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Distribution

Colombian and Dominican DTOs based in New York City are the principal wholesale distributors of cocaine and SA heroin in the W/B HIDTA region. However, Mexican organizations based in the southern and western United States are increasingly involved in wholesale drug distribution in the region, especially in southern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. Mexican traffickers who operate in southern Virginia are often based in or have connections to organizations in North Carolina and Georgia. West African DTOs with sources of supply in Asia distribute wholesale amounts of heroin in the W/B HIDTA region, making this one of the few areas of the country where Southeast Asian (SEA) and SWA heroin are available. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the primary wholesale distributors of commercial-grade marijuana in the W/B HIDTA region, while Vietnamese criminal groups with ties to Asian DTOs in Canada have emerged as the principal distributors of high-potency marijuana in the region.

Retail drug distribution in the W/B HIDTA region often takes place in open-air drug markets situated along commuting corridors and within public housing projects in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. These markets provide abusers within and outside the region with ready access to crack cocaine, heroin, and other illicit drugs. Most open-air drug markets are located in inner-city areas and are operated by neighborhood-based African American and Hispanic gangs or crews that periodically provide customers with free samples, or "testers," of heroin and cocaine to encourage future sales. Heroin packaging in the region varies by location; in the Baltimore metropolitan area, heroin is almost exclusively packaged in gelatin capsules and marketed by brand name, while in Washington, D.C., heroin is sold under various brand names but packaged primarily in small, colored or otherwise marked plastic bags. In areas in which open-air drug markets are not present, crack cocaine sales take place in low-income areas or housing projects. Law enforcement has also identified some bars in the region that are operated or frequented by OMG members and used as distribution sites for methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and marijuana.

Mobile phones, particularly prepaid cellular phones, are the preferred communication method for drug traffickers and distributors in the HIDTA region. Distributors prefer to use prepaid phones because they can be used to coordinate the organization's activities and day-to-day operations while providing a high degree of anonymity and security and because they can be replaced at a low cost. Prepaid cell phones can be purchased for cash at many supermarkets, department stores, or convenience stores, or through any of hundreds of online retailers and auctions. They typically cost around $20 but can often be purchased for significantly less. Prepaid cell phones typically cost more per minute to use than do cell phones attached to monthly service agreements, but the primary appeal of prepaid cell phones to drug traffickers is the anonymity they provide.

Diverted pharmaceutical drugs are widely available and abused in the W/B HIDTA region and are obtained primarily through prescription forgeries and doctor-shopping. Other methods of diversion include pharmacy thefts, diversion by doctors and pharmacists, purchases through Internet pharmacies, and the use of DEA registration numbers by nonregistrants who place controlled substance orders with drug wholesalers for large quantities of drugs. Moreover, medical office staff members who are authorized to place orders with pharmacies for legitimate prescriptions sometimes place fraudulent orders, which they sell for profit. The illegal distribution of prescription drugs through Internet pharmacies is a growing problem in the region. Law enforcement reporting indicates that some distributors are transporting pharmaceutical drugs into the area from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

 
Maryland Pharmacy Owners Charged with Illegally Selling 10 Million Hydrocodone Tablets Over the Internet

In September 2007 the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland announced a grand jury indictment of two defendants who operated a Baltimore-based pharmacy for long-term care facilities and nursing homes and who had been illegally operating an online pharmacy that sold hydrocodone products to the general public. The defendants were charged with illegally selling nearly 10 million dosage units of hydrocodone over the Internet, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, engaging in monetary transactions using the proceeds of the illegal drug sales, and filing false tax returns. Between 2004 and 2006 the defendants allegedly conspired to sell hydrocodone through the Internet to any customer with a valid credit card. Of the 36 doctors who issued prescriptions processed by the company, 11 wrote over 98 percent of the hydrocodone prescriptions. Additionally, hydrocodone accounted for 88 percent of all prescriptions filled by the pharmacy. Two pharmacy clients died as a result of a multiple drug overdose, which included hydrocodone obtained through this illegal operation.

Source: U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.
 


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