The Craziest Ways Cartels Traffic Drugs | The War on Drugs

What do watermelons, submarines and sex toys all have in common? They’ve all been used to smuggle drugs.
The War on Drugs has forced cartels to become serious innovators. For every method police develop to catch them, drug traffickers will come up with new ways to get their product from producer to seller to buyer. This can lead to advanced technological innovation like narco-submarines and "trap cars". But it can also create violence, coercion and massive political corruption.
And, just occasionally, it can lead to hundreds of pounds of cocaine getting eaten by wild bears - a true story, which has now become the inspiration for a Hollywood film.
We look at the craziest and most inventive ways cartels have smuggled drugs, and how these have become more and more advanced over time.
Sponsored By @UniversalPictures #sponsored #cocainebear
VICE News retains complete editorial autonomy.
00:00 Intro
02:01 The Golden Age of Drug Smuggling
05:26 How the Modern Mexican Cartel Was Created
07:50 The So-Called ‘Trap Car’
In The War On Drugs Show, we examine the social implications of prohibition worldwide. Any attempt to shut down the trade in drugs such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine or weed invariably sets off a chain of events that just makes things worse, leaving a trail of death, illness, violence, slavery, addiction, crime and inequality across the globe. Everyone loses - except, in a weird kind of way, the drugs themselves.
Watch more from this series:
The Opioid Crisis Sweeping Africa
• The Opioid Crisis Swee...
Why Mexican Cartels Use American Guns
• Why Mexican Cartels Us...
The Female Cartel Bosses of Latin America
• The Female Cartel Boss...
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[@VICE]

¿Quieres ver el video en español? Haz clic en el botón de configuración para cambiar la pista de audio. Want to watch this in Spanish? Head over to the settings button to change the audio track.

[@lucid4entrelises]

How 0 likes?

[@Coolsomeone234]

​@@lucid4entrelisessame. Idk how

[@heha3131]

broke ahh pin

[@gmikoner]

Disappointed every time I go to the grocery store and end up with a pineapple that isn't full of cocaine tbh

[@stevenewton7787]

I know I had the same fantasy when cutting into a watermelon yesterday!

[@sugarhieroglyph]

Gotta get yer vitamin C.

[@ingridakerblom7577]

Those are reserved for the staffs christmas party..

[@cdk1016]

You are statistically more likely to find cocaine hidden in banana crates.

[@cdk1016]

A port in Texas donated 2 pallets of over ripe bananas to the Texas department of criminal justice which they later discovered to contain cocaine worth an estimated street value of 18 million $. Maybe diversify your your fruit selection if you would like increase your odds of scoring nose candy. And that's not a one off. I'd go for bananas, pineapple, oranges and occasionally avocados. Diversify and increase your odds. Might help if you purchase on the southern side of any states bordering Mexico but it pops up randomly across the country. Its like cross country narco-produce whack-a-mule. 😆

[@ThePriusMechanic]

I literally got a cocaine bear advertisement while watching this 😂

[@jpprod2043]

Same here lol

[@EarthWasHere]

Same💀

[@stocktonjoans]

what you actually saw was an ad inside an ad, because the movie studio paid vice to make an ad that looks like one of their articles

[@stocktonjoans]

p.s why are you seeing ad's during videos? free ad blockers work

[@aeon_zero]

They sponsored the video, it says it at the end

[@ZeroFcksGven]

Side note this is my favorite Vice series by far! "We would like to congratulate drugs, for winning the war on drugs"

[@tonetwotimes]

Everytime the government discovers a method, 5 different methods are being used.

[@Yodaddi_13]

Yup u can thank ur CIA for making different strategies and methods for the cartel.

[@slowedversion6393]

And more and more etc

[@alexcope8142]

when will heroin be legalized? when will cocaine be legalized? when will meth be legalized?

[@tylersmash7134]

@@Yodaddi_13 shouldn't the cartel be thanking them or does that require too much brain?

[@apathania123]

My neighbourhood barber was just arrested for selling drugs it's crazy how I've been his costomer for 4 years and never knew he was a barber 😮...

[@TheRealDieselKings]

I’ve seen one of the drug subs. It was before anyone had ever heard of them so I’m assuming they weren’t caught because we didn’t report them. I was on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. I just happened to look over the side and saw a periscope just putting along. We all checked it out and wondered why in the hell anyone was riding around 400 miles from shore in a sub with a pvc periscope. Our driller was retired Navy and said it definitely wasn’t military. Looking back now, it’s clear what it was. This was around 2005-2006.

[@RichOffYayy]

No shi

[@brokentombot]

I wonder why they had a periscope out but failed to use it to see an oil rig. Must have been high in there.

[@juanocampo2262]

So you just saw a periscope floating along 😂

[@candycouldntbesosweet]

That’s a pretty cool story

[@crushadin5793]

I believe it, I saw Santa's sleigh last year

[@cdk1016]

That poor bear. He only tried a few hundred kilos of cocaine ONE time and dropped dead. Hopefully kids and adults alike can learn from this. It only takes trying it one single time to destroy your life or even worse, take your life. Not to mention the shame this will bring to his bear family. I hear they rarely ever leave their den these days. They say the gossip amongst all his "supposed" little forest friends is simply too much to bear.

[@GRANOLA77]

😔😔😔

[@listenhere1623]

Get out

[@nathangarland9453]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🍺🍺🍺🍺

[@tommyvercetti7632]

Literally saw a ad for Cocaine Bear movie before this video…

[@mohammadg50]

@@tommyvercetti7632 bro it showed the same ad for me in middle of the video. Cocain bear lol😂

[@Cowprint1]

Sergeant: "Where did those massive bags of cocaine go?" Officer: "A bear ate them" Sergeant: "Ok, that sounds believable. I'll notify the press"

[@G666REY]

Whats the Movie being called?

[@stealthisaccount433]

i got an ad for that before this vid lol

[@llclassifiedll8179]

😂😂😂you know what you’re right lmao

[@mart1547]

@@G666REY, Goldilocks and the three crackheads

[@el0013]

@@G666REY cocaine bear

[@j3rryb3rry]

These tunnels are the main reason why building a wall made/ makes no sense. The boarder literally is too long and the cartel is always 10 steps ahead.

[@lexj432hz6]

Can you hear? He literally said the VAST majority of drugs are not transported underground. Then immediately after, he said “they (drugs) come over the border.” Wym a wall makes “no sense?”

[@user-dr2pg8fk2i]

The submarines are not built in just the Amazon, they are built on the west coast of Colombia.

[@RyanPowerhouse]

Love the Cosby sweater. 😭

[@ImaCatMaia]

I wish these segments were longer

[@Mart77]

Kind of narcosub situation was going on in northern Europe back in 1920 up until the beginning of WW2. A metal pontoon was built and filled with canisters of illegal alcohol. This was built so it would be completely submerged and was attached via long rope to a fishing boat to pull over the sea border. When smugglers spotted the coast guard they simply cut the rope and pretended to be regular fishermen.

[@BruceWaynesFactory]

As soon as they were talking about the bear finding the coca , a commercial of the coca bear just came on for a new movie .. I said “wth” when it came on and in the commercial , the ending has a guy saying “wth” and we said it at the same time. This was wild

[@alexc7242]

9:09, he sums up my sentiment exactly. The U.S. government is too stupid to legalize drugs and make this smuggling and cartel problem disappear. They'd rather seize 1 pound for every hundred thousand that makes it through so they can feel like they've accomplished something.

[@joshuagibson2520]

They're in on it. They don't want it legal. Us gov has been involved in lots drug dealing throughout history too. I'm with you, but its not because they're stupid so much is that they use it for gain. Just like any smuggler or anyone else. We'd all benefit if legalization happens, and the gov will lose.

[@alexc7242]

@@joshuagibson2520 No disagreement there. I just think that taxing the hell out of it could still prove beneficial for the government, and people within the system could still fatten their own pockets, per usual.

[@jerm7159]

They dont want it legal. If its legal how can they control and jail the masses?

[@alexc7242]

@@jerm7159 Good point. Can't say that isn't accurate.

[@MelGibsonFan]

Legalizing and taxing would be marked improvement but it’s delusional to think the cartels would go away. They’re pushing fentanyl, meth, labor exploitation, sex workers and yes even CSAM. They are a cancer and they won’t be removed by pie in the sky bullshit like “oh let’s just legalize weed”

[@amiecollin3975]

Safest way to move drugs long distance these days, would apparently be by weather balloon.

[@jamesbrownie4704]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA "I WAS JUST TRYING TO SEE IF THE MEDIA WAS TRUE ABOUR HOW COLD IT WAS IN THE EAST!" AHAHAHAH

[@TheMrFishnDucks]

Those little submarines are so cool. Nice video. Keep up the good work.

[@El.Duder-ino]

9:08 is the MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE for ALL the governments around the world! WAR on anything including drugs NEVER solved anything! Thank u Vice for making this!👏👍

[@_Slaze]

I love this guy, he's so right about his last sentences

[@kaamos79]

Permissive or lax drug policies in the US have not really ended well - SF is in a severe crisis, as is Portland. Prohibition alone isn't the answer of course, but just giving up and accepting serious, highly addictive, health wrecking, mind consuming, life destroying drugs are just something we have to live with only tends to make awful places with endemic social problems.

[@PyroDREW.]

This videos never change

[@b.ahopelto2590]

Now that was some clever advertising. Bravo.

[@nortonbystrom7878]

im so hyped about the cocaine bear movie

[@ksss1222]

Great video !

[@Alanreyes-jm1pn]

Another banger to start the day

[@christianortiz1872]

If there's a demand then there will always be a supply... they will always coexist... If we can't focus on the demand side then this is just a problem that'll keep going on forever...

[@shreyanshs1473]

Thanks for the tutorial

[@arqhies_youtube]

I got cocaine bear commercial 😂

[@Ryan88881]

To be fair, I could sort of maybe understand the inclination towards prohibition in the 1970s and 80s; back before we knew prohibition didn't work. But if you still, in the 21st century believe prohibition is the right move you're just a lost cause and have learned nothing from the past. You're not gonna stop people from doing cocaine and there's no reason to when we already allow tobacco and alcohol use, despite their addiction rates being even higher than cocaine.

[@sara-cf2tz]

and sugar.. which mice literally choose over coke. so if sugar is marketed to CHILDREN, whose brain receptors it severely alters to render them addicted for life thus provoking health epidemics such as obesity and diabetes, how are consenting adults not allowed to decide for themselves over less dangerous drugs? it always shocks me how for example shrooms are considered a class A drug along with the most dangerous such as heroin when it is literally an ancestral plant that has so many health benefits, specifically for mental health disorders. my country was the first one in the world to legalize cannabis and sell it in pharmacies and it completely solved the problem of foreign gangs and cartels smuggling cheap, low-grade and spiced marijuana. now everyone that chooses to do so is smoking top-grade, california-style weed! the overwhelming majority of the country approves this law even if they don’t smoke because obtaining and smoking weed has become much less dangerous and is now regulated by the government, so no more gang violence, police brutality over having one joint in your pocket, risk of jail etc. let’s hope the whole world sees us as an example (usa & canada already have) and chooses to legalize cannabis along with considering the same for other drugs.

[@tz8785]

In the 1970s, the Noble Experiment of 1920-33 still was very much living memory. It wasn't a case of "we didn't know any better", it was either total delusion or "this time it's different".

[@Ryan88881]

@@tz8785 I know but I'm talking about the War on Drugs specifically starting in 1971 which changed everything and this wasn't alcohol or the early 20th century anymore, it's the modern era. What they were doing in the 70s and 80s, especially in foreign countries was pretty new when it came to cracking down on illegal psychoactives.

[@tz8785]

@@Ryan88881 In other words, "this time it's different".

[@Ryan88881]

@@tz8785 Yes but the drugs themselves and capabilities of law enforcement were a lot different too. It wasn't really fully clear that you could not stop illegal drugs until the early 90s or late 80s at earliest. DEA didn't even have that much funding or agents prior to Kiki's murder in 1985 which then made the DEA a lot more legitimate.

[@CaptainFrandy]

Stay safe everyone. I hope everyone had an amazing day! Thanks vice for always staying informational. Sex toys to smuggle drugs though….

[@lisafranklin9089]

Aye, aye captain!

[@CaptainFrandy]

@@umpin3 so true! I never thought about that. Better than swallowing bags

[@somerandomfella]

Imagine how numb ur 🐱 would be?

[@JohnSmith-pn2vl]

top content, ty

[@sully1939]

That dogs having a fucking field day

[@justcurious..3580]

the real victim here was that poor bear..🤙🤙✌️✌️👍👍🇲🇽🇲🇽

[@wav_909]

Almost surprinsing, vice doing good content its been a while

[@soulife8383]

far left as usual. They made cocain bear a hero when Cocaine bear rhymes with insane nightmare for a reason.

[@isaacwismer7567]

Haha right

[@stocktonjoans]

this is obviously an advert the movie studio paid them to make look like an article, and that's good content to you? i know youtube has gone down hill but things aren't really that bad are they?

[@wav_909]

@@stocktonjoans i dont care about that, video was actually informative, and didnt feel like it was pushing some sort of agenda

[@Idontknowwhat2type]

@@stocktonjoans this is a long running series that covers this exact kinda stuff… it’s not really a big deal it fits the MO perfectly

[@gelatoman7066]

I love how I got a ad for Cocaine Bear lol

[@thehuncholegendary1747]

Great 👍 job good video keep up the good work

[@ziggylegion1604]

1:02 "...and one unlucky bear!" bet the bear didnt feel so unlucky lmaoo

[@soulife8383]

it OD'd and died. Not sure why they left that tidbit at "unlucky".

[@BabyJesus66]

Some say the bear was unlucky... but what bears do you know that have movies made about them? This man is up there with Paddington, and Winnie.

[@jamesick]

the bear died

[@bagles2366]

Can we just bring the 70’s back. No fentanyl just powder and bud. 😢too many people dying here in my town

[@cameronwoodring5063]

congratulations to the war on drugs for winning the war on drugs

[@kaz9781]

War on drugs is truly a losing battle, its the same with prohibition as long as their is demand for something their will always be supply

[@jantschierschky3461]

My grandmother told me stories as a young pharmacist assistant, you could get everything Opium, coke etc over the counter. You had few junkies, but those were functional because the stuff was clean. You had no social problems, everyone was doing ok. Maybe few issues here and there like with alcohol. Than come the 70s and things started to change

[@default179]

Or they hid it better because society was different but sure

[@jantschierschky3461]

@@default179 I seen people who use drugs, especially heroin and you never know, because they use good stuff. Is all those crap they use to cut it is a problem

[@pabloes588]

Drugs aren’t the problem as most people who take them aren’t addicts Most addicts have mental health issues or suffered trauma in their lives Sell the drug’s legally and invest the stupidly large profits into early detection of said illnesses Saying that didn’t the us basically legalise opioids a few years back and now has the highest overdose rate ever?

[@ItalianStallionTV]

lmaoo the fact that this is sponsored by Cocaine Bear

[@stocktonjoans]

why do so many people not understand that the studio paid vice to make an ad for them that looks like a vice article? or do you honestly think that a small private plane (one of the most routine methods of smuggling) belongs at the start of an article about the "craziest" ways drugs are trafficked?

[@MaJeSTiCz0]

As longs as their is a War on terror their will be no Real War on Drugs.

[@LSav_BBF]

Thanks vice I'll try it

[@Chris-cq5dy]

Great show

[@stocktonjoans]

you misspelled "advert"

[@vincentavery6598]

The war on drugs will never be won

[@nihiqallam5616]

yes it can be if I was the president

[@badway420]

Drugs already won

[@cristodude]

Has been. Drugs won. Congrats. I wonder if this could become olympic at one point in the future.

[@adRianAntagonist2900]

We’d like to Congratulate Drugs on winning the War on Drugs. best intro to a song!!

[@akaManiac]

impressive.

[@crowbaril903]

Watching this I feel like we’re 30 years behind them ( there has to be A LOT more recent stories similar than the 80’s coke days), the good ole boys days btw

[@martincorbett7168]

loving these drug docs🔥

[@jackfrost8600]

Gotta love the ole skool 80s 90s cokain cowboys rockin mullets n all haha

[@harsh123433]

9:12 - Im dang sure this guy wildin with parties 😂🤝🏾💯

[@davidcomtedeherstal]

I know a dude who used cocaine for some years, now he is clean but kind of hyperactive.

[@spicysalsaking791]

He likely has ADHD and was just self-medicating.

[@davidcomtedeherstal]

@@spicysalsaking791 At age 59Y?

[@Therankinlife]

Vice: “The government makes drugs illegal but that stops no one.” Also Vice: “The government should make guns illegal”

[@voutolliC22]

people having the right to change their consciousness is not the same as people thinking they have the right to have a killswitch on others.

[@shelbyspeaks3287]

@@emiliolautaro87 that's a stupid point because you can't reverse time and take the millions of gun already in the US out.

[@shelbyspeaks3287]

@@voutolliC22 YOU DONT HAVE A F***** CHOICE, what do you hippies not understand about that???

[@Prat-zi1ou]

Are you comparing production of guns with guns lol

[@LBWilliams.]

Nice

[@Valleyplant]

Did anyone else get an ad for the movie Cocain Bear during this video!? Crazy!

[@mrkool501]

Anyone else get the cocaine bear movie ad with this video? Lmfao

[@stocktonjoans]

everyone who's dumb enough to _still_ not have any ad blockers

[@mrkool501]

@@stocktonjoans some people use their phone to watch videos, not their pc

[@7996hobguy]

@@mrkool501 I pay for KZbin premium. Which gives me KZbin Music along with KZbin Red. I haven't seen an ad on my phone, PC or TV in years.

[@stocktonjoans]

@@mrkool501 lame

[@Wicked_He_Bad]

cocain is Americas cup of coffee

[@iroquoisplissken3583]

Nice book report bro

[@SonyMontana23]

Fire 🔥🔥🔥

[@scummymummy5955]

Thats funny that the guy on the video being the narrator is actually a heroin addict irl

[@Prbkkb]

How You know fr?

[@G666REY]

@@Prbkkb unless he knows him than he’s just Guessing because he has glossy eyes with small to normal sized pupils. Might as well be on weed. Lol

[@Maya_Pinion]

" Rec tum,----- nearly killed him!"

[@khurramkhurshed9427]

Interesting stuff

[@IndelibleHD]

Whatever happened to just pooping a balloon?

[@mlgjan5046]

nitrus can be more damaging than cocaine use tbh

[@crawnyxx]

I bet they only found "$2000" 😒

[@dundrialbuels1941]

Sooooo cocaine bear is the ad for this video lol

[@paulfletcher3998]

I bet they've got full submarines by now. Just much harder to spot.

[@Cmolloy8798]

I’ve watched the series for a while and always wondered what VICE’s belief on the handling of the drug crisis should be?

[@rr212]

The same as handling the crisis on sugar should be. NON EXISTANT. Ppl need to be free to choose things that are good and healthy, as well as things that are bad and unhealthy to them. If this is not the case, we are not Free individuals.

[@lonesome3958]

@@rr212 except for seriously dangerous drugs that havr no benefits like gentanyl or similar

[@joshuagibson2520]

@@lonesome3958 no. Fent as well.

[@JoseDoesntGetHistory]

@@lonesome3958 if you're an able-minded adult as long as you don't force other people to do drugs with you or deal with your bullshit it should be no one's business but yours what drugs you take, even if you want to inject propane into you veins and turn yourself into a human stove

[@esimler]

@@rr212 and who pays their medical bills when they eat them selves into diabetic coma?

[@edwardh8876]

Well...drugs won the war on drugs

[@Amin-js4en]

El chapo escaping on an underground bike cracked me up

[@The_Zibbs_Inc]

That 🐻 was luckily unlucky

[@winstonchurchill586]

“Finding a piece of hay in a haystack, completely impossible” I think that would be pretty easy to be fair seems as all you need is one piece of hay and there’s a whole haystack, this guy needs help.

[@kudzaim5434]

🤣🤣 I had to rewind a couple of times

[@nomorenamesavailabl1668]

Those people that discover stashes of drugs or money and decide to contact the police you amaze me. I would take my cut and leave the rest for the next adventurer who discovers it and they can take the burden of calling the police

[@sara-cf2tz]

till u get caught w a pound and try to tell the police u found it and they don’t believe u lol

[@maxdoubled4800]

It was actually one very very lucky bear...🤣

[@AndrewsProduction100]

Cocaine bear ads outta control 😂

[@svetstefaniy]

Какой же бред, своей политикой государства губят жизни, люди должны сами распоряжаться своим телом, как это показано в одной из Новелл в фильме "Трасса 60". Запреты не дают вырасти качеству лекарств и поэтому умирают люди :С

[@rc3443]

if you get caught with 50g of drugs on the Chinese boarder, you get death penalty, it seems to work pretty well preventing drugs get into schools, maybe the US can learn a bit

[@Pleezath]

Idk maby not make it illegal in the first place seems better to me

[@Sosaviral]

They should pay you for this movie promotion!!!! Marketing is genius now days especially try stories

[@amazon4716]

Boarder patrol seems to let them pass right by

[@MultiFreakface]

the war on drugs is a joke and waste of resources

[@lizbethartemis4886]

it is a business

[@aaronj89029]

🤯My pre-ad for this video was 'Cocaine Bear'🤯

[@evanrodriguez6326]

Yeah put like 10 more cocaine bear ads and we good

[@tanman47756]

Interesting how the cocain bear movie advertisement was the add for this right after he gave them a shout-out.

[@BuckFiden33]

I got that ad for that coke bear movie on this video lol

[@rayfgreenfield5114]

I like the fact that I got the cocaine bear trailer beforehand

[@sixxxteen16XVI]

The Movie Ad Showed Right Before The Vid 😂

[@selormasiedu-addo4179]

Kudos to VICE,they always come through with very informative stuff

[@jemc915]

Cocaine bear crazy 🤣

[@T.Lspitz]

Hahaha. A KZbin ad for the cocaine bear movie interrupted half way through this video and i thought the coincidence was hilarious. 😂

[@obdalamfa4254]

just vice being vice in the end. what you hope will happen. woke up people!

[@sheershchaturvedi4534]

I got an ad for cocaine bear on this video 😂

[@kombosto88]

Indeed... Good luck with dat!

[@SW-zh2qn]

You Damm well know that bear had good old time

[@TTstone616]

Lmao... vice really does have the best drug videos! Well done...

[@hyetv2496]

😂😂 This Guy NEEDS A STYLIST,! What he’s wearing reminds me of a Ugly Xmas sweater😭😭😭

[@djxeroic1436]

7:42 it's like finding a needle in a stack of needles

[@omnegusmedia258]

loooool this end had me howling! "good luck with that"

[@allanvaliano2061]

New episodes hopefully soon??

[@United_Wings]

That's crazy