Southern California Drug Abuse

Southern California seems to have everything you could wish. Beautiful beaches, snowy mountains, plenty of industry, some of the country’s best universities and schools, gentle climate. So for most of the twentieth century, people flocked to Southern California from across the U.S., Asia, Mexico and other parts of the world. The result is an urban sprawl that holds more than ten million people. And because it’s just a few miles from the U.S.- Mexico border, this makes it ripe for the attention of international and domestic drug traffickers.

The extensive transportation facilities of Southern California make it the perfect distribution point for drugs going north, drugs being distributed across the Midwest, South and East Coast, and of course, for drugs intended to be sold to local users. Southern California is dotted with airports and airstrips, and Interstates criss-cross the map. It’s very likely that wherever there are transportation channels, there are drugs being moved.

The deep-water port at Long Beach enables container ships to come in from Asia. Drugs, illegal immigrants or precursor chemicals may be concealed in these containers.

Urban Distribution of Illicit Drugs

Urban centers with plenty of nightlife are excellent places to distribute club drugs such as Ecstasy, GHB, ketamine, and other drugs. All the clubs up and down the Sunset Strip and across Orange County make these areas fertile territories for drug sales. One common club drug, Rohypnol, is available without a prescription just across the border in Mexico. Rohypnol is also referred to as one of the date-rape drugs.

Efforts to stem the flow of drugs through Ports of Entry from Mexico continue to escalate. After September 11, 2001, increased security sent drug traffickers scrambling to develop new ways of getting their drugs across the border. One of their developments was the creation of tunnels dug under the border. One such tunnel that was recently detected and destroyed was 48 feet wide at the Mexico end and 24 feet wide at the U.S. end. Tunnels ordinarily surface inside a house or other building on the U.S. side.

Utilizing Local Residents

Drug traffickers have recently begun to utilize Southern California gang members in the distribution of drugs at the street level. With gang members managing the final steps of distribution, there is less threat of seizure and arrest of the drug traffickers themselves. Gangs are also responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of the hallucinogenic drug PCP, often used in nightclubs.

Prescription drug abuse in California

But some drugs don’t have to be brought across the border. Prescription drugs can be obtained and abused through legitimate channels by doctor-shopping, or obtained through theft from a hospital, pharmacy or individual, or they can be purchased through the Internet. Some of these Internet distributors are located in Tijuana. In the Los Angeles-San Diego areas, the most commonly abused prescription drugs are OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, codeine, Valium, Lortab, and steroids.

The Solution to Drug Abuse and Addiction

With such a varied and plentiful supply, the optimum solution is to reduce the demand, then continue to reduce the demand until it is eliminated. And so Narconon drug rehabilitation centers across Southern California deliver a drug rehabilitation program that has already saved hundreds of Southern Californians from addiction. Drug educators also spread out from the Southern California Narconon centers to deliver drug education talks to students, parents, professionals and business people all across the region.

Narconon drug education lectures have been proven effective in reducing drug use in students who were surveyed in Hawaii and Oklahoma, providing all the motivation needed to continue reaching out to the young. A paper published in a peer-reviewed professional journal evaluating the Narconon high school drug education curriculum can be found at https://www.narconon.org/about-narconon/studies-and-reports.html

Narconon Centers in Southern California

Serving the far south, the Narconon center in Warner Springs offers a peaceful, rural environment for those in nearby San Diego. For those going through the drug rehabilitation program, Narconon Warner Springs not only offers a comprehensive and effective program, it also offers a comfortable setting far removed from any hospital or institution atmosphere. A new drug-free life can be achieved here through the completion of all the phases of the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.