Raleigh County, West Virginia Sheriff James Canaday is voicing strong concerns about the impact of drug trafficking on local communities like his.
Canaday noted the impact of international drug trafficking in Raleigh County, emphasizing the urgent need for improved border security to address the ongoing drug crisis.
“It’s a border security issue, particularly with the fentanyl and with the methamphetamine,” he told Federal Newswire.
Canaday, who also serves on the board of the West Virginia Sheriffs Association, pointed out that the influx of drugs, through the southern border, not only affects border states but also has far-reaching consequences for regions like West Virginia.
“Methamphetamine is easier to make in the Mexican super labs and to bring over here and it’s cheaper and it’s a better quality than it is to have somebody cook it in the back of their car the way they used to,” he said.
The broader implications of drug trafficking on law enforcement and community safety are troubling, according to Canaday.
“It’s common knowledge, at least in law enforcement communities, that we have a lot of drugs coming in across the border,” he said.
Canaday argues that the sheer volume of people crossing the border, many of whom are used as drug mules, correlates directly with the rise in drug availability and consumption in the U.S.
“I think just because it's a numbers game, just because you have more illegals coming into the country that are carrying, they're being used as mules,” he said. “I think that's kind of established. The more of that you're obviously going to have more drugs and I think that's going to affect every community. So yeah, I think we're a victim.”
As proof, he pointed out a troubling trend in overdose deaths.
“Overdoses are easier to track because everybody's on the information superhighway,” Canaday said. “So I think you are seeing a lot more overdoses, but I think that some of that may be because, you know, people are reporting them now and news and media agencies have the ability to put those out there.”
Although Canaday was careful to suggest that the rise in reported overdose deaths is partly due to better tracking and increased media coverage, he detailed how drug overdoses can reveal broader patterns.
“We can almost track whenever a bad shipment comes in because you’ll have a cluster of overdoses. You have two, three, four in a day in the same area and you can kind of say, ‘oh, we must have a bad batch that came in,’” he said.
Canaday criticized the current state of border control and its impact on drug trafficking, adding that increased border security would significantly reduce the availability of these drugs.
“The more people you have coming in, the more drugs you’re going to have,” he said.
Canaday added that the cartels have been using juveniles to traffic drugs.
“We see kids, literal high school kids, that will transport quantities of fentanyl for gangs that are out of state,” he said.
He warned that these young people, often unwittingly, become part of a larger criminal network, illustrating the pervasive nature of the drug crisis.
Canaday reflected on how social media and instant worldwide communication networks have globalized criminal networks as well as law enforcement efforts.
“The world now is smaller than it was even when I was a kid,” he said. “It’s a smaller world that’s not jurisdictional-based anymore. We talk to our peers in task forces regularly across the country.”
Calling for a collective effort to address the crisis, Canaday emphasized that political divisions should not hinder progress and reiterated the importance of a unified approach to tackling the drug crisis.
“We've really got to try to get a handle on it and I think everybody has to get on the same page,” he said. “Unfortunately, I think too much of that is political. And not enough of it is what's really working? We spend too much time talking about whose fault the border is and – nope, nobody's fixing it.”
Canaday believes the political process in the United States has already been infiltrated by cartels.
“I'm by no means like a conspiracy theorist,” he said. “But there again, I think all of that just makes sense because whether the folks that receive the dark money are receiving it because they know it or because they don't know any better, the fact of the matter is that it probably is going on. It's gone on. Prohibition had the same problem. I'm certain that's the case (with cartels).”
Canaday said that is part of the effort cartels are pursuing to secure long-term footholds in local communities.
“When you get in and get a foothold, it's a cancer and we have so many folks coming in across the border that are not documented in any sense, or even if they are, they're just released with a note that says, 'hey, show up for court here.'” he said. “You don't know where those people are going or what they're doing or what their intentions are.”
Canaday added that the long-term implications are not good if the problem is not stemmed.
“You've got to secure your border or you're going to, a lot of these folks played a long game,” he said. “They're not interested in what they can do this week or this month, but they're planning for years on how to best take care of whatever their plans are.“
In Mexico, cartel bribes to police and politicians is a severe issue.
Canaday’s comments echo that of former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio David DeVillers who has also warned of the possibility of public corruption in the United States’ political class due to the billions of dollars exchanged in the over-the-border drug trade each year.
DeVillers warned that corruption could infiltrate U.S. politics through the misuse of 501(c)4 non-profit organizations, which allow anonymous donations.
“You don't have to disclose your donors,” DeVillers told Federal Newswire. “It's tax exempt. If you just want to give them money. It takes $50 to open a 501(c)4 and you can buy a bunch of ads and tell your senator to reduce drug penalties or legalize fentanyl. Yeah, so that could easily happen.”
Canaday was appointed as sheriff in Raleigh County in 2022. Prior to becoming sheriff, he worked in the Raleigh County Sheriff's Department for over 22 years and served as chief deputy, prior to taking over the role.
He is currently running for re-election on Nov. 5.
In a recent pitch to voters, he emphasized his focus on major issues like the drug crisis and his efforts to enhance law enforcement with successful initiatives, such as a K9 program and a 911 special needs registry.
