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I Cngressional Researh Service
hUform-na the legislative debate since 1914
S
August 1, 2019
Illicit Drug Flows and Seizures in the United States: In Focus
Policy discussions around issues such as border security,
drug trafficking, and the opioid epidemic include questions
about illicit drug flows into the United States. While there
are numerous data points involved in understanding the
trafficking of illicit drugs into the country, these data are
often estimated, incomplete, imperfect, or lack nuance. For
more information, see CRS Report R45812, Illicit Drug
Flows and Seizures in the United States: What Do We [Not]
Know?
Illicit Drug Supply Chain
At the top of the illicit drug supply chain (see Figure 1) is
the total production of illicit drugs around the world-both
plant-based (e.g., cocaine, heroin, and marijuana) and
synthetic (e.g., methamphetamine and fentanyl). Although
some are produced in the United States, many originate
elsewhere and are smuggled into the country. For plant-
based drugs, a variety of factors affect cultivation as well as
surveillance and measurement of crop yields. In addition,
not all illicit drug crops may be processed into illicit drugs.
For synthetic drugs, the supply chain begins in chemical
manufacturing and pharmaceutical facilities. Measuring the
stock of these drugs is affected by issues including the
availability and inconsistent regulation of precursor
chemicals and the proliferation of synthetic analogues, or
new psychoactive substances.
The next step in the supply chain of illicit drugs produced
abroad and destined for the United States is their transit
toward and into the country. Of the unknown total amount
of illicit drugs produced, some may be consumed in the
country of production, some may be destined for the United
States, and some may be intended for an alternate market.
Of those drugs intended to be moved to the United States,
some may become degraded or lost in transit, some may be
seized by law enforcement or otherwise destroyed or
jettisoned by traffickers pursued by enforcement officials,
and some reach the U.S. border.
Illicit Drugs Seized (or Not) at the
Border
As illicit drugs are brought to the U.S. border, they
generally fall into two initial categories: those that are
detected and seized by border enforcement officials and
those that are not. Those illicit drugs seized during inbound
inspections are generally quantifiable. The largely unknown
subset of drugs that enter the country without being seized
by officials during inbound inspections is divided into two
categories: those that are later detected and seized by
federal, state, local, or tribal officials, and those that are not.
Notably, illicit drugs not seized at the border enter the
country where there are also domestically produced drugs.
As such, drugs that are later seized by officials in the
United States may be of foreign or domestic origin.
The total amount of illicit drugs successfully smuggled
across the U.S. borders without being seized-at and
between land, air, and sea ports of entry (POEs)-is not
known with precision. However, there are data on the
amount and locations of illicit drugs seized by border
officials.
Figure I. Illicit Drug Supply and Seizure Points
Drugs' = illidt plant-based and synthetic drugs; LE =federal, state,
local, ortriba law enforcement.
Figure does not represent relative proportions of drugs at various points
in the supply chain.
Source: CRS representation of the general illicit drug supply chain
and seizure points.
Notes: The figure highlights drug seizure data that are used for
policy debates around border security; however, these are not the
only data policymakers rely upon in these discussions.
Border Seizure Data
While a number of federal, state, local, and tribal agencies
are involved in seizing illicit drugs in the border regions,
the primary agency charged with safeguarding the U.S.
border, including seizing illicit drugs and other contraband,
is U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Within CBP,
the Office of Field Operations (OFO) is responsible for
staffing POEs, and drugs seized by OFO are generally
seized at POEs. In addition, the Border Patrol is responsible
for patrolling the land borders with Mexico and Canada,
and the coastal waters surrounding Florida and Puerto Rico;
drugs seized by the Border Patrol are generally drugs seized
between POEs. CBP data indicate that larger quantities (by
weight) of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl
are seized at POEs than between the ports. Conversely, a
greater quantity of illicit foreign-produced marijuana is
seized between the ports.
CRS analysis of OFO drug seizure data from FY2014 to
FY2018 indicate that across those five years, about 65% of
seized illicit drugs (by weight) were confiscated at land
POEs. In addition, about 28% of seized drugs were
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