The prime drug threat in the state of California is Methamphetamine. With the Mexican drug organizations dominating the California drug market, high quality Methamphetamine has become very easily available in the market. While one group of this giant organization deals with the production of this drug, there is another group which operates the small clandestine laboratories. These unsophisticated laboratories have mushroomed all over the state be it in the highly populated areas, the sparse density neighborhoods, the remote deserts of South California or the forested lands in the northern part. The successful law enforcement in certain areas of the state has at least lessened the supply of the drug pseudoephedrine which is smuggled in from Canada. However, this drug and another by the name of ephedrine is also smuggled in from China and these two Chinese drugs have been seized in the state several times.

The Mexican drug trafficking organizations of California work in close connection with the suppliers from Colombia. These two groups together dominate the wholesale market of cocaine in California. The Mexican drug suppliers specialize in cross border smuggling of cocaine by sea, air or land. Los Angeles is one of the most vulnerable areas where drug smuggling and other drug crimes are concerned. There are several dominating gangs settled in Los Angeles, most of who are street level distributers of the popular drug crack cocaine. This drug finds most of its buyers in the Los Angeles area itself of the metropolitan zones of San Diego. These gangs buy the cocaine drug in the rocked form which they then convert into the crack form in Los Angeles.  This crack cocaine which is locally converted in Los Angeles is then distributed to the several other cities of California. Sometimes, this crack version is also sold out nationally.

After the terror attacks of Sept 11, 2001 border crossing security has gone stricter manifolds. Yet smugglers have found their own secure ways by digging underground tunnels and smuggling the drugs through them. The hidden compartments where these illegal drugs are hidden are also made very sophisticatedly which will not leave any doubt even on the smartest minds. Majority of the drugs in California are first collected in the Los Angeles, from where the drug is distributed elsewhere within the state. Despite the strong security and surveillance in the airports of San Francisco, Sacramento and Oakland, massive quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin are smuggled into these places.