This audio and video web link has a lot to offer, including a photo essay of what it is like to search for drugs at the U.S.-Mexico border.

[U.S.] Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs 

http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/fs/2001/may/2975.htm

Under the Department of State, this official U.S. government bureau is a great source for information on the World Wide Web for narcotics control, trafficking activities, and counter-narcotics programs. The site contains Narcotics Control Reports, information on the Narcotics Rewards Program and Country Programs, Fact Sheets, Press Releases, Op-eds and Articles, and Other Reports. The web site has links to country programs, narcotics control, crime control, bureau releases, as well as an archive dating from 1997. Includes a profile on Mexico’s drug situation.

[U.S.] Drug Enforcement Administration

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/

A searchable web database that contains intelligence reports, congressional testimony, news articles. Includes a section on Major Operations that details the successful drug enforcement programs the DEA has conducted each year. Has  excellent reports on the drug trade, including: "Drug Trafficking in the United States" (includes trafficking of Mexican criminal organizations); "The Mexican Heroin Trade," and "Mexican Marijuana in the United States - September 1999." As web information is constantly changing, these publications may be updated or removed from the DEA web site in the future.

Frontline: Thirty Years of America’s Drug War: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/

A good historical overview of the modern war on drugs, including major legal developments with Mexico, including the 1984 "Bust of the Century" involving Mexico’s sophisticated marijuana smuggling industry. Also includes an interview with "Steve," a Mexican national born in Tijuana but lives in California who is a lawyer for the kingpin drug smugglers of Mexico and South America. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/interviews/steve.html

GLIN: Global Legal Information Network (U.S. Law Library of Congress) 

http://www.loc.gov/law/glin/GLINv1/

Offers 5,536 searchable English-language abstracts of laws, decrees and regulations issued from December 1944 to the present. Legal instruments include those approving international treaties and conventions. Excellent, authoritative links to Mexican laws in Spanish from GLIN are at http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/mexico.html

Internet Law Library (Mexico)

http://www.priweb.com/internetlawlib/74.htm

Good place to go for Mexican laws – Constitution, Constitutional revisions, Civil Code and other laws (some searchable), and most always in Spanish. Has treaties, State Department reports, and position papers. 

Legislación Federal de México

http://www.cddhcu.gob.mx/leyinfo/

For the Mexican Penal Code and other codes online (in Spanish)

Mexican Criminal Code
Ley of 6 November 1996 (federal law on organized crime, including terrorism, arms, trafficking, etc.) In Diario oficial 7 November 1996. Full text of 1996 law and regulations available in Spanish with English summary to Associate Members of GLIN (The Law Library of Congress’ Global Legal Information Network), at <http://lcweb2.loc.gov/law/GLINv1/GLIN.html> Only Associate Members have access to more than introductory data. [Taken from Reynolds & Flores, Foreign Law: Current Sources of Codes and Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World, vol. I-A (Western Hemisphere), Rothman & Co, 1997.]

Mexico-US Cross-Border Webliography
http://home.att.net/~slomansonb/Mex_USWebliog.html
Compiled for Thomas Jefferson School of Law (San Diego), Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (Tijuana), and Center for University of California Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies (La Jolla) conference: Cross-Border Urban Integration in the 21st Century: The San Diego-Tijuana Model [Reprinted from Volume 23 of the.Thomas Jefferson Law Review 5-14 (Fall, 2000).] Incredibly helpful compilation of web resources for U.S.-Mexico border issues, especially in the San Diego local area.

National Public Radio’s Special Coverage

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/drugwars/atccoverage.html

The popular NPR program All Things Considered broadcasts about the drug wars. Site includes "The Mexican Connection" -- "The battlegrounds are along the U.S. - Mexican border, where the drug smuggling traffic has increased since the 1980's. That's when a law enforcement effort to move Colombian traffickers out of south Florida caused smugglers to set up routes in Mexico instead."

[U.S.] Office of National Drug Control Policy

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), a component of the Executive Office of the President, was established by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. The principal purpose of ONDCP is to establish policies, priorities, and objectives for the Nation's drug control program. The goals of the program are to reduce illicit drug use, manufacturing, and trafficking, drug-related crime and violence, and drug-related health consequences. To achieve these goals, the Director of ONDCP is charged with producing the National Drug Control Strategy. The web site has a has a searchable database for documents related to the U.S.-Mexico border (e.g., federal bills, testimony before Congress, speeches, initiatives, etc.); Spanish version of the Strategy, a Bilateral Cooperation with Mexico Fact Sheet, and a great overview of the Southwest Border Initiative at http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/enforce/swborder.html that contains complete text of publications and the following list of related links:

Border Research and Technology Center (BRTC)

http://www.nlectc.org/brtc/

BRIC is located in San Diego, California a nd works with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Customs Service, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the U.S. Attorney offices, and law enforcement agencies to strengthen technology capabilities and awareness on the Nation's borders.

INS Law Enforcement and Border Management

http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/lawenfor/index.htm

This site contains information on INS's Border Management units including Border Patrol, Intelligence, and Investigations.

State and Local Section of the ONDCP

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/statelocal/index.html

This section provides drug-related information on the Southwest Border States, including California and San Diego, with Drug Indicator Profiles that include statistics on drug crimes, detainees testing positive for drug use, high school student drug use, amount of trafficking and drug seizures.

Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/hidta/frames_sw.html

The mission of this HIDTA is to reduce drug smuggling along the southwest border. The California Border Alliance Group (CBAG) was designated in 1990 as one of the five partnerships of the Southwest Border HIDTA. The area of responsibility extends from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Orange and Riverside County lines, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Arizona border.

The DEA's Southwest Border Initiative (SWBI)

http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/programs/sbi.htm

SWBI is a cooperative effort by federal law enforcement agencies to combat the substantial threat posed by Mexico-based trafficking groups operating along the Southwest Border. SWBI has joined with bi-national task forces in Monterrey, Juarez, and Tijuana in several DEA operations. Specifically, Operation Zorro II, Operation Reciprocity, and Operation Limelight each relied extensively on numerous court-ordered wire- taps that were coordinated and monitored by law enforcement officers operating under the SWBI. Collectively, these three operations resulted in the arrest of 156 individuals and the seizure of over 22,000 kilos of illegal drugs and $35 million.

The United States/Mexico Border Counties Coalition

http://www.bordercounties.com/

The Coalition is a nonpartisan, consensus-based policy and technical forum to address challenges facing county governments located on the United States/Mexico Border.

U.S. Customs Service
http://www.customs.treas.gov/

The United States Customs Service is the primary enforcement agency protecting the Nation’s borders. Has a lot of drug seizure statistics by year and type of drug at: http://www.customs.treas.gov/enforcem/enforcem.htm

U.S.-Mexico Border Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (Border CAPT)
http://www.bordercapt.org/english/default.htm

The mission of this organization is to increase the availability and application of science-based substance abuse prevention knowledge to the Southwest border region. Primary customers are U.S. and Mexican prevention providers.

OAS CICAD Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission
http://www.cicad.oas.org/en/Main/main.htm

In 1985, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) established the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), composed of the member states of the OAS. It has a great searchable database called the Inter-American Observatory on Drugs for Latin American countries including Mexico, multilateral agreements, and more which is an outstanding site on Mexican counterdrug activities, with documents, information on government programs, and recent legislation.

The Schaffer Library of Drug Policy

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/index.HTM

Has an extensive collection of online resources about drug abuse and trafficking studies, as well as policy statements. Has a decided viewpoint/bias, but the page called "Legal References on Drug Policy" contains good links to relevant international treaties, U.S. laws and regulations, state marijuana laws, and federal court decision on drugs organized decade by decade from 1900 to the present. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/legal/

UNESCO Discussion Paper No. 36  

Drug Trafficking in Mexico: A First General Assessment by Luis Astorga

Interesting discussion of the legality and prohibition of the Mexican drug trafficking world. Has a searchable database for documents related to the U.S.-Mexico border (e.g., federal bills, testimony before Congress, speeches, initiatives, etc.)

U.S. Border Control

http://www.usbc.org/

This is an organization independent of the United States government with a decidedly right wing political view of US-Mexico border issues like drug trafficking and immigration. Includes a section called Mexico Watch that has articles. Its "official publication," Border Alert  reviews and reports on the events affecting America's border and immigration policies, including articles on pending legislation; lobbying activity; polls and surveys; editorials; and letters from readers

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Internet: other government resources 

1. Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)
Establishes policies, priorities and objectives for the United States' drug control program, including policies on drug trafficking.
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov 

1a. Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA)
Under the ONDCP, seeks to reduce drug trafficking by developing regional systems resulting in coordination, interdiction, and prosecution efforts. The Southwest HIDTA concentrates on reducing drug smuggling along the southwest border.
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/hidta/frames_sw.html 

1b. Estimation of Heroin Availability, 1996-2000 (March 2002)
Shows the flow of heroin into the United States from its source(s). (Adobe Acrobat File - choose Heroin Availability)
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/

1c. Estimation of Cocaine Availability, 1996-2000 (March 2002)
Estimates cocaine availability at various points in the drug's flow, from its source to the United States. (Adobe Acrobat File - choose Cocaine Availability)
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/

1d. Selected Source Countries and Drug Transit Zones
Provides a snapshot of the global illegal drug trade in selected countries and regions. This link is the profile on Mexico, containing a fact sheet on recent U.S.-Mexico cooperation to combat illegal drug trafficking; a report from the DEA on heroin cultivation and trafficking; and a DEA intelligence brief on the marijuana trade.
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/international/mexico.html

2. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
Enforces controlled substances laws and regulations in the United States.
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea

2a. Drug Trafficking in the United States, September 2001
Includes information on drug production and U.S. sources of supply. Covers Cocaine, Heroin, Methamphetamine, Marijuana, Club drugs (MDMA, LSD, PCP, GHB/GBL, Flunitrazepam) and Steroids.
http://www.dea.gov/pubs/intel/01020/index.html

3. National Drug Intelligence Center
NDIC is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice and is the nation's principal center for strategic domestic counter drug intelligence.
http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic

3a. National Drug Threat Assessment 2002, December 2001
Includes information on drug production, distribution and U.S. sources of supply on all major drugs of abuse. (Adobe Acrobat file)
http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/products.htm

4. U.S. Department of State
The Department of State is the top U.S. foreign affairs agency responsible for developing and implementing the President's foreign policy.
http://www.state.gov

4a. Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL)
Within the Department of State, implements the U.S. foreign assistance program intended to help foreign governments prevent the production, trafficking, and abuse of illicit drugs.
http://www.state.gov/g/inl/narc

4b. International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (March 2002)
An overview of international drug production and trafficking around the world. Features information on how countries, from Argentina to Afghanistan, are involved in the drug trade, including information on the country's connection to cultivation and production of illicit substances.
http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2001/

4c. Policy and Program Developments 2000
Discusses the State Department's policy and programs, including information on how they combat sources of drug supply.
http://www.state.gov/g/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2000/886.htm

5. Central Intelligence Agency
The CIA is an independent agency, whose mission is to support the President, the National Security Council, and all officials who make and execute the U.S. national security policy. The CIA World Factbook: Illicit Drug Producers provides summaries of drug issues, drug statistics and information about specific drugs produced in various countries around the world. (Choose Mexico from pull-down menu.)
http://www.cia.gov/

6. United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention
The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) is a global leader in the fight against illicit drugs and international crime. Has a drug supply reduction component that attempts to reduce the drug supply in countries around the world and an overview of worldwide trends in illegal drug production, trafficking, and consumption.
http://www.odccp.org/odccp/index.html

7. Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD)
Special commission of the Organization of American States that works with member countries to develop and evaluate anti-drug strategies. In English and Spanish. Contains Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) National Reports 1999-2000 which gives an overview of the drug situation for each country in the Western Hemisphere, including issues related to drug supply.
http://www.cicad.oas.org/

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Last revised: 10/31/02