David McWilliams

De facto.

But those cartels shifted their production and their operation to Mexico and they ceded power to the Mexican cartels who have now become this enormous parallel force within Mexico and, of course,

Because of the geography, the Mexican cartels control the route of all drugs from Latin America up through Mexico and into the United States.

And they have exploded.

I'll give you a few figures, John.

Total annual revenue from the drug trade is estimated at $12 billion.

billion annually.

Now, I think that's probably an understatement.

But that's the official, right?

Fentanyl production.

So it used to be weed.

Yeah.

Then it was coke.

It's still weed and coke, but now it is fentanyl.

And just look at the mathematics of this, right?

Fentanyl costs them 10 cent a pill to make in Mexico.

This is estimated, right?

Those pills that cost 10 cents to make can be sold between $10 and $30 on the street in the United States, right?

That's the margin, isn't it?

10 kilos of fentanyl is worth around $20 million on the street, costs about $50,000 to produce.