Officials: Mexican Drug Cartels Ramp Up Operations In Alaska

As America continues to experience a deadly drug epidemic fueled in large part by organized criminal enterprises south of the border, the notorious Sinaloa Cartel is reportedly working to increase its influence in the U.S. narcotics trade.

Recent advisories from various agencies at the state and federal level warn that Alaska is being targeted by the cartel. While addiction and overdoses have plagued much of the state in recent years, Mexican traffickers reportedly believe that there is more profit to be gained in the state — primarily because it is geographically more remote than the rest of the continental United States, which means fewer criminal organizations are competing for a share of the illicit drug market. 

Despite its comparatively sparse population numbers, Alaska has seen a higher rate of overdose-related deaths in recent years than anywhere else in the country. In 2021, there was an increase in fatal overdoses of 75%. 

In a statement on the matter, federal prosecutor James Klugman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska advised: “All the drug dealers are aware they can make more money selling drugs in Alaska.”’

He noted that it requires only a small fraction of the drugs being distributed elsewhere in the U.S. to wreak havoc in the nation’s largest state.

“An amount of drugs that wouldn’t even move the needle in big cities like Los Angeles or New York can completely change the life of an entire community in Alaska,” Klugman explained.

The state’s isolation reportedly translates to higher profits for those who are willing to make the journey to traffic narcotics — but the impact of violent cartels has been felt in every corner of the country over the past several years.

Several Republican presidential hopefuls have taken a hard-line approach regarding the influx of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs into the United States by Mexican cartels.

For his part, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that if he is elected president he would authorize the use of deadly force on the border to stop the flow of narcotics.

“They got the satchel of fentanyl strapped to their back, you use deadly force against them, you lay them out, you will see a change of behavior,” he said in August. “You have to take the fight to the cartels, otherwise we’re going to continue to see Americans dying.”