Drugs, Inc.: How California Became America’s Drug Hub
California has become the American headquarters for drug trafficking
This is an excerpt from my book, The Myth of California. If you want to read more about California’s transformation from rebellion to corporate control, make sure you’re subscribed to Atlantic Playbook.
“San Francisco Police Department officers have seized more than 123 kilograms of narcotics, including 80 kilograms of fentanyl, in the Tenderloin district as of 2023. This already surpasses the total amount of drugs seized in all of 2022.”
— San Francisco Police Department, August 4, 2023
California has become the American headquarters for drug trafficking.
The Department of Justice is clear: nearly all drugs smuggled into Southern California originate from Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). The list includes the Tijuana Cartel, Juarez Cartel, and Colima Cartel. These groups operate with impunity, using California as their main distribution node.
The Mexican Mafia (La Eme), a violent prison-based gang with fewer than 500 members, controls a large portion of the retail drug trade in Southern California. It governs through intimidation, taxes local street gangs, and even manages trafficking inside state prisons. One member testified to authorizing 40 executions.
None of this is rogue. It is organized, embedded, and protected.
Mexico is not a victim — it’s a partner
In 2019, the Trump administration stated openly what others wouldn’t: there exists an “intolerable alliance between the Mexican cartels and the government of Mexico.” This wasn’t a diplomatic gaffe — it was a policy declaration.
The Mexican government, riddled with corruption, has surrendered large swaths of sovereignty to narco rule. Politicians claim to oppose the cartels while quietly enabling them through bribery, coercion, or sheer incompetence.
That arrangement spills over into the United States. In 2024, two San Diego customs officers were caught accepting bribes to allow drugs through border checkpoints. They weren’t masterminds — they were just sloppy. And they’re the ones who got caught.
San Diego’s underground economy
One Homeland Security investigation led to the discovery of a tunnel between Tijuana and Otay Mesa, California. It was nearly 1,800 feet long and included rail tracks, electrical wiring, and ventilation. Authorities seized 1,300 pounds of cocaine, 86 pounds of meth, 17 pounds of heroin, 3,000 pounds of marijuana, and fentanyl.
It was the first time five types of drugs were recovered in a single tunnel operation in San Diego. Total value: $29.6 million.
Locals joke that San Diego may collapse under the weight of tunnels. That’s not entirely far-fetched. The sophistication and scale of these operations make a mockery of border security.
The rise of open-air drug markets
Open-air drug markets are no longer a fringe issue — they define modern California. San Francisco has eclipsed Los Angeles in this regard.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, since the pandemic, a wave of Honduran dealers—backed by the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels—have seized control of the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods. They’ve displaced the old networks, including African American dealers, and now dominate what’s called the “Million Dollar Mile.”
This is not gang warfare. It’s cartel capitalism. The Honduran dealers don’t fight for turf; they sell high-margin products in a city that no longer prosecutes.
Fentanyl and the Chinese-Mexican supply chain
California’s fentanyl crisis is built on transnational supply lines.
China produces the fentanyl and precursor chemicals. There is minimal oversight.
Mexican cartels handle the processing, cutting, packaging, and cross-border distribution.
The methods are layered:
Tunnels beneath cities like San Diego.
Human mules who swallow or strap fentanyl to their bodies.
Vehicles with hidden compartments crossing the border undetected.
Why California?
California has everything traffickers need: border proximity, major ports, highway access — and above all, permissive policy.
The state’s sanctuary laws, light prosecution, and ideological reluctance to confront cartel violence have made it the most business-friendly environment for organized crime in North America. Cartels don’t just enter — they scale.
This isn’t a random outcome. It’s the result of failed enforcement, naïve leadership, and a refusal to accept that criminal organizations are using California’s political dysfunction to their advantage.
“There is an intolerable alliance between the Mexican cartels and the government of Mexico.”
— The Spectator
That’s not exaggeration. That’s the operating condition. And until California — and the U.S. — treats it as such, the fentanyl crisis will continue to spiral, and the state will remain a model not of progress, but of collapse.
This article has been adapted from my new book: The Myth of California. The Amazon Kindle version is available now. The full book, paperback and audiobook will be released June 6th.
Endorsements for "The Myth of California"
"California was once America’s “Promised Land” where people flocked to find gold, good weather, and opportunities in everything from movies to manufacturing. It was the agricultural epicenter of the world, known as the “salad bowl” of the planet. But decades of leftist leadership has destroyed everything but the weather. It’s become “Paradise Lost” with homelessness, unanswered crime, and choking tax rates and regulations causing people to flee in stunning numbers to get to places where their families can live without the boot of big government on their necks and cultural cuckoos setting the atmosphere of the lifestyle. Chad Hagan details what happened in his riveting book, “The Myth of California: How Big Government Destroyed the Golden State.” It’s the tragic story of how the irrational left destroys everything it touches and how one state exchanged its gold for garbage.
- Mike Huckabee, Former Governor of Arkansas, Bestselling Author, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Nominee
"My father was a car salesman in a town of 800 people in Northern Minnesota. He had one vacation in his working life, and we took a trip to California. He had a friend who had settled in Carlsbad years earlier and wanted to visit. I was 10. My brother was 11, and our sister was 7. We were in awe. It was a modest home, beautifully maintained, with a yard full of fruit trees. We picked oranges and ate them in the yard. We had grapefruit off the trees for breakfast. I dreamed of moving to California for years. No longer! Chad Hagan’s book, The Myth of California, will make you disappointed, infuriated, and then just plain sad. It is a cautionary tale about how politicians can destroy a paradise in one lifetime. Ultimately, unchecked political power serves only itself. The citizens are included only to pay the bills. It is also a testament to how the crazies run the world. Most of us just want to go to work, come home and relax, and build a family and life. The crazies don’t think that way. They are loud, and they vote. Ultimately, politicians whose only interest is in power, cave in to them. (A government permit needed to wear heels taller than 2 inches in Carmel? Spare me!) As Californians now flee in droves, the stories they tell disabuse us of any notion of paradise. This book does that in spades. Read it!"
- John Linder, Former U.S. Congressman (GA-7)