. I would just strongly 

recommend to the administration that when the President meets 

with the president of Canada and Mexico, that he raises fentanyl 

to the highest level with them and lets them know that that is a 

threat to our country. And the same thing is true in any communications with the Chinese Government that it has to be at the 

highest level. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator RUBIO. Thank you, Senator Markey. This is an important issue in the Northeast and for the country. 

And I thank you both. 

We are going to welcome our next panel. 

As we will say at the end of the hearing, we keep the record open 

for a few days. If you receive any questions in writing, if you would 

respond as quickly as possible so we can close the record. We thank 

you both for being here. 

So as they are getting seated and situated, I am going to, once 

again, reintroduce the members of our second panel. The Honorable 

Teresa Jacobs is the Mayor of Orange County, Florida, which we 

hope, if it has not yet been finalized, will be the site of the Pro 

Bowl in 2017. Right? 

Ms. JACOBS. Yes, it is. 

Senator RUBIO. Maybe you can give us an update on that too. We 

are excited about it. 

And, of course, Mr. Steven Dudley, who is the Co-Director of InSight Crime. 

Mayor, if you are ready—your testimony has been submitted in 

writing, and we look forward to hearing you as well. Thank you for 

being here. 

STATEMENT OF HON. TERESA JACOBS, 

MAYOR OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA 

Ms. JACOBS. Thank you, Chairman Rubio. And thank you for 

calling this very important hearing and allowing me to share a 

local perspective. The conversation this morning has certainly been 

informative for me, as I am sure it has been for everyone here. 

First, a little background on Orange County, nothing that you do 

not know, but for the record. Orange County is home to the City 

of Orlando and 12 other municipalities. We have a strong economy 

and an exceptional quality of life. We have a population of 1.2 million people that call Orlando home, but we also have 66 million 

visitors on an annual basis and we continue to shatter national 

records for tourism. That is the good news. 

The bad news and the very sad news is that we, like too many 

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crease in the number of heroin overdoses and related deaths. I say 

heroin. When I say heroin, I mean opioids, opiates, I mean 

fentanyl, all of them combined. Last year, we lost 85 lives to heroin. We lost 62 lives to fentanyl. 

We have heard this morning testimony about the increase in 

deaths related to opioids and opiates of anywhere from 200 to 400 

percent since 2007. In Orange County, we have had a staggering 

600 percent increase since 2011 alone, and already this year we 

have had 90 reported opioid overdoses, about 1 in 10 resulting in 

death. 

Florida’s fight against this current wave of opioid addiction 

began about 5 years ago. You may recall that in 2010, Florida was 

known as the ‘‘pill mill capital’’ of the country. Florida practitioners 

were prescribing oxycodone at levels that exceeded all the other 

States in our Nation combined. At a State and local level, we responded by outlawing unauthorized pain clinics. Yet, today the battlefront has moved. Today we fight heroin. Today we fight fentanyl. 

Given the dramatic rise in the flow of heroin and fentanyl into 

our community, one can only surmise that drug cartels perceived 

us as a ripe marketplace. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible to 

accurately assess the size of the heroin threat in Florida and across 

States in our Nation. But there are a few things that we do know. 

In Orange County, we know that last year approximately 2,000 

heroin users moved through our county jail alone, and on any given 

day, we treat roughly 200 heroin addicts in our jail. We know that 

in 2015 our county jail housed 100 expectant mothers who were addicted, whose babies will most certainly be born tragically addicted 

to heroin. We know that over 60 percent of overdose patients are 

uninsured, and yet we have only one inpatient facility with 26 

detox beds available to the uninsured for all four counties in our 

region, with a combined population of 2.5 million people. Simply 

put, we know that our county jail has become the treatment center 

of last resort for far too many people who find themselves addicted 

to heroin, fentanyl, and other opiates and opioids. 

For the good of our citizens, we are fighting back, and here is 

how. Last summer, we convened the Orange County Heroin Task 

Force, chaired by myself and our sheriff. Our joint work is having 

a positive impact, including the passage of the 2016 Florida legislature, which passed a measure allowing naloxone sales without an 

individual prescription. And while there is no single cure or solution, we know there are some universally effective approaches, 

many of which have been discussed here today. But I think at the 

heart of it is that we have to recognize that we must address the 

demand side while we attack the supply side, and an either/or policy simply will not work. 

On the demand side, through our task force, we have joined 

forces with our K through 12 public education system, our universities, our faith-based communities, our medical communities. Together we are launching a social media campaign to educate the 

public on the risks of this highly addictive and deadly drug. We are 

trying to convince our citizens and warn them in advance that this 

is something that they want to avoid at all costs. 

We are also not only treating heroin addicts in our jail, we are 

implementing a new medically assisted treatment program using 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
25 

Vivitrol. And this is an option for all of our addicts that are leaving 

our jail. 

But we need the Federal Government’s help to treat more addicts. As I mentioned a few minutes ago, we are woefully short on 

beds and other resources. 

On the supply side, we are also doing our best to arrest traffickers on our streets. But our local efforts, no matter how highly 

leveraged and coordinated, are simply no match for the drug cartels and organized traffickers coming across our country’s borders. 

And that is why we need your help to help stop the influx of drugs 

across our borders. 

To end the crisis, to save lives, to save communities, we each 

have a role to play. Local governments have a crucial role to play. 

The State government does and the Federal Government does. But 

the efforts need to expand beyond government. We need every citizen that is a mother or a father or a friend of an addict—we need 

our entire communities engaged. We need doctors. We need the 

clergy. We need counselors. We need teachers. We need all of them 

to be informed. And that is why I think that we also need a nationwide awareness campaign. 

And we have talked briefly about fentanyl. It needs to include 

the high risk of fentanyl and the low cost. Quite frankly, today it 

is less expensive for many of our addicts to get high on opioids 

than it is for them to go and get a Happy Meal. That is a sad state 

of reality that has to be addressed. 

Thank you again so much for this opportunity, Mr. Chairman. 

Thank you for your and your committee’s continued service and 

leadership on this issue. 

[Ms. Jacobs’s prepared statement is located in the Additional Material Submitted for the Record section at the end of this transcript.] 

Senator RUBIO. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for your work 

on this. You have been involved in this for a while now trying to 

deal with it back when the pill mill problem was going on, and we 

will talk about that in the questioning section. 

Mr. Dudley, thank you for being here. We look forward to your 

testimony. 

STATEMENT OF STEVEN DUDLEY, CO–DIRECTOR, 

INSIGHT CRIME, WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Mr. DUDLEY. Thank you very much, Chairman Rubio. 

As we know, as U.S. consumption of heroin has increased significantly in the last few years, the U.S. portion of the world heroin 

market is quite small by comparison in terms of users but really 

outsized in terms of potential earnings. The RAND Corporation estimated in 2014 that U.S. consumers spent as much as $27 billion 

on heroin each year, an increase from $20 billion in the year 2000. 

Mexican, Guatemalan, and Colombian criminal organizations 

have reacted to these changes by producing more heroin. 

As noted already in the earlier panel, Mexico accounts for the 

bulk of the poppy production in the region. 

Seizure data of heroin along the southwest border also indicate 

that Mexican criminal groups are moving increasing amounts of 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
26 

heroin into the U.S. market. Mexican criminal organizations are 

also the key transporters of Colombian heroin to the United States, 

and they manage and purchase the heroin produced in Guatemala 

or buy the opium gum wholesale to process it into heroin themselves in Mexico. 

Inside the U.S., the trend appears to be the same. The DEA says 

that Mexican groups are seeking an increasing amount of the market share in the distribution business itself, displacing other wholesalers. 

In sum, the picture we have is one of an increasingly lucrative, 

vertically integrated market with large Mexican criminal organizations managing the product from the point of production to the 

point of sale and seeking a greater market share of these sales. 

The reality of the supply chain, however, is much more complex. 

While it helps us to use well-worn monikers when talking about 

these organizations, the truth is that they are not nearly as strong 

or monolithic as they once were. Names such as the Tijuana Cartel, 

the Juarez Cartel, the Zetas, or La Familia Michoacana may still 

evoke fear and sometimes awe, but they are not organizations as 

much as brand names. In many cases, the individual parts of the 

organization have as much contact with the bosses as a local CocaCola bottling plant manager might have with corporate headquarters. 

Even the vaunted Sinaloa Cartel is more horizontally than 

vertically integrated. Take the recent case of the Flores brothers in 

Chicago. Before they were arrested, Pedro and Margarito Flores 

were said to be Sinaloa Cartel distributors in Chicago, one of the 

areas of greatest interest to this subcommittee. And they were. But 

as Federal intercepts of their conversations with cartel leaders 

show, the two brothers negotiated independently with each of the 

top two members of the Sinaloa criminal organization, obtaining 

different prices for the product that they were selling. Even after 

a war started between the Sinaloa Cartel and a rival group called 

the Beltran Leyva Organization, the Flores brothers continued to 

purchase drugs from portions of the Beltran Leyva organization 

and the Sinaloa Cartel. 

The Flores case cuts at two different myths about the Sinaloa 

Cartel: number one, that this is one single organization; and number two, that it is tightly controlled by a single leader or a single 

group of leaders. The point is that as shipments get further and 

further from Mexico’s wholesale points, the loyalties become more 

disperse and in some cases completely disappear. This is especially 

true in the U.S. market where violence is not a viable long-term 

option to ensure loyalty, win market share, or become a monopoly. 

The effectiveness of U.S. law enforcement has made violence terrible for business and made the distribution chain a more democratic, capitalist affair. This is evident in other ways as well. While 

the amount of seizures indicates that there is more heroin available in the United States, it is still moved in very small quantities. 

The median seizure for the Los Angeles Field Division of the DEA 

in 2014, for example, was a single kilogram. In Denver, a 10- to 

12-pound shipment is considered large. 

The case of the Laredo brothers, recently indicted in the Eastern 

District of Pennsylvania, is indicative of these trends. The Laredo 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
27 

brothers are charged with moving 1 ton of heroin over a 6-year period. This is about 14 kilos per month. The organization was so 

subtle and, as one Mexican analyst put it, ‘‘mom-and-pop,’’ the 

Mexican authorities were not even aware of the group. 

This brings us to Mexico. The horizontal nature of the distribution chain makes it a difficult law enforcement problem in Mexico 

as well. As noted, the once monolithic criminal organizations are 

shells of what they once were. This is in part due to infighting of 

the type mentioned earlier but also Mexican law enforcement efforts. Many of the fragmented pieces have formed their own criminal organizations and brand names. 

The upshot is that the chain of production in Mexico is broken 

into numerous pieces, including small and large producers of opium 

poppy plants, the opium gum producers, and processors, the wholesale purchasers, and the transporters. Production, transport, and 

distribution may all be different organizations. The Laredo brothers, for example, were purchasing opium gum from an independent 

broker, then processing it themselves, and distributing it in those 

small quantities in the U.S. for years without running into trouble 

with the large, supposedly all-controlling Sinaloa Cartel. 

To be sure, violence is still a viable option in Mexico, so the pendulum may swing back towards more monolithic criminal organizations. But for the moment, the reality is that there are literally 

dozens of small criminal organizations involved in this trade from 

the point of production to the point of sale. 

In sum, while the level of control that the Mexican production 

and transport groups exert over the supply chain is clear, we are 

not talking about one or two criminal groups, but dozens of interlocking organizations whose alliances are constantly shifting. The 

heroin supply chain appears to be a largely horizontal, diversified 

operation with multiple actors, and one that is obedient to market 

forces rather than one or two single vertically integrated distributors. 

The result is that law enforcement efforts are largely muted. 

Whether you debilitate the Sinaloa Cartel or the Laredo brothers, 

you are hindering a small part of the overall production and distribution chain. Even if you did slow the heroin from Mexico, you 

would face an insurmountable task: stopping the flow from other 

countries, which would undoubtedly fill the void and account for 

the bulk of worldwide production anyway. Canada already gets up 

to 90 percent of its heroin from Afghanistan. And the United States 

once got all of its heroin from the Asian markets that supply the 

rest of the world. 

Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to your 

questions. 

[Mr. Dudley’s prepared statement is located in the Additional 

Material Submitted for the Record section at the end of this transcript.] 

Senator RUBIO. Thank you both for being here. 

I want to begin with one of the questions I alluded during the 

testimony, and that is—I cannot prove it. I guess it is anecdotal. 

We do not have a number behind this. But the notion that these 

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sence, they basically station themselves outside of a rehabilitation 

outpatient center, even an inpatient center, knowing that these 

people are vulnerable and enticing them to fall back into addiction. 

Mayor, have you seen evidence of this? Mr. Dudley, have you 

heard about this as a recurring issue, a specific practice at the local 

level of targeting people in recovery for sales? 

Ms. JACOBS. Senator, I have not seen evidence of targeting our 

treatment facilities. 

I will say that it certainly appears on the surface that there has 

been a targeting effort towards which communities to infiltrate 

with heroin, and certainly I look to the increase in heroin coming 

into our communities, the increase of fentanyl at the same time 

that we were restricting access to prescription drugs as suspecting 

that there is a strong correlation between those two and a causation between those as well. But I do not have direct evidence of it. 

It just seems hard to imagine that there would not be a direct relationship between them. 

Mr. DUDLEY. Thank you, Senator. 

I also do not have direct evidence of this activity on a local level. 

I will say in Mexico that criminal groups have targeted recovery 

facilities, but more as recruitment centers, not necessarily—— 

Senator RUBIO. Recruitment centers for? 

Mr. DUDLEY. Recruitment centers for them, to basically build out 

their own criminal operations. 

Senator RUBIO. You mean for like dealers? 

Mr. DUDLEY. Not for dealers. Just for membership. So people 

who would participate in the criminal organization. So that has 

certainly happened especially with regard to La Familia 

Michoacana, a very famous group there. 

The upshot of this is to say whether or not they are targeting to 

pushing drugs in certain areas I am not sure is as relevant as this 

sort of whole picture, which is what the Mayor alluded to, which 

is this idea that this is largely driven from people who use pharmaceutical drugs, and those people you can find all over. And that accounts also for the sort of dispersed nature of this epidemic as opposed to sort of the 1970s where you had it very concentrated in 

urban areas. Now we have it spread out throughout many different 

parts of the United States. 

Senator RUBIO. So I want to share with you an anecdote. This 

weekend, I have a personal friend who is a police officer in Miami 

Dade County, and he recounted a story that he pulled up to a car 

that was kind of pulled over on the side of the road. And there was 

a woman in the driver’s seat. She was kind of slumped over, and 

it caught his curiosity. So he pulled over and knocked on the window. This was a nice car, by the way. Obviously, this is a person 

of financial means. Knocks on the window and the person immediately pops to attention. And he can see that in her arm there was 

a needle. She was basically shooting up on the side of the road in 

a luxury vehicle. Knocks on the window. She rolls down the window. They begin to interact. Obviously, he had a decision to make 

about how to treat her. This is someone who said 10 years ago he 

would have arrested her and taken her in as a criminal using 

drugs in the street. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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Today his perception has changed because he has had several 

interactions, including this interaction with a person who, by the 

way, is a member of the Florida Bar, is a successful, functional attorney whose husband apparently also has a problem. The fundamental challenge he faces: he does not want to take her to jail. He 

does not view her as a criminal. He views her as someone who has 

a disease and is in need of treatment to overcome it. 

And by the way, her gateway into heroin was the use of a pharmaceutical pain killer for a surgical procedure 6 or 7 years ago, 

which she lost access to the medicine, and this is what has happened. 

And so the concern that I have is twofold, and perhaps you can 

both opine on this. 

Number one, if today you are dependent upon an opiate substance, irrespective of how you got there, but let us say in the case 

of this person because of the use of a pharmaceutical that led to 

this point, there is still an extraordinary stigma associated with it 

as if you are a bad person who is doing a really bad thing and 

needs to be punished for it. 

And second, even if that stigma were to change so that we can 

get more people into treatment and accepting the fact that I am 

physically dependent on this substance, in many communities there 

is nowhere to take them. The only place you can take them potentially is to a jail where you hope their withdrawals are managed 

but may not be. And in essence, there is nowhere for them to go. 

We have many places. We just do not have the capacity to meet 

that reality. 

Which leads to the third problem, and that is the number of people who end up in a jail cell for 15 days, go through withdrawal, 

do not realize they have lost their tolerance, even in that short period of time, and when they fall off the proverbial wagon, they go 

back to using the levels they were using before they went through 

withdrawal and it kills them because they lost their tolerance for 

an opiate. 

So given that perspective, I am sure there are hundreds, if not 

thousand of cases like that. What are the impediments to getting 

someone who faces this now who—I do not think so, but could be 

watching C–SPAN at this very moment. Not many people watch C– 

SPAN—but are watching this or are hearing us talk about this. 

What is out there today or what is missing for someone who needs 

this treatment and just does not know what to do about it next? 

Because especially for the uninsured, there are not very many options from my understanding. 

Ms. JACOBS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think that is a key part 

of addressing the demand side. Part of it is to educate people and 

help them make the right choices to avoid overuse of prescription 

drugs, but the other part is how do we provide the resources to 

treat people that are addicted. And the treatment options are very 

limited. For the uninsured, as I pointed out, 26 beds for 2.4 million 

people. Our jail alone, one out of four jails in the region, we have 

on average 200 people that we are treating for withdrawal symptoms and offering them a treatment program when they leave. We 

need more treatment facilities. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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When you ask me the question are traffickers, are dealers preying on people coming out of treatment centers, the reality is we do 

not have enough treatment centers to prey on. 

Senator RUBIO. You said in your testimony—and I do not want 

to interrupt, but you said in your testimony you believe that Florida was specifically targeted because they knew we had the pill 

mill problem, and once that was cut off, these folks were going to 

need—— 

Ms. JACOBS. Exactly. That is what I believe. I do not have empirical evidence. What I have is the evidence of the increase in the 

flow of heroin and the increases in deaths related to heroin in correlation to our cutting off the pill mills. 

Let me also say that while we were dispensing more oxycodone 

than the rest of the country combined out of Florida, most of that 

was leaving our State. And most of these pill mills—you could 

drive up and you could look in the parking lots. The parking lot 

would be full and only a small percentage of those were local license plates. So the cartels may have misjudged the appetite, but 

they, no question, have flooded us with very, very cheap drugs. 

And the number of youth that I have seen that are struggling 

with addiction and have turned the corner and have had the good 

fortune and the money to find treatment, the insured portion of 

that population, to see that there actually is life after heroin addiction is very encouraging. But what is very discouraging is that 

most people that are addicts have no idea there is life, and most 

people that are addicts have no opportunity to get to those treatment centers. 

Senator RUBIO. Just to fill in the gaps for those who may not be 

fully aware of the Florida pill mill problem, we had these facilities. 

You just basically pulled up and said my neck hurts or my back 

hurts, and by routine, they would give you a package of prescriptions. It was not just, by the way, oxy. They also put some other 

stuff in there. And people knew this, and you would have busloads 

of people actually come in sometimes. It was a huge problem. The 

Florida legislature closed that loophole that was allowing this to 

happen. So just to be fair, we are not talking about the oxy prescriptions being driven by a doctor at his or her office. It was these 

specific facilities that drove it. 

Did you want to add something on the treatment part of it? Because I had one more question. I know that Senator Kaine—— 

Mr. DUDLEY. Just very quickly. I mean, this is obviously framed 

as a law enforcement debate. And certainly I was asked to talk 

about the criminal organizations. 

But as you rightly pointed out, this is a public health issue. At 

the heart of it, this is a pharmaceutically driven epidemic, and it 

is a public health issue. And that is really the difficulty in facing 

up to this is that it is not necessarily strictly law enforcement. We 

are not talking about throwing people into jails. We need to be 

talking about how to get them better treatment. 

Senator RUBIO. And my sense on the human side of it is I do not 

believe anyone wakes up in the morning and says today is the day 

I become a heroin addict or an opiate addict. It is not something 

somebody wants to happen. You just see growing evidence. People 

do not realize the power of this. There is no responsible way to use 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
31 

this, and its impact on everybody is a little different. We know 

some people are more sensitive or susceptible to addiction than others, but it basically restructures the brain’s chemistry in a way a 

disease would and it has to be treated as that. 

I look at these statistics, for example, in Florida as just an example. Orlando had 83 heroin deaths in 2014. Other communities 

have large numbers with West Palm Beach at 51, Miami at 60, 

Sarasota at 55. But that number pops out at you as a place that 

has been specifically targeted. 

And then you see the rise in deaths and kind of the spike we 

have seen across the country in heroin and opiate deaths where the 

takeoff point is the introduction of fentanyl which, as we have already seen from testimony today, is an incredibly powerful and lethal substance, which in fact from my understanding is not prescribed outside of a hospital setting to begin with on the pharmaceutical side and is now being laced into—— 

I want to go to Senator Kaine. So I wanted to leave with this 

thought. I read the other day a report where someone who was a 

former—he is now a recovering addict—was asked about this and 

said, you know, when you hear that someone has died from an 

overdose that was sold by a particular dealer, it makes you want 

to buy from that particular dealer because you know what they are 

selling is the strong stuff. Now, maybe that is just one interview, 

one line somebody said. But it just kind of tells you the point we 

have reached here where it is a very difficult and debilitating condition that we have to try to understand here. And I think one of 

the keys is to remove the stigma associated with it. 

And I think many of us would be very surprised at the number 

of people we interact with on a daily basis that at some level have 

a dependence problem, maybe not through street heroin, but of 

some sort as a result of what we have seen happen in this country. 

And hopefully we can make advances in pharmaceuticals so that 

we can draw the line and we will be able to treat pain effectively 

in this country without putting people at risk. 

Senator Kaine? 

Senator KAINE. Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

And thanks to each of you. I am sorry I missed your opening testimony, although I read your written testimony. 

And, Mayor, I will start with you. I was a mayor too in Richmond. And it was only when I was mayor that I really fully 

grasped the depths of the demand side of this challenge. You know, 

you can arrest a dealer and arrest another dealer and arrest another dealer, but if the demand for drugs is so potent, if it has its 

hooks in people so deeply, the next dealer will appear tomorrow. 

We had a really tough problem in Richmond, and a lot of drugrelated homicides were taking place in this little neighborhood near 

where the church that I go to is. And the number of stories that 

would appear on the front page of the paper about somebody from 

the suburbs coming in to buy drugs and getting shot at the corner 

of 2nd and Maryland or wherever, and you would think about five 

of those stories, people would quit driving in to buy drugs there. 

But, no, they would keep driving in to buy drugs. 

And that just was evidence of how powerful addiction is, that you 

would have all this objective evidence that, wow, this is really 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
32 

going to be dangerous for me to go, but much less that the drugs 

could be dangerous, I could get shot, but the need is so intense that 

I am still going to go. And it sounds like you have seen that in your 

community. I was a mayor 20 years ago. The drugs were different. 

But it is the same thing of this addiction. And that is why the 

treatment issues are so important. 

And the other thing we used to hear anecdotally—I am not an 

expert in this field, but when somebody who is under the grip of 

an addiction says I want treatment, that is a window that opens 

where the treatment, if it is not there, the window can close. And 

in a month from now when the bed opens up, the individual may 

be past the point of wanting treatment, may have ODed or may 

have lapsed back into behaviors not desiring treatment. So I do appreciate what the chair was saying and you were saying too about 

the need for treatment. 

I am curious if you can talk about as a mayor the way to solve 

some of these challenges is definitely through how the partnership, 

State, Federal—talk a little bit about what you have done in your 

county on the partnership side. Do you have the right stakeholders 

around the table? Are there things we can do from a Federal level 

to ensure that if we are issuing funds, that we do it in a way that 

requires regional cooperation or multi-level stakeholder cooperation? 

Ms. JACOBS. Thank you, Senator. In Orlando, one of the things 

that I think we have done very effectively is regional cooperation 

and collaboration. I think that that is crucial on tackling any large 

issue such as this. And so one of the reasons that we pulled together the task force that we did is we brought in so many different disciplines to make sure that we could attack this problem 

from all angles. 

It is so important. We have limited resources at all government 

levels, and it always seems like the demand for resources outpaces 

supply. So it is important that programs are structured in a way 

that the funding is put to its best use. 

And I do think that collaborative effort is important. We have a 

Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation that pulls together our 

FDLE, FDA, our local law enforcement, our police officers, our 

sheriff, our State attorney’s office. That has been very effective for 

us on the enforcement side of this. 

In terms of your comments about that window of opportunity for 

addicts, I cannot understand it either because I have never experienced a feeling of needing something so badly that I am willing to 

risk my life to have it. But I do understand that is the reality. I 

know enough people. Once we formed the task force, enough people 

came forward, literally walked up to me on the street. You know 

what it is like being a local mayor. People recognize you. They 

come up and they pour their heart and soul out to you. And it is 

a blessing to be at that level where you can really heard firsthand. 

And I have seen young people that you would never in your wildest 

imagination have thought were heroin addicts tell me their stories. 

And what I also saw—I think I mentioned before you walked in 

here—was I also saw the other side. I saw that they came out the 

other side of heroin addiction, and they are living full lives and 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
33 

they are getting college degrees and they are going to be productive 

members of society. 

And I think that most heroin addicts do not believe that is a possibility, and if they have that moment, if it is 15 minutes, if it is 

2 hours, if it is 2 days, where they say, gosh, I want to kick this, 

reality is they are not going to be waiting for 2 weeks or a month. 

They are going to be waiting a lot longer in most of our communities to get into a treatment facility unless they have got a substantial amount of money. And that is a huge problem. 

And as I said in my testimony, the best option is our county jail 

right now, and that is a lousy option. Not to say we have a bad 

jail. We do our best. But having a record does not help the situation. 

So we really need to have options available. We need to have 

education. We need to have hope. We need to have whole communities that are engaged. And as you point out, it is destroying more 

than lives. It is destroying entire communities. 

Thank you, sir. 

Senator KAINE. We had, Mr. Chair, a chart recently placed before 

us at another hearing about opioid-based ODs per capita, the 50 

States arrayed. It was unlike any chart I have ever seen ever. If 

you look at a chart that is usually about some kind of problem or 

crime or social breakdown, high income States will be at one part 

of the chart and low income States will be at the other part of the 

chart. If you looked at the top 10 most affected States, they included some of the poorest States in the country and some of the 

richest States in the country. And if you looked at the bottom 10 

affected States, they included some of the poorest States in the 

country and some of the richest States in the country. This is really 

unlike any sort of similar epidemic or law enforcement problem I 

have ever seen in the traditional demographic data, not at all a 

predictor. It is rural over the suburban. It is all regions. 

I went to a drug court graduation. Kind of the founding drug 

court in Virginia is in the Roanoke area, and the judge who founded it, who was this super, farsighted thinker about the need for 

drug courts, had a child who many years later was killed in a drugrelated incident. And after I spoke at the graduation, one of the 

probation officers who helps the court run and has done so as a 

spectacular advocate for many years came up to me and said this 

is my second drug court graduation this week. I said, did you have 

another class? He said no. I went to my son’s graduation in a community about 2 hours from here. 

This affects every level, and that is why we are now spending the 

time that we are. But we have not spent time in this committee 

on it, and it is really important that we do so because this is not— 

just like it does not have demographic borders, this is not a problem that even has national borders. And we have got to grab a hold 

of some of the dimensions, Mexico, China, the other nations that 

are experiencing this, and build those partnerships not even in a 

metropolitan region, but we have got to build law enforcement and 

other partnerships internationally. 

Thank you for being here, for your testimony. 

Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

Senator RUBIO. Thank you, Senator. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
34 

And I just wanted to ask you, Mr. Dudley, about these 

transnational groups that are targeting us. I think in your testimony you talked about this. So I just want to reiterate it. Whether 

it is fentanyl being produced synthetically or poppy-based opiates 

being grown in the Western Hemisphere, in particular in Mexico, 

they are coming here. This is the almost exclusive market for these 

trafficking networks. Is that correct? 

Mr. DUDLEY. That is correct, absolutely. There is a small market, 

local market that they can satisfy, but it is minimal. 

Senator RUBIO. Because you would think—so logically they are 

crossing the border, you would think the easiest from a logistical 

point of view is for them to flood it into Texas or flood it into California or into a border State. But you are hearing where the outbreaks are. And this is a national problem. There is no community 

in the country that does face it to some level, but you see these outbreaks in the Northeast in New Hampshire and Massachusetts and 

in places like central Florida. So it is not even I–10 alone where 

you would think they would come across. 

What is your view of how is it winding up in these pockets? What 

are the distinguishing characteristics? You heard the previous testimony of the government witnesses. What in your view are the 

distinguishing characteristics that turn a community into a highpropensity, high-risk area? 

Mr. DUDLEY. You know, it is such a new phenomenon because it 

is so disperse. But the fact that it is so disperse is really what 

leads to the criminal organizations being so disperse. And the notion that we have one single, all-encompassing enemy that is called 

the Sinaloa Cartel and once we incarcerate Chapo Guzman, then 

everything will be resolved is just simply not correct just because 

of the disperse nature of the market and the way in which these 

criminal organizations will satisfy that market. 

It is an odd thing because in a way there are certain elements 

of this epidemic that we are victims of our own success. The fact 

that you would create ways so you cannot tamper with OxyContin, 

for example, you cannot store it anymore, the way in which it is 

distributed, well, then that makes it less available to people so 

then they start to search out other things. 

The way in which the Mexican Government, in conjunction with 

the United States Government, has captured or killed several of 

the larger leaders of the larger criminal organizations has led to a 

fragmentation of these groups. So you have groups like you referred to Guerrero earlier. There is a Guerrero Unidos group, 

which was the group responsible for the massacre or supposed massacre of those 43 students that disappeared, 43 students currently 

still. You know, this is a group that was an offshoot of a larger 

group, the Beltran Leyva organization, and there are several like 

them. 

So in order to wrap your hands around this as a law enforcement 

issue, it is incredibly difficult because the terrain is so much more 

horizontal than vertical. And even when you take out the larger 

leaders, what you are left with is a fragmented criminal landscape, 

and a landscape that does not necessarily—as in the cocaine market, they might depend on getting product from another country. 

In fact, they do from the Andes region. They need to get their prodVerDate Mar 15 2010 08:15 Mar 20, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00038 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\2016 HEARINGS -- WORKING\HEROIN - 5 26\28-7

FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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uct from other criminal organizations. But they do not have that 

dependency when it comes to the poppy production which is local 

and the heroin production which is local. So they can produce all 

of this themselves, which makes it much more difficult to wrap 

your hands around as well. 

Senator RUBIO. Well, do you have anything further Senator? 

I want to thank both of you for being here, for sitting through 

the previous testimony. I hope that was insightful as you go back 

and continue your work. And I want to thank you for coming here 

today and being a part of this hearing as well. This is an important 

issue. There has been a lot of debate about what is being done domestically on this issue. I am glad we touched on it. 

I think this has to be dealt with. There is not like one law we 

can pass that deals with this. It has to be dealt with comprehensively whether it is on the treatment side for people to recover, on 

the prevention side, but also by targeting these organizations who 

are in the business of murder basically, which is what this ultimately is, and not just murdering each other for territory, but the 

direct murder of Americans by targeting us with the distribution 

of these products in our country. 

So I want to thank all of you for being here. 

I also want to ask consent to enter a statement for the record of 

Jack Riley, who is the Acting Deputy Administrator of the Drug 

Enforcement Administration. And without objection, I show that 

ordered. 

[Mr. Riley’s statement is located in the Additional Material Submitted for the Record section at the end of this transcript.] 

Senator RUBIO. The record for this hearing is going to remain 

open until the close of business on Tuesday, May 31st. You might 

receive some questions in writing. If possible, I would ask you to 

respond just so we can close the record on this. 

And with that I thank you both for being here, and this meeting 

is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 10:55 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.] 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER

FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
(37) 

Additional Material Submitted for the Record 

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE

RECORD BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE

RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED TO ASSISTANT

SECRETARY DANIEL FOOTE BY SENATOR MARCO RUBIO

Question 1. Mexico has been a very good partner but systemic corruption and 

other issues, including issues of trust, persist. What is the U.S. government’s assessment of Mexico’s commitment to truly stopping the Sinaloa cartel, in particular, and 

the flow of illicit narcotics to the U.S.? 

Answer. Our partnership with the Government of Mexico on counternarcotics has 

led to enhanced collaboration on this important issue. The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), under the 

Merida Initiative, is working with the Government of Mexico to help build the capacity of Mexico’s law enforcement and rule of law institutions to disrupt drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and to stop the flow of drugs from Mexico to the 

United States, including augmenting their ability to coordinate with U.S. law enforcement agencies. Through Merida, we have provided the Mexican government 

with the communications equipment and technical assistance to enable the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Mexican Federal Police to conduct coordinated patrols of our shared border. Merida-supported implementation of the Cross Border Secure Communications Network and 

Cross Border Coordination Initiative provides direct communication between CBP 

Sector Offices and Mexico’s Federal Police and State Command and Control Centers 

at ten locations along our shared border. INL also is working in partnership with 

CBP to provide training to Mexican Federal Police officers assigned to the northern 

border region. 

The United States and Mexico are working to increase communication and information sharing on combating the production and trafficking of heroin and methamphetamine. In addition to discussions at the high level Security Cooperation 

Group meetings, in the last year INL supported U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-led bimonthly counternarcotics meetings, which bring together experts from 

both countries to share information and strategies. These efforts to increase cooperation are paying off. Federal and state police in one of Mexico’s northern border 

states recently arrested two suspects and seized 630 kilograms of methamphetamine, 80 kilograms of heroin, 48 kilograms of cocaine, one semi-automatic weapon, 

and two AK-47 assault rifles after acting on real-time intelligence provided by U.S. 

law enforcement. The federal police unit involved in the operation participates in 

the bimonthly counternarcotics meetings. 

In recent years, the Government of Mexico has taken active steps to reduce corruption and other illegal activities in police forces and government institutions by 

vetting public officials through its Control de Confianza system. INL seeks to 

strengthen and accredit Mexican vetting institutions by establishing and deploying 

uniform standards for polygraph administration, background (socio-economic) investigations, and psychological assessments. 

Question 2. Mexico has adopted a policy of high profile arrest of drug lords. While 

it is positive that these organizations are being decapitated, has the drug trade run 

by the cartels been impacted by these arrests in the way envisioned? 

Answer. Capturing and successfully prosecuting high profile traffickers who have 

committed serious crimes and have operated with relative impunity is essential to 

maintaining the rule of law. High profile drug lords are responsible for the deaths 

of tens of thousands, and their sophisticated organizations create violence, generate 

illegal earnings and influence, and ultimately harm U.S. citizens and interests 

through cross-border flows of illicit drugs, goods, and people. We refer you to the 

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for additional details on the potential impact 

on the drug trade resulting from Mexico’s high profile arrests. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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Recognizing, however, that targeting high profile traffickers alone will not solve 

Mexico’s security dilemma, the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) supports Mexico’s security and law enforcement efforts more broadly. Combating transnational criminal organizations requires a comprehensive approach that disrupts illicit financial and trafficking networks, combats government corruption, strengthens the rule of law, bolsters judicial 

systems, and enhances transparency. Under the Merida Initiative, INL focuses not 

only on disrupting organized criminal groups, but on institutionalizing rule of law, 

strengthening border security, and building strong and resilient communities in 

Mexico. INL’s efforts to enhance state-level law enforcement professionalization, 

support Mexico’s efforts along its northern and southern borders, and assist Mexico’s transition to an accusatory justice system all augment the capacity of Mexico 

to effectively provide security, disrupt organized crime, and manage its borders. 

Question 3. Since the arrest of Joaquin ‘‘El Chapo’’ Guzman, has there been a noticeable drop in narcotics trafficked by his organization? Specifically heroin? 

Answer. At this time, the effect of El Chapo’s arrest on the amount of narcotics 

trafficked by the Sinaloa Cartel is unclear. We refer you to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for additional information on shifts in the trafficking of narcotics, including heroin. 

The United States is fully committed to working with Mexico to combat the production and trafficking of illicit drugs. Over the past year, our bilateral dialogue, 

specifically on heroin, has reached an unprecedented level of openness and coordination and we are continuing to work closely with Mexico to increase these efforts. 

Question 4. What successes can the U.S. government point to in cooperation with 

the Mexican government that have yielded concrete results? 

Answer. For the past eight years under the Merida Initiative, the U.S. government has worked closely with the Government of Mexico to advance our shared security objectives and these efforts are demonstrating results, including: 

Criminal Intelligence and Analysis Program: To support the Government of Mexico in improving criminal investigations to hold drug traffickers and other criminals 

accountable and boost public confidence in the rule of law, INL is supporting the 

professionalization of criminal intelligence analysts throughout Mexico. Initial programming has focused on equipping and training analytic units along the MexicoU.S. border to serve as the primary state-level liaison with U.S. law enforcement 

entities to develop intelligence related to drug cultivation and trafficking, extortions, 

kidnappings, and homicides. 

INL has trained and equipped five analytic units that have contributed to 1,900 

investigations/citizen complaints resulting in more than 200 arrests as of the end 

of 2015. The units in the cities of Chihuahua and Ciudad Juarez provided intelligence that led to the arrest of a principal leader of the Sinaloa cartel. The Chihuahua unit also assisted in the identification and apprehension of two suspects responsible for an attack on a Ciudad Juarez television station, in addition to six 

kidnappings and five homicides. This unit also aided the apprehension of suspects 

responsible for the murder of the sons of two prominent Mexican journalists. The 

Sonora unit developed tactical intelligence, which led to the arrest of four suspects, 

identified as former Mexican military and enforcers for the Sinaloa Cartel. It also 

worked with ICE/HSI on an investigation that resulted in the seizure of five weapons, one grenade, three vehicles, and 450 kilograms of marijuana in Nogales, Sonora 

in 2015. 

Anti-Money Laundering: To assist Mexico in disrupting transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), INL provided over $16 million in hardware, software, servers, 

and technical assistance to Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), a division of 

Mexico’s Secretariat of Public Finance and Credit responsible for receiving, analyzing, and disseminating information on suspicious financial transactions. This assistance enhanced the Government of Mexico’s ability to combat financial crimes 

and money laundering activity, resulting in the following successes: 

• In 2014 alone, the UIF froze 761 suspicious accounts. 

• Between March 2014 and May 2015, the UIF froze approximately $41 million 

in suspicious assets. 

• The UIF reports it collected as much data in 2015 as in the previous six years 

combined due to new IT platforms and additional data storage capacity principally provided by INL. 

Corrections: Since 2008, the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and the Government of Mexico have 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
39 

partnered to create a more effective, transparent, and humane prison system, including through accreditation by the American Correctional Association (ACA), 

which has helped to reduce escapism and mitigate the ability of imprisoned cartel 

members to fuel organized crime from behind bars. As of May 2016, a total of 30 

Mexican correctional facilities have achieved ACA accreditation: six federal prisons, 

22 state prisons, one state central office, and the federal training academy. INL 

plans to work toward having all federal prisons and one quarter of state prisons 

ACA-accredited by 2021. In a recent National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) 

evaluation of more than 150 federal and state prisons, ACA-accredited prisons received significantly higher average scores than non-ACA-accredited facilities. Of the 

top ten facilities, eight are either accredited or seeking accreditation, and none of 

the ten lowest scoring facilities in the CNDH evaluation are ACA-affiliated. 

• The state prison system in Chihuahua is an example of the program’s success. 

In 2010, 216 prisoners in Chihuahua died as a result of prison violence, and 

the state reported more than 17 escapes. After achieving INL-sponsored ACA 

accreditation in 2013, there have been only three violent prison deaths, and no 

escapes from any accredited facility. 

Question 5. I believe we should continue to expand military to military cooperation with the Mexican government as long as the Mexicans welcome our contributions. Maritime cooperation between our navies and coast guards seems like an underdeveloped area. Perhaps U.S. Northern Command should look at a role for Mexico to play in NORAD. The U.S. should also work to bring Canadian law enforcement into closer cooperation with Mexican law enforcement to stem illicit trafficking. What other opportunities exist where cooperation between the U.S. and 

Mexican governments can be improved? 

Answer. We have an excellent relationship with the Mexican government and together we are continuously assessing our security relationship and working on ways 

to improve and enhance our cooperation. 

The biannual ‘‘Security Cooperation Group’’ meeting, co-chaired by the National 

Security Council and Mexico’s Center for Investigation and National Security 

(CISEN), serves as the primary forum for our senior policy makers to work with 

their Mexican counterparts to devise strategies to combat our shared security 

threats and identify and reassess strategic priorities, such as continuing the fight 

against organized crime, enhancing counternarcotics efforts, and jointly managing 

our 2,000 mile shared border. There are also multiple venues and working groups 

that facilitate operational and tactical security cooperation, including through the 

21st Century Border Management Initiative, bilateral border violence prevention 

protocols, and other coordination mechanisms. 

Specific to our military relationship, U.S. Northern Command works with Mexico 

on initiatives that not only assist in mitigating the current Transnational Criminal 

Organization (TCO) threat, but also focus on capacity building. They work with the 

Mexican Navy (SEMAR) and Army (SEDENA) to build specific capabilities, enhance 

our bilateral and regional engagement, and prioritize joint activities through programs in aviation, communications, and civil-military operations. SEMAR’s participation in exercises, combined and multilateral, is increasing and planning is underway for joint U.S.-Mexican exercises next year that will increase interoperability 

with U.S. Naval Forces and bolster regional security. 

The North American Leaders’ Summit, to be attended by President Obama, Mexican President Pen ̃ a Nieto, and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, will take place 

in Ottawa on June 29. The discussion of the effective exchange of information and 

coordination among law enforcement authorities will remain essential. We will also 

discuss continued coordination to pursue areas of cooperation to counter drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, and other illicit trade. 

Question 6. Please summarize any progress that has been made as a result of the 

bilateral talks that have been occurring over the past year on how the U.S. and 

Mexican government can address heroin cultivation and production in Mexico. 

Answer. Over the past year, our bilateral dialogue with the Government of Mexico 

on heroin has reached an unprecedented level of openness. This has led to enhanced 

U.S.-Mexico collaboration on this critically important issue, including increased communication and information sharing on heroin. In March 2016, Office of National 

Drug Control Policy Director Michael Botticelli and the State Department’s Bureau 

of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Assistant Secretary 

William R. Brownfield participated in meetings hosted by the Mexican Attorney 

General’s Office with high-level officials from each of the Mexican federal government agencies involved in drug enforcement to discuss U.S.-Mexican collaboration 

on heroin and potential new areas of assistance. INL continues to increase the caVerDate Mar 15 2010 08:15 Mar 20, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\2016 HEARINGS -- WORKING\HEROIN - 5 26\28-7

FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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pacity of law enforcement and justice sector institutions to detect heroin distribution 

networks and prosecute those involved. INL has hosted seminars with several Mexican agencies to increase information sharing on heroin, and has facilitated a study 

trip with Mexican officials to Guatemala and Peru to examine poppy eradication 

best practices. The United States has provided more than $130 million in non-intrusive inspection equipment, maintenance, technical assistance, and capacity building 

to enhance the capabilities of Mexican officials at internal checkpoints and points 

of entry along Mexico’s northern and southern border. INL is also working with the 

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to provide training to augment Mexico’s ability to identify, investigate, and interdict clandestine heroin labs, and better 

prepare Mexican officials to dismantle them. 

This year, the Government of Mexico is expected to finalize its National Drug 

Control Policy Plan, and to lay out protocols for poppy eradication. Mexico is also 

working with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on a yield 

study that will enable more accurate estimates of potential heroin production. Initial reports outlining baseline poppy cultivation estimates will be completed this 

year. These reports will provide a greater understanding of how Mexican eradication 

and interdiction responsibilities will be organized going forward, and will help shape 

the best areas for U.S. assistance. INL will continue to work closely with Mexico 

to increase efforts to combat heroin. 

Question 7. How would you assess the assertion made by a group of experts from 

the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, that there may have been another bus involved in the incident in which 43 students disappeared in Guerrero, 

Mexico, that was packed with heroin bound for the U.S.? 

Answer. We strongly support the work of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts affiliated with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 

and commend the assistance they have provided to the Government of Mexico with 

respect to the investigation of the September 2014 disappearance of 43 students in 

Iguala, Mexico. We have encouraged Mexican authorities to incorporate the experts’ 

findings into the ongoing official investigation. 

In the reports released in September 2015 and April 2016, the experts noted the 

organized crime group alleged to be involved in the attack on the students and their 

disappearance is connected to drug trafficking to the United States and, specifically, 

to a case before a federal court in Chicago. The experts hypothesized that the extreme violence against the students and the alleged ‘‘missing’’ fifth bus might be related to this drug trafficking—i.e., that unknown to the students who seized several 

buses, one of those buses could have contained drugs or drug money, which in turn 

led to the violent attacks of September 26, 2014. The Department of State is not 

in a position to evaluate the merits of that hypothesis. 

Witnesses Prepared Statements 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DANIEL L. FOOTE, DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUREAU

OF INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS

Chairman Rubio, Senator Boxer, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee: thank you for the opportunity to appear before you to discuss U.S. government efforts to combat the production and trafficking of heroin and the violence 

and instability it brings to our communities, our citizens, and the world in which 

we live. 

The flow of illicit narcotics across our shared border with Mexico threatens citizen 

security in both countries. Recognizing that we have a shared responsibility to address common challenges, in 2007, the United States forged a comprehensive security partnership with Mexico. Through the Merida Initiative, we work in partnership with Mexico to build the capacity of Mexican institutions to counter organized 

crime, uphold the rule of law, and protect our shared border from the movement 

of illicit drugs, money, and goods. 

The need for effective collaboration is now more important than ever. Heroin and 

fentanyl-laced heroin is a public health crisis in the United States, and Mexican 

drug trafficking organizations are the primary suppliers of heroin to the United 

States. We must aggressively respond to this growing threat in concert with our 

broader work through the Merida Initiative to counter all illicit drugs and to end 

the impunity with which trafficking organizations are able to operate, putting their 

leaders in jail, seizing their weapons, drugs, and money, and dismantling their illicit 

businesses. 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
41 

To date through the Merida Initiative, the United States government has provided 

nearly $1.5 billion worth of capacity building assistance to our Mexican partners. 

This includes training and equipment which complements the significant resources 

the Government of Mexico has dedicated to our shared security goals. Today there 

are more than $700 million in bilaterally agreed upon projects with the Pen ̃ a Nieto 

administration, which fully support the Merida Initiative’s strategic framework that 

underpins the basis of our security cooperation. Most of these projects fall into three 

priority areas: professionalizing and building the capacity of Mexican law enforcement agencies; supporting the Government of Mexico’s efforts to strengthen border 

management and security; and helping advance reforms across Mexico’s justice sector. 

In partnership with the Department of Justice, INL is building the skills of prosecutors, investigators, and forensic experts in Mexico and preparing them for their 

responsibilities under the oral accusatory system, the transition to which is well underway throughout Mexico. This includes helping enhance the technical capacity of 

courtrooms throughout the country to host oral trials. We are also assisting in the 

training of the next generation of Mexican attorneys as they learn crucial oral trial 

skills in Mexican law schools. 

Through Merida, INL is enhancing federal, state, and municipal policing capacity 

throughout Mexico. These programs provide a full range of professionalization activities including: the development of enforceable police standards; basic training 

and academy accreditation; continuing and leadership education programs; law enforcement vetting programs; and the development of effective internal affairs units. 

The continued professionalization of Mexican law enforcement will result in a greater observance of and accountability for civil and human rights, increasing trust in 

these institutions by the people of Mexico, and making them better partners for 

other law enforcement organizations both within Mexico and with the United 

States. This is vital to any effort to stem drug trafficking and reduce the capabilities 

and influence of drug trafficking organizations. 

Strengthening border security capacity on Mexico’s borders is a priority for both 

our nations. Our governments have committed to further enhancing Mexico’s ability 

to interdict illicit narcotics, arms, and money. INL has provided more than $125 

million in inspection equipment and more than 340 canine teams deployed at ports 

of entry, border crossings, and internal checkpoints throughout Mexico. In Mexico’s 

northern border region, INL has provided equipment and technical assistance to improve communications between the Mexican Federal Police and U.S. Customs and 

Border Protection (CBP). We are working in conjunction with CBP to provide training to Mexico’s Federal Police who will be deployed to the northern border region, 

advancing cooperation between our countries along our shared border. 

Through Merida, we continue to make progress with Mexico in targeting heroin 

production and trafficking. We work with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to provide training to augment Mexico’s ability to identify, investigate, and 

interdict clandestine heroin labs, and better prepare Mexican authorities to dismantle them. We are improving information sharing between our governments on 

heroin and fentanyl, working together to better assess poppy cultivation and heroin 

production in Mexico, and with our interagency partners, continuing our high-level 

focus on exploring other avenues to enhance our bilateral cooperation when it comes 

to heroin. 

At the last high level Security Cooperation Group held in Mexico City in October 

2015, heroin was the group’s highest priority. We agreed to continue working in 

partnership on a bilateral approach for combating the cultivation, production, and 

trafficking of heroin and to determine how U.S. assistance can best support Mexico’s 

efforts in this area. 

Building strong, effective justice sector institutions in Mexico capable of confronting organized crime and the violence and corruption for which it is responsible 

is a difficult, long-term challenge. Our work across numerous institutions and sectors must be sustained, for it is only with a concerted, committed effort that the 

capacity to deter the cultivation, production, and trafficking of heroin and other illicit drugs in Mexico will be strengthened. Past investments by the American people 

in this partnership have produced results, and with your continued support, our collaboration with Mexico on this important work will continue. 


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1 An opioid-related death may involve more than one type of opioid. 

2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Multiple 

Cause of Death, 1999-2014 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released 2015. 3Drug Enforcement Administration, El Paso Intelligence Center, National Seizure System, 

2008-2014. 4Drug Enforcement Administration. Strategic Intelligence Section. 2015 National Heroin 

Threat Assessment. DEA-DCT-DIR-039-15. 5Drug Enforcement Administration. System to Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence 

(STRIDE), Price and Purity Data, 2015. 6Muhuri PK, Gfroerer, JC and Davies, MC. (2013). Associations of nonmedical pain reliever 

use and initiation of heroin use in the United States. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 7Drug Enforcement Administration. System to Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence 

(STRIDE), Price and Purity Data, 2015 8Drug Enforcement Administration. Strategic Intelligence Section. 2015 National Heroin 

Threat Assessment. DEA-DCT-DIR-039-15. 9 Cicero, T., Ellis, MS, Surratt, HL, Kurtz, SP. (2014). The changing face of heroin in the 

United States: A retrospective analysis of the past 50 years. JAMA Psychiatry, 71(1): 821-826. 10Drug Enforcement Administration. Strategic Intelligence Section. 2015 National Heroin 

Threat Assessment. DEA-DCT-DIR-039-15. 11 U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. 

International Narcotics Control Strategy Report—2015 [INCSR] (March 2015) for data from 

2013–2014 and unpublished U.S. Government Estimates. 12Zuurmond WW, Meert TF, and Noorduin H. (2002). Partial versus full agonists for opioidmediated analgesia--focus on fentanyl and buprenorphine. Acta Anaesthesiol Belg, 53(3):193- 

201. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF KEMP L. CHESTER, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR THE

NATIONAL HEROIN COORDINATION GROUP, OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG POLICY

Chairman Rubio, Ranking Member Boxer, and members of the subcommittee, 

thank you for inviting me to discuss the public health and public safety issues resulting from heroin use; the Government of Mexico’s efforts to reduce the availability of heroin in the United States; and the U.S.-Mexico cooperation to address 

heroin issues in both countries. 

BACKGROUND

In 2014, more than 47,000 Americans, or approximately 129 people each day, died 

from a drug overdose. Opioids—a category of drugs that includes heroin and prescription pain medicines like oxycodone, oxymorphone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl— 

are having a considerable impact on public health and safety in communities across 

the United States. Of the overdose deaths in 2014, 61 percent (28,647) involved an 

opioid, 44 percent (20,808) involved prescription pain medicines, and 22 percent 

(10,574) involved heroin.1 The threat posed by heroin has continued to grow dramatically over the past several years. Since 2007, deaths involving heroin have risen 

340 percent, from 2,402 in 2007 to 10,574 in 2014.2

There are several principal factors contributing to the current nationwide heroin 

crisis: the increased availability of heroin in the U.S. market,3 the availability of 

purer forms of heroin that allow for non-intravenous use,4 its relatively low price, 5

and a relatively small percentage of non-medical users of opioid prescription drugs 

transitioning to heroin.6 The purity of retail-level heroin has increased since the 

1990s while prices have remained low.7 Further increases in purity since 2010 have 

enabled heroin use by a variety of means including snorting or smoking which 

broadens the drug’s appeal to a large population that is disinclined to inject the 

drug intravenously. Heroin’s relatively low price makes it a viable alternative to 

many prescription opioids which command higher prices on the street.8 Heroin use 

has spread into suburban and rural communities and is growing among most socioeconomic classes, age groups, and races.9

The Administration recognizes that the heroin threat is a global issue; however, 

Mexico is currently the primary supplier of heroin to the United States, with Mexican drug traffickers cultivating opium poppy and producing heroin in Mexico, and 

smuggling the finished product into the United States.10 Opium poppy cultivation 

in Mexico has increased substantially in recent years, rising from 17,000 hectares 

in 2014, with an estimated potential pure heroin production of 42 metric tons, to 

28,000 hectares in 2015 with a potential production of 70 metric tons of pure heroin.11

The reemergence of illicit fentanyl, a powerful Schedule II synthetic opioid more 

potent than morphine or heroin, exacerbates the heroin crisis.12 Illicit fentanyl is 

sometimes mixed with powder heroin to increase its effects or with diluents and sold 


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13Drug Enforcement Administration. Strategic Intelligence Section. 2015 National Heroin 

Threat Assessment. DEA-DCT-DIR-039-15. 14Drug Enforcement Administration. Strategic Intelligence Section. 2015 National Heroin 

Threat Assessment. DEA-DCT-DIR-039-15. 15 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Multiple 

Cause of Death 1999-2014 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released 2015. Data are from 

the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2014, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital 

statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. 16 Rudd, RA, Aleshire, N, Zibbell, JE, and Gladden, RM. Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths—2000-2014. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Mortality and Morbidity 

Weekly Report. Jan. 1, 2016. 64(50);1378-82. 17 National Institute for Health Development, Infectious Diseases and Drug Monitoring Centre. 2014 National Report to the EMCDDA by the REITOX National Focal Point. Tallinn, Estonia. 18 European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Fentanyl in Europe EMCDDA 

Trendspotter Study: Report from an EMCDDA expert meeting 9 to 10 October 2012. Lisbon, 

Portugal. 19The White House, Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime, 25 July 2011. 

as ‘‘synthetic heroin,’’ with or without the buyers’ knowledge.13 Increasingly, illicit 

fentanyl is pressed into pill form and sold as counterfeit prescription opioid pills. 

Illicit fentanyl comes from several sources. The majority of the illicit fentanyl in the 

U.S. market is smuggled into the country after being clandestinely produced in Mexico or China.14

Illicit fentanyl is extremely dangerous and deadly. In 2014, there were more than 

5,544 drug overdose deaths involving synthetic narcotics other than methadone, a 

category that includes fentanyl. This number has more than doubled from two years 

earlier (2,628 in 2012).15 Moreover, overdose deaths involving opioids like illicit 

fentanyl are likely undercounted. Of deaths where drug overdose is cited as the underlying cause of death, approximately one-fifth of the death certificates do not list 

the specific drug(s) involved in the fatal overdose.16

There are several reasons why it is important that we address concerns regarding 

heroin and illicit fentanyl in a single problem set. First, traffickers who add illicit 

fentanyl as an adulterant to boost the effect of their heroin, or mix it with diluents 

to sell as synthetic heroin, likely utilize the same supply chains and distribution 

mechanisms for both drugs. Moreover, both heroin and fentanyl belong to the same 

class of opioid drugs that have similar effects making their illicit user populations 

one and the same. Second, both heroin and clandestinely-produced fentanyl can be 

manufactured by the same drug trafficking organizations that can bring both drugs 

into the country using the same trafficking routes. And finally, addressing both illicit drugs together allows us to address the heroin crisis while avoiding unintended 

uptick in illicit fentanyl use. If we move too quickly in reducing the availability of 

heroin without simultaneously addressing illicit fentanyl availability, it could increase the price of heroin, and risk driving more people to use illicit fentanyl-thereby creating the prospect of an additional and potentially more deadly opioid drug 

threat.17 18

The dramatic increase in the availability and use of heroin and illicit fentanyl is 

a national security, law enforcement, and public health issue, and it has become the 

highest priority illicit drug threat to the Nation.19 Addressing this complex problem 

demands significant effort, creativity, and interagency collaboration. 

THE FEDERAL RESPONSE

The National Heroin Coordination Group. In November of 2015, the National Security Council (NSC) Transborder Security and Western Hemisphere Directorates 

Interagency Policy Committee (IPC) on Mexico Security Priorities directed the formation of the National Heroin Coordination Group (NHCG) within the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The NHCG is the hub of a network of interagency partners who leverage their home agency authorities and resources to synchronize interagency activities against the heroin and illicit fentanyl supply chains 

to the United States. I serve as the Director of the NHCG, which ensures that Federal counterdrug efforts focused on the heroin problem complement the NSC’s ongoing work related to Mexico security priorities, and that the NHCG connects the actions taken on the front end of the supply chain with the effects on the domestic 

market and user population. 

Bi-lateral Engagement. U.S.-Mexico engagement regarding heroin has been robust. In October 2015, ONDCP Director Michael Botticelli participated in a U.S.- 

Mexico Security Cooperation Group dialogue that included heroin as the first security cooperation agenda topic. The importance of increased poppy eradication efforts 

by the Government of Mexico, as well as drug interdiction, clandestine laboratory 


FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER
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destruction, and disruption of precursor chemical trafficking were all highlighted as 

crucial issues to be addressed. 

Director Botticelli and I traveled to Mexico in early March 2016 with Ambassador 

William Brownfield, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and 

Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), to engage on heroin and illicit fentanyl issues specifically and to impress upon our Mexican partners the urgency with which the 

United States is addressing the heroin problem. We met with Mexican Attorney 

General Go ́mez and senior members of her staff, as well as with senior officers from 

the Mexican Army, the Mexican Navy, and the Secretariat of the Government. Attorney General Go ́mez announced her role as the synchronizer of Mexico’s efforts 

to disrupt the production of heroin and illicit fentanyl including poppy eradication 

and the identification and neutralization of production laboratories. 

Importantly, we agreed to conduct joint planning and to develop a simple and focused national strategy to direct and concentrate Mexico’s efforts against heroin and 

illicit fentanyl. We expect this plan to delineate responsibilities, identify gaps, and 

help synchronize heroin and illicit fentanyl efforts across the Mexican government. 

This plan will be beneficial for both countries and we look forward to collaborating 

on its development. The country team at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City has led 

efforts to foster partnerships within the Government of Mexico, and increased information sharing continues to enhance this relationship. The United States continues 

to work with the Government of Mexico on important efforts under the Merida Initiative, a joint effort to fight transnational criminal organizations and reduce associated violence. Building upon the Mexican Government’s own investment in equipment and border security infrastructure, the Merida Initiative will continue to 

strengthen border security that facilitates the flow of legitimate commerce and travel, while reducing the movement of illicit narcotics, currency, weapons, explosives, 

black market goods, and undocumented migrants. 

U.S. Federal law enforcement agencies are aggressively addressing the heroin and 

illicit fentanyl issue both here and abroad. The Drug Enforcement Administration 

and other agencies have co-located Special Agents with international partners in 

Mexico and throughout Latin America to assist in criminal investigations targeting 

drug trafficking organizations, and to help their international counterparts develop 

their capacity to conduct the full range of narcotics interdiction activities within 

their countries to target both heroin and illicit fentanyl. Our Federal law enforcement agencies, in conjunction with the Department of State, are working with the 

countries who supply illicit fentanyl and the precursor chemicals used in its manufacture to stem the flow of these dangerous chemicals to the Western Hemisphere. 

Interagency Partnerships. Our ability to bring together, contextualize, and synchronize the strategies and partnerships currently taking place at the Federal, 

state, local, and tribal levels to reduce the availability of heroin in the United States 

is critical to our overall efforts. The urgent need to sustain progress toward addressing the heroin crisis, combined with the expanding and dynamic nature of the problem itself, requires increased collaboration among Federal agencies, and with our 

partners working at the state, local and tribal level where the crisis is felt most 

deeply and where there is an enormous amount of energy and innovation. This cooperation will allow for greater situational awareness to provide more comprehensive understanding of expected changes in the domestic environment related to 

interagency heroin/illicit fentanyl supply reduction efforts. 

The ONDCP funded High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program is 

a locally-based program that responds to the drug trafficking issues facing specific 

areas of the country. Law enforcement agencies at all levels of government share 

information and implement coordinated enforcement activities; enhance intelligence 

sharing among Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies; provide reliable intelligence to law enforcement agencies to develop effective enforcement 

strategies and operations; and support coordinated law enforcement strategies to 

maximize available resources and reduce the supply of illegal drugs in designated 

areas. In August 2015, ONDCP committed $2.5 million in HIDTA funds to develop 

a strategy to respond to the heroin crisis in the United States. This unprecedented 

project combines prevention, education, intelligence, and enforcement resources to 

address the heroin threat across 17 states and the District of Columbia. The effort 

is carried out through a unique partnership of seven regional HIDTAs—Appalachia, 

Michigan, New England, New York/New Jersey, Ohio, Philadelphia/Camden, and 

Washington/Baltimore. The HIDTA heroin response strategy will foster a collaborative network of public health-public safety partnerships, sharing best practices, innovative pilots, and identifying new opportunities to leverage resources. 

Along our Southwest border, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) continues 

to detect and interdict illicit narcotics entering the United States. CBP reports seizVerDate Mar 15 2010 08:15 Mar 20, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00048 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6621 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\2016 HEARINGS -- WORKING\HEROIN - 5 26\28-7

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ing 1,121,411 kilograms of illegal drugs in 2015. Of that amount, CBP seized 2,745 

kilograms of heroin, 25 percent more than CBP seized in 2014. 

The Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces 

(OCDETF) partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security 

Investigations, and the Drug Enforcement Administration target, disrupt, and dismantle international drug trafficking organizations that manufacture, transport, 

and distribute heroin and illicit fentanyl destined for and distributed across the 

United States. In addition, OCDETF’s National Heroin Initiative, launched in December 2014, seeks to coordinate innovative regional approaches that improve information sharing and data collection to support multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional enforcement actions. 

CHALLENGES

While we have worked tirelessly to address the heroin crisis and have laid a firm 

foundation for future efforts, much remains to be done. We have gaps in our capability to detect illicit fentanyl at our borders and in our air freight package locations, and our Mexican partners could certainly do more to strategically dismantle 

criminal organizations and conduct opium poppy eradication and clandestine laboratory identification and neutralization. 

We are working to close information gaps. Although it is abundantly clear that 

the number of overdose deaths involving illicit fentanyl nationwide has increased 

dramatically, it is likely that the overdose numbers underreport the actual number 

of deaths due to heroin and illicit fentanyl. The ability to detect illicit fentanyl in 

overdose victims, and the standard inclusion of illicit fentanyl in overdose death 

toxicology screening, varies widely among localities. This likely results in the undercounting of heroin and illicit fentanyl-related deaths and actual numbers of heroinrelated overdoses are probably much higher. In localities where detailed toxicology 

screening is performed, information suggests higher numbers of illicit fentanyl-related overdose. 

We look forward to working with our Federal and state government partners, as 

well as our international counterparts, to address these problem areas. 

CONCLUSION

We cannot forget that the epidemic of opioid use and overdose deaths is fundamentally a public health problem that is exploited by criminal organizations, and 

addressing it adequately requires substance use prevention and treatment strategies 

and recovery support services. Law enforcement officials are increasingly becoming 

public health partners, linking individuals with opioid use disorder to treatment. For this reason, in the FY 2017 budget President Obama proposed $1 billion in 

new mandatory funding over two years to expand the availability of opioid use disorder services, target areas of highest need, and allow states to implement evidencebased strategies that best meet local needs, such as medication-assisted treatment 

and expansion of the availability of substance abuse treatment providers (through 

enhanced loan repayment for healthcare providers that offer medication-assisted 

treatment). Such efforts will help individuals seek treatment, successfully complete 

treatment, and sustain recovery. 

ONDCP will continue to work with our Federal government departments and 

agencies, partners at the state, local and tribal levels, and international counterparts to reduce heroin and illicit fentanyl production and trafficking and to combat 

the profound effect these dangerous drugs are having in our communities. 

Thank you for affording me the opportunity to testify today and for your commitment to this important issue. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF TERESA JACOBS, MAYOR OF ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA

Chairman Rubio, Ranking Member Boxer, members of the committee, thank you 

for calling this important hearing, and for allowing me to share a local perspective 

on the terrible threat that heroin poses for cities and counties throughout our country. 

First a bit about Orange County: We’re home to the City of Orlando and 12 other 

municipalities, with a population of 1.2 million people, a strong economy and an exceptional quality of life. In 2015, we shattered national tourism records, hosting 

more than 66 million visitors. 

No doubt you know us as the vacation capital of the world, but tragically, like 

too many other states and communities, Orange County has seen an alarming increase in the number of heroin overdoses and related deaths. Last year, we lost 85 


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lives to heroin—a staggering 600% increase since 2011. Already this year we’ve had 

more than 90 heroin overdoses in the county, with about one-in-ten resulting in 

death. 

Florida’s fight against this current wave of opioid addiction began about five years 

ago, in the midst of our battle against the pill mills. 

You may remember the shocking statistics from 2010, when it was discovered that 

Florida practitioners purchased more than 41 million oxycodone pills in the first six 

months of that year—more than the other 49 states of the union combined. 

Like countless cities, towns and counties across the U.S., we worked to outlaw unauthorized pain clinics and provide resources for breaking opioid addiction. 

In Florida, the pill mill ‘‘legacy’’ has impacted us beyond measure. I can’t prove 

it, but I think it’s very likely that cartels took notice of what they perceived to be 

a ripe ‘‘marketplace.’’ Today, predatory drug dealers are targeting us with heroin, 

as well as cheap and deadly strains of fentanyl. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible 

to accurately assess the threat in Florida, since no statewide databases exist. Instead, numbers are captured by individual agencies and municipalities—there is 

simply no mechanism for synergy or sharing. 

What we do know? We know that last year, approximately 2,000 heroin users 

moved through our Orange County jail. Many of those were arrested not for heroin 

possession, but for other offenses related to heroin addiction. 

We know that in 2015, we housed 100 expectant mothers tragically addicted to 

opiates or heroin, as our Jail has become the treatment center of last resort for so 

many people. 

For the good of our citizens and our community, we are fighting back. 

Last summer I convened the Orange County Heroin Task Force, and asked our 

sheriff to Co-Chair the effort. Our joint work is having a positive impact, including 

passage in the 2016 Florida Legislature of a measure allowing Naloxone sales without an individual prescription. 

We know there is no single solution, but there are some universally effective approaches: 

• Enforcement is critical. In a world of increasingly sophisticated technology, our 

local efforts—no matter how highly leveraged and coordinated—are simply no 

match against organized traffickers. 

• Equally important, and in keeping with what we learned with pill mills, we 

must be tireless in educating people that addiction is an illness. An illness that 

requires treatment and support not only for the addict, but also for the families 

who are ravaged by addiction. 

In closing, I respectfully ask for your help: 

• Help to stop the influx of drugs across the border. We’ve got our hands full at 

the local level, and are simply not equipped to fight the cartels. This is where 

we really need your help—to stop these deadly drugs before they cross our borders. 

• Help to treat more addicts. With a regional population of 2.5 million, we have 

one Addictions Receiving Facility with 26 detox beds serving four counties for 

the uninsured. 

• Help to raise awareness so more people will choose not to try this deadly drug 

in the first place. 

To end this crisis and save lives, we all need to be engaged. Thank you for your 

attention to this critical issue and thank you for your leadership and your service. 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF STEVEN DUDLEY, CO-DIRECTOR, INSIGHT CRIME

Chairman Rubio, Ranking Member Boxer, and members of the subcommittee: I 

am grateful for the opportunity to appear before you on behalf of InSight Crime and 

the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University to discuss 

the criminal dynamics connected to the illegal opiate market, specifically the heroin 

market in the United States related to poppy production in Mexico. 

MEXICO’S INCREASED MARKET SHARE

U.S. consumption of heroin has increased significantly in the last few years. The 

reasons for this are complex but have to do with the increase of prescription drugs 

in the United States, a rise in prices of these prescription drugs and their black 


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1 Beau Kilmer, et al., ‘‘How Big is the U.S. Market for Illegal Drugs,’’ Rand Corporation 

(2014). 2 Ibid. 

3Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), ‘‘National Drug Threat Assessment 2015,’’ p. 34. 

4The United Nations’ most recent estimate for global heroin production is 526 tons. See: 

UNODC, ‘‘World Drug Report 2015,’’ p. 41. Av. 5Michelle Garcia, ‘‘Court Docs Raise Questions about Mexico Sinaloa Cartel Narrative,’’ 12 

November 2013. 

market counterparts, and the subsequent safeguards on this prescription medicine 

market, specifically OxyContin. 

The U.S. portion of the world heroin market is small by comparison in terms of 

users, but outsized in terms of potential earnings. The Rand Corporation estimated 

in 2014, that U.S. consumers spend as much as $27 billion on heroin each year, an 

increase from $20 billion per year in 2000.1 Only the marijuana market is worth 

more in the U.S.2

Mexican, Guatemalan and Colombian criminal organizations have reacted to these 

changes by producing more heroin. Only a small percentage of the world’s opium 

poppy is cultivated in this hemisphere, but after it is processed into heroin, almost 

all of it is sold in the United States where the number of consumers for the drug 

has more than doubled since the early 2000s. 

Mexico accounts for the bulk of poppy production in the region. According to estimates by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the production of poppy, the 

raw ingredient for the production of heroin, increased from 10,500 hectares in 2012 

to 17,000 hectares in 2014, giving the groups the potential to produce 42 metric 

tons, up from 26 metric tons in 2012.3 By comparison, the DEA says Colombia produces only two metric tons per year.4

Seizure data of heroin along the southwest border also indicate that Mexican 

criminal groups are moving increasing amounts of heroin into the U.S. market. 

Mexican criminal organizations are also the key transporters of Colombian heroin 

to the United States, and they manage and purchase the heroin produced in Guatemala or buy the opium gum wholesale to process it into heroin themselves in Mexico. 

Inside the U.S., the trend appears to be the same. The DEA says that Mexican 

groups are seeking an increasing amount of the market share in the distribution 

business itself, displacing other wholesalers. In sum, the picture is one of an increasingly lucrative, vertically integrated market, with large Mexican criminal organizations managing the product from the point of production to the point of sale and 

seeking a greater market share of these sales. 

THE REALITY OF THE HEROIN SUPPLY CHAIN

The reality of the supply chain is much more complex. While it helps us to use 

well-worn monikers when talking about these organizations, the truth is that they 

are not nearly as strong or monolithic as they once were. Names such as the Tijuana Cartel, the Jua ́ rez Cartel, the Zetas, or La Familia Michoacana may still 

evoke fear and sometimes awe, but they are not organizations as much as brand 

names. In many cases, the individual parts of the organization have as much contact with the bosses as a local Coca-Cola bottling plant manager might have with 

corporate headquarters. 

Even the vaunted Sinaloa Cartel is more horizontally than vertically integrated. 

Take the recent case of the Flores brothers in Chicago. Before they were arrested, 

Pedro and Margarito Flores were said to be Sinaloa Cartel distributors in Chicago, 

one of the areas of greatest interest to this subcommittee. And they were. But as 

federal intercepts of their conversations with cartel leaders show, the two brothers 

negotiated independently with each of the top two members of the Sinaloa criminal 

organization, obtaining different prices with different leaders and managing shipments separately.5 Even after a war started between the Sinaloa Cartel and the 

Beltra ́n Leyva Organization, the Flores brothers continued to purchase drugs from 

portions of the Beltra ́n Leyva Organization and the Sinaloa Cartel. 

The Flores case cuts at two different myths about the Sinaloa Cartel: 1) that this 

is one single organization; 2) that it is tightly controlled by a single leader or a single group of leaders. The point is that as shipments get further and further from 

Mexico’s wholesale points, the loyalties become more disperse, and in some cases 

completely disappear. This is especially true in the U.S. market where violence is 

not a viable long-term option to ensure loyalty, win market share or become a monopoly. 

The effectiveness of U.S. law enforcement has made violence terrible for business 

and made the distribution chain a more democratic, capitalist affair. This is evident 


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6DEA, op. cit., p. 37. 

7 Ibid. 

8Kilmer, et. al., ‘‘Reducing Drug Trafficking Revenues and Violence in Mexico: Would Legalizing Marijuana in California Help?,’’ Rand Corporation (2010), p. 30. 9 Alejandro Hope, ‘‘The Laredo DTO and what it says about the heroin trade,’’ 19 April 2016. 

10 Elyssa Pachico, ‘‘Four Questions about the ’5th Bus’ in Case of Mexico’s Missing 43,’’ 27 

April 2016. 11 UNODC, op. cit., p. 46. 

in other ways as well. While the amount of seizures indicates that there is more 

heroin available in the United States, it is still moved in very small quantities. The 

median seizure for the Los Angeles Field Division of the DEA in 2014, for example, 

was a kilogram.6 In Denver, a 10 to 12 pound shipment is considered large.7

The amount of profits reaped by these Mexican criminal organizations also raises 

questions about how much control they exert in the United States. The Rand Corporation estimated in 2010 that Mexican criminal groups earn in the range of $400 

million per year from their heroin exports and possibly another $700 million for 

transporting Colombian heroin to the U.S. market.8 While this has undoubtedly in- creased, there is still the question of where the rest of the over $20 billion spent 

on heroin in the U.S. annually goes. 

The case of the Laredo brothers, recently indicted in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, is indicative of these trends. The Laredo brothers are charged with moving 

one ton of heroin over a six-year period. This is about 14 kilos per month. The organization was so subtle and, as one Mexican analyst put it, ‘‘mom-and-pop,’’ the Mexican authorities did not even know it existed.9

This brings us to Mexico. First, it is important to note that, unlike the cocaine 

market, Mexico is not dependent on other countries for its product. It is home 

grown. Second, the horizontal nature of the distribution chain makes it a difficult 

law enforcement problem in that country as well. As noted, the once monolithic 

criminal organizations are shells of what they once were. This is in part due to infighting of the type mentioned earlier but also Mexican law enforcement efforts. 

Many of the fragmented pieces have formed their own criminal operations and 

brand names. 

The most well-known is arguably the Guerreros Unidos, the criminal group held 

responsible for the disappearance of the 43 students in Mexico in 2014. The Guerreros Unidos used to be under the umbrella of the Beltra ́n Leyva Organization. 

When the Beltra ́n Leyva Organization fell to pieces during their war with the 

Sinaloa Cartel, the Guerreros Unidos became independent, as did several other 

criminal groups in the embattled state of Guerrero, which is one of the centers of 

opium cultivation, heroin production, wholesale and transport. Indeed, the mystery 

of what happened to those students, may hinge on whether the Guerreros Unidos 

were using commercial buses to move heroin to Chicago.10

The upshot is that the chain of production in Mexico is broken into numerous 

pieces, including small and large producers of opium poppy plants, the opium gum 

producers, the processors, the wholesale purchasers, and the transporters. Production, transport and distribution may all be different organizations. The Laredo 

brothers, for example, were purchasing opium gum from an independent broker 

then processing it themselves and distributing it in those small quantities in the 

U.S. for years without running into trouble with the large, supposedly all-controlling 

Sinaloa Cartel. 

To be sure, violence is still a viable option in Mexico, so the pendulum may swing 

back towards more monolithic criminal organizations. But for the moment, the reality is that there are literally dozens of small criminal organizations involved in 

this trade from the point of production to the point of sale. 

IMPACT ON LAW ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS

In sum, while the level of control that the Mexican production and transport 

groups exert over the supply chain is clear, we are not talking about one or two 

criminal groups, but dozens of interlocking organizations whose alliances are constantly shifting. The heroin supply chain appears to be a largely horizontal, diversified operation with multiple actors, and one that is obedient to market forces rather 

than one or two single vertically integrated distributors. 

The result is that law enforcement efforts are largely muted. Whether you debilitate the Sinaloa Cartel or the Laredo brothers, you are hindering a small part of 

the overall production and distribution chain. Even if you did slow the heroin from 

Mexico, you would face an insurmountable task: stopping the flow from other countries, which would undoubtedly fill the void and account for the bulk of world-wide 

production. Canada already gets up to 90 percent of its heroin from Afghanistan.11


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1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online], (2014). 2 Rose A. Rudd, Noah Aleshire, Jon E. Zibbell, R. Matthew Gladden. Increases in Drug and 

Opioid Overdose Deaths—United States, 2000–2014 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 

2016;64:1378–1382. 

And the United States once got all of its heroin from the Asian markets that supply 

the rest of the world. 

Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to your questions. 

STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD SUBMITTED BY JACK RILEY, ACTING DEPUTY

ADMINISTRATOR, DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION

INTRODUCTION

Chairman Rubio, Ranking Member Boxer, and members of the subcommittee, on 

behalf of the approximately 9,000 employees of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), thank you for the opportunity to discuss the issue of Cartels, the U.S. 

heroin epidemic, and DEA’s response to combating the drug violence and public 

health crisis. 

Today, Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group can challenge them 

in the near term. These Mexican poly-drug organizations traffic heroin, illicit 

fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana throughout the United States, 

using established transportation routes and distribution networks. They control 

drug trafficking across the Southwest border (SWB) and are moving to expand their 

share of U.S. illicit drug markets, particularly heroin markets. 

National-level gangs and neighborhood gangs continue to form and expand relationships with Mexican TCOs. Many gangs rely on Mexican TCOs as their primary 

drug supply source, and Mexican TCOs depend on street-level gangs, many of which 

already have a customer base, for drug distribution. Additionally, gangs profit 

through drug transportation activities, enforcement of drug payments, and by securing drug transportation corridors from use by rival gangs. 

Mexican TCOs exploit a user population struggling with the disease of addiction. 

Drug overdoses are the leading cause of injury-related death in the United States, 

eclipsing deaths from motor vehicle crashes or firearms.1 There were over 47,000 

overdose deaths in 2014, or approximately 129 per day, over half (61 percent) of 

which involved either a prescription opioid or heroin.2 These are our family members, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. 

The DEA’s focus is targeting the most significant, sophisticated, and violent trafficking organizations that profit from exploiting persons with substance use disorders. DEA’s strategic priorities include targeting Mexican Consolidated Priority 

Organization Targets (CPOTs) and Priority Target Organizations (PTOs), which are 

the most significant international and domestic drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. 

CURRENT ASSESSMENT OF THE THREAT

Based on active law enforcement cases, the following Mexican TCOs are operating 

in the United States: the Sinaloa Cartel, Beltra ́n-Leyva Organization (BLO), New 

Generation Jalisco Cartel (Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacio ́n or CJNG), Los 

Cuinis, Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo or CDG), Juarez Cartel Michoaca ́n Family (La 

Familia Michoaca ́na or LFM), Knights Templar (Los Caballeros Templarios or LCT), 

and Los Zetas. While all of these Mexican TCOs transport wholesale quantities of 

illicit drugs into the United States, the Sinaloa Cartel remains the most active supplier. The Sinaloa Cartel leverages its expansive resources and organizational structure in Mexico to facilitate the smuggling and transportation of drugs throughout 

the United States. 

Mexican TCO operations in the United States typically take the form of a supply 

chain system that relies on compartmentalized operators who are only aware of 

their own specific function, and remain largely unaware of other operational aspects. In most instances, transporters for the drug shipments are independent third 

parties who work for more than one Mexican TCO. Since operators in the supply 

chain are insulated from one another, if a transporter is arrested the transporter 

is easily replaced and unable to reveal the rest of the network to law enforcement. 

Mexican TCOs in the United States utilize a network of extended family and 

friends to conduct their operations. Families affiliated with various Mexican TCOs 


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3Drug Enforcement Administration, Unclassified Summary, 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment, Pg. 35. 4 Centers for Disease Control, Emergency Response Safety and Health Database, FENTANYL: 

Incapacitating Agent, accessed March 19, 2015; U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement 

Administration, Office of Diversion Control, Drug & Chemical Evaluation Section, Fentanyl, 

March 2015. 

in Mexico vouch for U.S.-based relatives or friends that are deemed trustworthy to 

run various aspects of the drug trafficking operations in the United States. Actual 

members of Mexican TCOs are usually sent to important U.S. hub cities to manage 

stash houses containing drug shipments and bulk cash drug proceeds. While operating in the United States, Mexican TCOs actively seek to maintain low profiles and 

avoid violent confrontations between rival TCOs or U.S. law enforcement. 

Mexican TCOs transport illicit drugs over the SWB through ports of entry using 

passenger vehicles or tractor trailers. Illicit drugs are typically secreted in hidden 

compartments when transported in passenger vehicles or comingled with legitimate 

goods when transported in tractor trailers. Once across the SWB, Mexican TCOs 

will initially utilize stash houses in a number of hub cities to include Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Phoenix. The illicit products will then be transported 

via these same conveyances to distribution groups in the Midwest and on the East 

Coast. Mexican TCOs also smuggle illicit drugs across the SWB using other methods 

including tunnels, maritime conveyances, and aircraft. 

HEROIN AVAILABILITY TO THE U.S. MARKET

There are four major heroin-producing areas in the world, but heroin bound for 

the U.S. market originates predominantly from Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Colombia. The heroin market in the United States has been historically divided along 

the Mississippi River, with western markets using Mexican black tar and brown 

powder heroin, and eastern markets using white powder, which over the last two 

decades has been sourced primarily from Colombia. The largest, most lucrative heroin markets in the United States are the white powder markets in major East Coast 

cities: New York City and the surrounding metropolitan areas, Philadelphia, Boston 

and its surrounding cities, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, as well as Chicago. Given 

the growing number of individuals with an opioid use disorder in the United States, 

Mexican TCOs have seized upon a business opportunity to increase their profits. 

Mexican TCOs are now competing for the East Coast and Mid-Atlantic markets by 

introducing Mexican brown/black tar heroin, as well as by developing new techniques to produce highly refined white powder heroin. 

Poppy cultivation in Mexico increased 160 percent between 2013 and 2015, resulting in an estimated 70 metric tons of potential heroin. Cultivation in Mexico is located primarily in the state of Guerrero and the Mexican ‘‘Golden Triangle’’ which 

includes the states of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Durango. The increased cultivation 

and trafficking from Mexico to the United States impacts both of our nations by supporting the escalation of heroin use in the United States, as well as the instability 

and violence associated with drug trafficking in Mexico. 

The majority of Mexican and Colombian heroin bound for the United States is 

smuggled into the United States via the SWB, and heroin seizures at the border 

have more than doubled, from 1,016 kilograms in 2010 to 2,524 kilograms in 2015.3

During this time, the average seizure at the Border also increased from 2.0 kilograms to 3.5 kilograms. Most heroin smuggled across the border is transported in 

privately-owned vehicles, usually through California, as well as through south 

Texas. In 2014, more than half of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) heroin 

seizures at the SWB were in the southern California corridors of San Diego and El 

Centro. The distribution cells, and the Mexican and South American traffickers who 

supply them, are the main sources of heroin in the United States today. In Mexico, 

the threat of these organizations is magnified by the high level of violence associated with their attempts to control and expand drug distribution operations. 

DEA has become increasingly alarmed over the addition of fentanyl into heroin 

sold on the streets as well as the use of fentanyl analogues such as acetyl fentanyl. 

The more potent opioids like fentanyl4 present a serious risk of overdose death for 

a user. In addition, this drug can be absorbed by the skin or inhaled, which makes 

it particularly dangerous for law enforcement, public safety, or health care personnel who encounter the substance during the course of their daily operations. On 

March 18, 2015, DEA issued a nationwide alert to all U.S. law enforcement officials 

about the dangers of illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogues and related compounds. 

In addition, due to a recent spike in overdose deaths related to the use of acetyl 


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fentanyl, on July 17, 2015, DEA used its emergency scheduling authority to place 

acetyl fentanyl in Schedule I of the CSA. 

DEA RESPONSE TO THE HEROIN THREAT

DEA’S 360 Strategy 

DEA is rolling out the 360 Strategy to address the opioid, heroin, and violent 

crime crisis. The strategy leverages existing federal, state, and local partnerships 

to address the problem on three different fronts: law enforcement, diversion control, 

and community relations. The strategy is founded upon our continued enforcement 

activities directed at the violent street gangs responsible for feeding the heroin and 

prescription drug abuse epidemic in our communities. 

While law enforcement plays a central role in the 360 Strategy, enforcement actions alone are not enough to make lasting changes in our communities. The 360 

Strategy, therefore, also focuses on preventing diversion by providing education and 

training within the pharmaceutical community and to pursue those practitioners 

who are operating outside of the law. The final component of the strategy is a community effort designed to maximize all available resources to help communities turn 

around the recurring problems that have historically allowed the drug and violent 

crime problems to resurface after enforcement operations. 

Additional Resources in Fiscal Year 2017 

DEA plays an important part in the U.S. government’s drug control strategy that 

includes enforcement, treatment, and prevention. While there are complex issues affecting spikes in heroin use and overdoses, including prescription drug abuse, the 

same significant poly-drug trafficking organizations responsible for other illicit drug 

threats are also responsible for the vast majority of the heroin supply. Additionally, 

drug trafficking has a proven linkage to gangs and other violent criminal organizations. The FY 2017 President’s Budget request provides $12.5 million and 42 positions, including 32 special agents, to create new enforcement groups in DEA domestic field divisions. 

Heroin Task Force 

As directed by Congress, the Department of Justice joined with the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to develop strategies to confront the heroin 

problem and curtail the escalating overdose epidemic and death rates. DEA and 

more than 28 Federal agencies and their components participated in this initiative. 

The task force provided its Report to Congress on December 31, 2015. 

International Enforcement: Sensitive Investigative Units 

DEA’s Sensitive Investigative Units (SIU) program, nine of which are in the Western Hemisphere, helps build effective and vetted host nation units capable of conducting complex investigations targeting major TCOs. DEA, with funding support 

from the Department of State, currently mentors and supports 13 SIUs, which are 

staffed by over 900 foreign counterparts. The success of this program has enhanced 

DEA’s ability to fight drug trafficking on a global scale. 

International Enforcement: Bilateral Investigations Units 

Bilateral Investigations Units (BIUs) are one of DEA’s most important tools for 

targeting, disrupting, and dismantling significant TCOs. The BIUs have used 

extraterritorial authorities to infiltrate, indict, arrest, and convict previously ‘‘untouchable’’ TCO leaders involved in drug trafficking. 

Special Operations Division 

Established in 1994, the Special Operations Division (SOD) is a DEA-led multiagency operations coordination center with participation from Federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and international law enforcement partners. SOD’s mission is to establish strategies and operations to dismantle national and international trafficking organizations by attacking their command and control communications. Special emphasis is placed on those 

major drug trafficking and narco-terrorism organizations that operate across jurisdictional boundaries on a regional, national, and international level. 

El Paso Intelligence Center 

The El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) is a national intelligence center focused 

on supporting law enforcement efforts in the Western Hemisphere with a significant 

emphasis on the SWB. Through its 24-hour watch function, EPIC provides law enforcement officers, investigators, and analysts immediate access to participating 

agencies’ databases. This function is critical in the dissemination of relevant information in support of tactical and investigative agencies, deconfliction, and officer 


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safety. EPIC also provides significant tactical, operational, and strategic intelligence 

support to state and local law enforcement agencies, especially in the areas of clandestine laboratory investigations and highway interdiction. 

Cooperation with Mexico 

The DEA’s presence in Mexico represents our largest international footprint. The 

ability to have DEA Special Agents assigned to 11 different offices throughout Mexico is a reflection of the level of cooperation that we continue to enjoy with our Mexican counterparts. DEA supports bi-lateral investigations with the Government of 

Mexico by providing information and intelligence to develop investigations that target leaders of TCOs throughout Mexico. 

We view our working relationship with the Mexican Authorities as strong, and 

getting stronger. In 2014, Mexican law enforcement officials arrested cartel leaders 

Hector Beltra ́n-Leyva, Servando Gomez-Martinez, and Omar Trevino Morales. 

These actions represent significant successes for both the United States and Mexico 

in our shared struggle against TCOs. The arrests struck at the heart of the leadership structure of the Knights Templar Cartel, the Beltra ́n-Leyva Organization, and 

the Los Zetas Cartel; and highlight the continuing cooperation between Mexican and 

U.S. law enforcement. The United States and Mexico have established a strong and 

successful security partnership in the last decade and, to that end, the U.S. government stands ready to work with our Mexican partners to provide any assistance, 

as requested, to build upon these successes. 

CONCLUSION

Mexican TCOs remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States. 

These Mexican poly-drug organizations traffic heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, 

and marijuana throughout the United States, using established transportation 

routes and distribution networks. They control drug trafficking across the SWB and 

are moving to expand their share of U.S. illicit drug markets. Their influence up 

and down the supply chain, their ability to enter into new markets, and associations 

with domestic gangs are of particular concern for the DEA. DEA will continue to 

address this threat domestically and abroad by attacking the crime and violence 

perpetrated by the Mexican-based TCOs which inflict tremendous harm to our communities. 

Æ 


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