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National Drug Intelligence Center  National Drug Threat Assessment 2005 Summary Report February 2005 MDMA Key Findings Trends and Developments    Availability     Demand    Production     Transportation    Distribution The trafficking and abuse of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as ecstasy) pose a moderate threat to the United States. Most federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies report that MDMA is readily available and abused in their areas; however, levels of availability and abuse appear to be declining. Federal-wide Drug Seizure System (FDSS) data and law enforcement reporting indicate that federal seizures of MDMA and MDMA-related arrests have decreased each year since peaking in 2001 and that demand for MDMA, while still relatively high, appears to be declining among adolescents and adults overall.  Figure 10. MDMA-Related Arrests, Nationwide, 2000-2003 d-link Source: Drug Enforcement Administration. To Top      To Contents      Key Findings The availability of MDMA has decreased significantly nationwide since peaking in 2001, most likely the result of increased interdiction efforts and the effective dismantling of large MDMA trafficking organizations.  The rates of past year use for MDMA are decreasing. NSDUH data show that the estimated number of persons aged 12 or older reporting past year use of MDMA decreased significantly from nearly 3.2 million in 2002 to 2.1 million in 2003.  More adolescents perceive harm in using MDMA than ever before, likely because of drug abuse prevention educational programs and antidrug campaigns that have focused on reducing MDMA abuse since the height of the drug's popularity in 2001. Most MDMA available in the United States is produced in northwestern Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and Belgium. Very few domestic MDMA laboratories are seized each year.  Figure 11.  MDMA Seizures, in Dosage Units, 2000-2003 d-link Source: Federal-Wide Drug Seizure System. The number of MDMA dosage units seized arriving from foreign source countries decreased from 6,699,882 dosage units in 2001, to 3,771,449 in 2002, and 948,438 in 2003.  Shifts in transportation routes have resulted in a decrease in the amount of MDMA smuggled into the United States directly from the Netherlands and Belgium.  Asian criminal groups are increasingly involved in MDMA trafficking in all regions of the United States and may surpass Israeli and Russian criminal groups as the dominant transporters and wholesale distributors of the drug.    To Top      To Contents       Trends and Developments Availability The availability of MDMA has decreased significantly nationwide since peaking in 2001. According to seizure statistics and arrest data, MDMA availability was at its highest level in 2001 and decreased since that time. Data from DEA's System to Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence (STRIDE) also reveal a decrease in availability--the number of dosage units submitted for testing peaked at 5,472,435 dosage units in 2001 but decreased to 1,477,758 dosage units in 2003. Likewise, MDMA-related OCDETF investigations and indictments were at their highest level in 2001 and decreased in each of the following years. MDMA-related arrests also decreased after peaking in 2001, dropping from 2,015 in 2001 to 1,124 in 2003.  NDIC Comment: The decrease in MDMA availability since 2001 is due most likely to increasing interdiction efforts and the effective dismantling of large MDMA trafficking organizations. Law enforcement efforts have debilitated or fractured MDMA trafficking networks through the arrests of key members. In the past 3 years, DEA has successfully dismantled several significant MDMA trafficking organizations--particularly Israeli and Asian organizations--that had distribution networks throughout the United States.            Demand More adolescents perceive harm in using MDMA than ever before. MTF data show that the percentage of students in eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade perceiving harm in using MDMA increased in 2001--the most recent year such data are available. Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) 2003 data also show a rising percentage of teens that perceive risk in trying MDMA or using MDMA occasionally. NDIC Comment: The perceived harm associated with MDMA use is increasing most likely because of drug abuse prevention educational programs and antidrug campaigns that have focused on reducing MDMA abuse since the height of the drug's popularity in 2001. For example, in February 2002 the Partnership for a Drug-Free America launched a national MDMA education campaign that consisted of television and print advertising as well as a web site devoted to alerting and educating adolescents and young adults to the dangers of MDMA use. NSDUH 2002 data indicate that the rates of past year illicit drug use, including MDMA, were lower for youths who had seen or heard drug or alcohol prevention messages at school in the past year than for youths who had not seen or heard such messages at school.    To Top      To Contents Production Although most MDMA available in the United States is produced in Europe, the number of MDMA laboratories seized in the United States increased in 2004. According to EPIC data, reported seizures of MDMA laboratories in the United States decreased from 2000 (8) to 2003 (3); however, law enforcement reports that 12 MDMA laboratories were seized within the first 8 months of 2004.  NDIC Comment:  MDMA production in the United States is very limited in comparison with other countries but may be increasing in the wake of increased security and interdiction efforts at U.S. POEs. MDMA production in the United States is typically small-scale; however, a few laboratories have been capable of producing multithousand-tablet quantities of MDMA. For example, law enforcement reports that of the 12 MDMA laboratories seized in the first 8 months of 2004, 10 were capable of producing less than 8 ounces of MDMA (up to 2,000 tablets but typically about 500), according to EPIC. However, one laboratory seized in New York was capable of producing 2 to 9 pounds (up to 40,000 tablets) of MDMA, and the largest laboratory--seized in Wisconsin--was capable of producing 10 to 20 pounds (up to 90,000 tablets) of MDMA.              Transportation The smuggling of MDMA by Israeli and Russian criminal groups coming directly from European source areas into the United States appears to have dropped dramatically in the past 3 years. EPIC reports that the number of MDMA dosage units seized arriving directly from the Netherlands and Belgium now represents a lower proportion of all MDMA tablets smuggled into the United States. EPIC data reveal that just 218,000 of 948,000 tablets and 70 of 152 kilograms of the seized MDMA that was destined for the United States in 2003 originated in the Netherlands or Belgium.  NDIC Comment: MDMA laboratories in the Netherlands and Belgium still produce the majority of MDMA available in the United States; however, traffickers typically are not transporting the drug directly to the United States from these countries. While in recent years most MDMA was transported directly from source areas to the United States by couriers on commercial flights, increased interdiction efforts have caused a shift in transportation routes to avoid detection or seizure. For example, EPIC data for 2003 show that a significant amount of MDMA was transported on commercial flights originating in other European countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland. In addition, MDMA shipments originating in the Netherlands and Belgium are increasingly transiting the Caribbean, Mexico, and Canada en route to the United States.    To Top      To Contents Distribution Asian criminal groups are increasingly involved in MDMA trafficking in all regions of the United States, and they may surpass Israeli and Russian criminal groups as the dominant transporters and wholesale distributors of the drug in the near future. Asian criminal groups typically smuggle powder MDMA from Europe into Canada, where it is pressed into tablets. These groups then smuggle the MDMA tablets across the Northern Border, typically by private vehicle, supplying networks of Asian traffickers operating throughout the United States. Although some Asian street gangs (as well as certain African American and Hispanic street gangs) are retail-level distributors of MDMA in the United States, Caucasian males still dominate domestic retail-level MDMA distribution. NDIC Comment: The involvement of Asian traffickers in MDMA transportation and distribution within the United States has been rising in recent years. Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies report that Asian traffickers, including Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Korean, Thai, and Indo-Chinese criminal groups, are involved to varying degrees in MDMA distribution. However, Vietnamese and Chinese criminal groups appear to be most active in the smuggling of Europe-produced MDMA from Canada into the United States. According to law enforcement reporting, Asian traffickers distribute significant quantities of MDMA in cities including Los Angeles, Houston, and New Orleans.  MDMA Primary Market Areas Los Angeles, Miami, and New York are PMAs for MDMA, based on reporting from public health and law enforcement agencies. These metropolitan areas are PMAs for MDMA because of a high level of demand for the drug in these areas and the large amounts of MDMA distributed from these areas to other markets across the country. There appears to be a relatively high demand for MDMA in Philadelphia based on data that gauge MDMA-related consequences in that city; however, distribution from Philadelphia to other U.S. drug markets is limited.  Los Angeles. The demand for MDMA in Los Angeles appears to be relatively high and stable. Israeli and Russian DTOs and criminal groups are responsible for most of the transportation and wholesale distribution of MDMA in Los Angeles. Asian criminal groups also supply significant quantities of the drug to the area. Miami. The demand for MDMA in Miami remains high but appears to be declining. Russian, Israeli, and European DTOs (primarily Polish) as well as Caribbean (primarily Dominican) and Colombian DTOs and Caucasian criminal groups distribute MDMA at the wholesale level in Miami. New York. Demand for MDMA in New York City has decreased significantly in recent years. Israeli and Russian DTOs dominate wholesale distribution of MDMA in New York City. To a lesser extent Colombian and Dominican DTOs and criminal groups, Eastern European and Asian criminal groups, OMGs, and members of traditional organized crime distribute wholesale quantities of MDMA.             To Top      To Contents     To Previous Page     To Next Page To Publications Page     To Home Page

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