Increased drug trafficking activity in the North could create a demand for a greater law enforcement presence along the Northern Border. Law enforcement agencies in California, Montana, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington identify several Canadian cities as transshipment points for drugs, particularly heroin, high potency marijuana, and club drugs, smuggled into their areas. The DEA identifies Canada as a source of methamphetamine precursors to clandestine laboratory operators in the United States. Agencies in Maine, New York, North Dakota, and Washington identify Canadian cities as final destinations for cocaine transshipped through their areas. To Top To Contents Money Laundering .
Money laundering is intrinsic to the illicit drug trade.
The enormous revenues generated by the sale of illicit drugs pose a serious threat to the economic security of the United States. Traffickers use laundered drug proceeds to finance further drug operations, promote corruption, and fund insurgency and terrorist organizations. Mexican and Colombian drug trafficking organizations, the primary producers, transporters, and wholesalers of illegal drugs throughout the United States, earn billions of dollars from their drug trafficking activities and pose the greatest challenge to U.S. anti-money laundering efforts. Bulk currency and monetary instrument smuggling and money service businesses are the primary methods used to launder drug proceeds generated in the United States. Colombian traffickers also extensively use the Black Market Peso Exchange, a parallel banking system that is more effective, for their purposes, than the official banking system.