The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program was created by Congress to assist critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States.

Arizona has long been source state for illegal narcotics smuggled from Mexico. We are currently experiencing an increase in narcotics being smuggled in from cartels that use our state and county as a launching point for sales and distribution throughout the United States.

Our HIDTA initiative is known as the Maricopa County Drug Suppression Task Force (MCDST). We’re taking a multi-faceted approach to defeat the illegal drug trade on many fronts.

Task Force investigations are focused on cartel-led drug transportation organizations (DTOs) and money laundering organizations (MLOs). We’re working to identify, disrupt, degrade and dismantle these organizations by utilizing desert interdiction, highway interdiction, wiretap investigations, and undercover operations.

MCDST has served over 1,218 warrants from 2003-2019.

We’ve seized over 6,268 pounds of meth, 570 tons of marijuana, 7,645 marijuana plants, 100 kilos of heroin and 282 kilos of cocaine. The street value of the seized drugs is estimated to be $1 billion.

The Task Force has dismantled more than 337 clandestine laboratories, including the latest epidemic of highly volatile butane hash oil labs, found at many marijuana growing operations.

While we can count many successes in drug interdiction, Arizona remains a gateway for illicit drugs entering the country for distribution in Arizona and throughout the USA.

Read more about HIDTA’s statewide mission.