GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) - Some areas of the Western Slope are regional distribution hubs, and we wanted to know how those drugs are making their way in and out of our communities and what law enforcement is doing to crack down on it.

Illegal drugs are making their way into our state, and it is having an effect on those communities at the center of it.

Victor Galarza, Detective Sargeant with the Montezuma County Sherrif’s Office, said, ”It’s a grave issue that we have. And these are in fact the number one criminal threat to the United States, it’s the Mexican cartels and the Mexican foreign terrorist organizations.”

The Mexican cartels bring illegal drugs across the border, and they go from there, being distributed to western states and beyond. These drug organizations can make hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars selling drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. “They arrive into hubs of distribution from the border. Anywhere from Tijuana to Nogales, and on to Phoenix and Albuquerque. And from there, they make their way up north on Highway 160 and stop in Cortez. From there, they continue up north,” said Galarza.

Cortez is an effective distribution spot for drug traffickers because of the location and lack of law enforcement. The area has seen an increase in drugs since 2019 with a spike in drug smuggling activity seen in 2021. However, Galarza says he’s starting to see a decrease in drug supply with this new administration. Something he attributes to price. “Last year during the previous administration, they were purchasing these pills in humps of distribution like Phoenix and Albuquerque at $0.23 each pill. Nowadays, these pills for these organizations are going down in those areas from anywhere $1.00 to $1.50. So, with the rise on prices in fentanyl, you can actually see that the actual policies are working,” said Galarza.

Moving forward, Galarza hopes to see more manpower continuing to crack down on these drug cartels and narcotics, even before they reach Colorado’s state lines. “We don’t have the manpower on the ability to actually be there interdicting these narcotics unfortunately before they actually cross into Colorado or once they are in the Four Corners area before they reach places like Grand Junction and Durango,” said Galarza.

Another regional hub on the Western Slope for these narcotics is Durango with the main hub in Grand Junction.