Drug Trafficking Networks in the Pacific — 2026 Update

Summary of the paper

Methamphetamine, known locally as ice, is described in this ISPI commentary as the dominant illicit substance driving violent crime, property crime and family disruption in Hawaii and Pacific Island communities. The paper cites DEA data identifying Hawaii as among the highest per-capita methamphetamine consumption markets in the United States, and notes that, unlike mainland markets with many supply routes, Hawaii is supplied through a small number of maritime and air routes. In the paper's assessment, interdiction of those routes has not been effective enough.

Rather than revisit interdiction, the commentary examines the community-level effects of trafficking networks that interdiction-focused policy tends to overlook: the corrupting influence on local institutions, the recruitment of island youth into distribution roles through existing social networks, and the safety dynamics that arise in small communities where network actors are known community members.

What the paper finds

• Methamphetamine drives harm across the community. The paper identifies ice as the main driver of violent crime, property crime and family disruption in Hawaii and Pacific Island communities.
• Island supply routes are few. Because Hawaii's market depends on a small number of maritime and air routes, the paper argues that effective interdiction could meaningfully disrupt supply, which makes the shortfall in interdiction more consequential.
• Institutions are exposed to corruption. The paper identifies the corrupting influence of trafficking networks on local institutions as one of the impacts that standard drug policy analysis underweights.
• Youth are recruited through people they know. In small island communities, networks recruit young people through the same social networks that community institutions operate within. A teenager recruited into a distribution role is recruited by someone they know.
• Network actors are known community members. In small island communities the people involved in trafficking are known to their neighbors, and the paper identifies the safety dynamics this creates as something interdiction-focused policy consistently underanalyzes.
• Standard prevention models miss this. Anti-recruitment frameworks designed for more anonymous urban drug markets often cannot see a recruitment process that runs through existing relationships.
• Measurement is too narrow. Drug policy measurement is dominated by supply and consumption metrics, leaving community-level impacts largely untracked.

What it recommends

• Develop community-level drug trafficking impact assessment frameworks for Hawaii and Pacific Island communities that identify institutional corruption risks, youth recruitment pathways and community safety dynamics.
• Commission research on youth recruitment into drug distribution roles in Pacific Island and Hawaii communities, to inform prevention programming grounded in small-island social dynamics.
• Establish community safety metrics that track trafficking's community-level impacts alongside the supply and consumption metrics that currently dominate drug policy measurement.

Who it's for

Law enforcement and prosecutors in Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, youth-serving agencies and prevention programs, funders of community safety work, and policymakers who want drug policy measured by what happens in neighborhoods as well as by seizures and consumption data.

Cite as

Pulley, Warren (2026). The Blue Highway: Drug Trafficking Networks in the Pacific and Their Community-Level Law Enforcement Implications (ISPI CM-13). Island Security Policy Institute, Honolulu. https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/cm13-drug-trafficking-networks https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23449939

@techreport{ispicm132026,
  author      = {Pulley, Warren},
  title       = {The Blue Highway: Drug Trafficking Networks in the Pacific and Their Community-Level Law Enforcement Implications},
  institution = {Island Security Policy Institute},
  address     = {Honolulu, HI},
  number      = {ISPI CM-13},
  year        = {2026},
  url         = {https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/cm13-drug-trafficking-networks},
  doi         = {10.5281/zenodo.23449939}
}

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