Texas lawmakers are considering how to toughen up Texas laws and policies to help curb drug trafficking. With Texas' expansive border with Mexico, some in law enforcement say that Texas is the drug shipment capital of the United States.

State and local authorities have worked with federal agents to track down drug cartels and seize drugs as they pass through Texas, as evidenced by numerous seizures each year.

"It don't affect the price of it at all, which means it ain't made a dent. Still huge amounts are getting through," said State Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston.

Interstate 35 -- the nation's most widely-used drug corridor -- cuts all the way through the Lone Star state. It creates a tough problem for law enforcement, but also for lawmakers.

"If you know where it's coming from, why can't you do more about it?" Whitmire asked troopers at a Wednesday hearing.

The Senate Criminal Justice committee is charged with examining current laws and policies that are working -- and not working -- to try and better combat the drug trade in Texas.

"If in fact so much of the narcotics is just coming up and down our highways and the main roads out of Mexico, why don't we just pull over more trucks?" Whitmire said. "It would be fun to try. I like that, zero tolerance."

Jose Ortiz heads the Texas Department of Public Safety's narcotics division. He testified before lawmakers on Wednesday.

"There are so many other crimes that are affected by narcotics," Ortiz said. "Anything we can do to deter narcotics I think helps the overall crime spectrum."

He applauded a law passed in a recent legislative session which required pseudophedrine - an ingredient used to make methamphetamine - to be sold behind the counter at pharmacies. He says in the first full year the law went into effect, the number of drug houses busted by DPS was cut in half.

But new problems pop up. Officers from the Houston Police Department testified that in their city, prescription drug abuse is becoming the most serious issue in battling drug abuse.

"Still plenty of drugs in Texas... I think we oughta have a more concerted effort to eradicate [them]," Whitmire said.