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Drug Threat Overview

Crack cocaine poses the most significant drug threat to the Michigan HIDTA region because of the drug's association with violent and property crimes and its impact on public health resources. According to the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) National Drug Threat Survey (NDTS) 2007, 28 of the 52 state and local law enforcement respondents in the Michigan HIDTA region identified crack cocaine as the drug that poses the greatest threat to their jurisdictions. Powder cocaine typically is converted to crack cocaine by street gang members and other retail distributors near sales locations in urban areas. To maintain control of local distribution markets, crack cocaine distributors engage in violent criminal activity, such as assault and homicide, while crack cocaine abusers commit burglary, retail fraud, and robbery in order to obtain the drug or money to purchase the drug.

The trafficking and abuse of heroin, marijuana, MDMA, methamphetamine, and diverted pharmaceutical drugs also pose considerable threats to the region. Most of the heroin available in the region is South American (SA); however, Southwest Asian (SWA) heroin and, to a lesser extent, Mexican and Southeast Asian (SEA) heroin are also available and abused. Marijuana is widely available and abused throughout the region. Commercial-grade Mexican marijuana is the most prevalent type, although locally produced and high-potency Canadian marijuana are also commonly available. Local indoor and outdoor marijuana production occurs throughout the HIDTA region--the number of indoor grows has doubled over the past 2 years. Wholesale quantities of high-potency marijuana and MDMA transit the region from Canada; some is distributed and abused locally. Methamphetamine production is limited and occurs primarily in rural areas of southwest Michigan. Methamphetamine abuse may be decreasing in the region; publicly funded methamphetamine treatment admissions declined nearly 66 percent from 2005 to 2007. Diverted pharmaceutical drugs, including methadone, OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, and Soma, are widely abused in the HIDTA region.


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