For decades, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been portrayed in U.S. propaganda as the “bulwark in the fight against global drug trafficking,” projecting an image of elite agents dismantling cartels and protecting the nation from ultra-dangerous drug cartels. However, the DEA’s own official reports—the National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA) for 2024 and 2025—reveal a devastating truth: the United States is not a victim of drug trafficking, but rather a structural narco-state, where drug production, consumption, and money laundering are deeply intertwined with its economy, financial system, and foreign policy.
Furthermore, the DEA does not combat drug trafficking; rather, it manages, covers it up, and legitimizes it, while criminalizing other countries like Venezuela without evidence. DEA reports confirm that the United States is self-sufficient in marijuana production, both for the legal and illegal markets. Far from relying on imports, the country produces hyperpotent marijuana, genetically modified to maximize its addictiveness. According to the 2024 NDTA, the average THC content has increased from 1% in 1977 to 16% in 2022, a 15-fold jump in potency. It also admits that the illegal marijuana market maintains stable prices, despite inflation and increasing potency, indicating a plentiful supply and efficient logistics networks, without any federal interference. This scenario turns the United States into a “drug oasis” where consumption is normalized.
The agency recognizes that money launderers on U.S. soil provide services to transnational cartels, using cryptocurrencies, mirror transfers, real estate, and other tools integrated into the country’s financial system. Cities like Miami, Los Angeles, and New York are epicenters of these operations, with real estate companies funneling drug money into luxury properties. However, instead of taking responsibility, the DEA shifts the blame onto “Chinese underground banking systems,” a narrative intended to protect the U.S. financial system. This hypocrisy is evident: if the U.S. is the central hub of money laundering, the responsibility falls on its own institutions, not on external actors.
Despite US political accusations against Venezuela, labeling it a “narco-state,” the DEA reports do not mention the country as a producer, corridor, or money laundering center. According to the NDTA, drug trafficking routes originate in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, pass through Mexico or the Caribbean, and culminate in the US, with California as the main entry point. Venezuela does not appear anywhere in this chain, a silence that categorically refutes Washington’s accusations.
The only reference to Venezuela is the marginal mention of the vaunted “Aragua Train” in the NDTA 2025, but without linking it to international drug trafficking. This inclusion seems more like a propaganda gesture than an intelligence-based finding. Even more revealing is the complete absence of the alleged “Cartel of the Suns,” a political fiction that does not appear in any DEA report, demonstrating that it is a fabrication to justify sanctions and harassment against Venezuela. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) corroborates this omission, confirming that Venezuela is not a relevant player in global drug trafficking.
The “anti-drug” agency also omits any mention of complicity within its border, customs, or financial institutions, even though the massive influx of drugs necessarily implies infiltration of these systems. This silence is not an oversight, but a deliberate cover-up to—even if it’s an obvious lie—sell the image of a “clean” United States. In contrast, the DEA meticulously details the operations of Mexican cartels or any other country, legitimizing interventions abroad while ignoring the distribution and money laundering networks within its borders. It’s as if, upon crossing U.S. borders, the drugs simply disappear.
While the U.S. presents itself as a long-suffering victim, documents from its own organizations reveal that it is the main beneficiary and administrator of global drug trafficking. If it truly wants to combat this scourge, it should stop seeking fictitious enemies, assume its responsibility, and intervene in Congress, which controls the most profitable business of successive U.S. governments.