National Drug Intelligence Center   North Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2008   June 2008

Strategic Drug Threat Developments

• Jacksonville, the primary drug market in the North Florida HIDTA region, is also a significant transshipment area for wholesale quantities of illicit drugs transported north from Miami, Florida, to drug markets on the east coast and south from Atlanta, Georgia, to drug markets throughout Florida.¹
   
• Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and associated Hispanic criminal groups are the dominant transporters and wholesale distributors of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and ice methamphetamine in the North Florida HIDTA region.
   
• Caucasian and Cuban DTOs² are satisfying the increasing demand for high-potency marijuana in the region by cultivating significant quantities of indoor cannabis; they are the primary indoor cannabis cultivators in the North Florida HIDTA region. The total number of indoor cannabis plants eradicated in the region increased 277 percent from 2005 through 2007.
   
• Nationally affiliated street gangs, including Black Disciples, Crips, and Latin Kings, are increasingly active in drug distribution in the North Florida HIDTA region; competition for drug distribution territories in the region has led to high levels of violence among nationally affiliated and local street gangs.

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HIDTA Overview

The North Florida HIDTA region encompasses Alachua, Baker, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Flagler, Marion, Nassau, Putnam, and St. Johns Counties. (See Figure 1.) The North Florida HIDTA region, particularly Jacksonville, is a significant transshipment area for illegal drugs transported north from Miami, Florida, to east coast drug markets such as Boston, Massachusetts; New York, New York; and Savannah, Georgia, and for drugs transported south from Atlanta to drug markets throughout Florida.

Jacksonville, which has the largest population of any city in Florida,³ is the primary drug market in the North Florida HIDTA region. As such, drug trafficking and drug abuse activities in the Jacksonville area have a considerable influence on drug markets in the entire region. Jacksonville is one of the principal ports of entry (POEs) for travelers, mail, and cargo into the continental United States; millions of tons of commercial truck and maritime freight and parcels as well as high volumes of commercial and passenger vehicles transit the HIDTA region daily. A large international airport, numerous international parcel transshipment hubs, and a large commercial seaport facilitate high levels of legitimate commerce and drug trafficking activity.

The North Florida HIDTA region has a highly developed transportation system, including major roadways such as Interstates 10, 75, and 95, which link it to drug distribution centers in Atlanta and Miami and to major eastern U.S. drug markets. (See Figure 2.) DTOs exploit the region's geographic location to transport illicit drugs into the region and on to other drug markets in Florida and on the east coast.

Figure 2. North Florida HIDTA transportation infrastructure.

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End Notes

1. Atlanta, Georgia, is a national-level distribution center for powder cocaine, ice methamphetamine, and Mexican marijuana and a significant source for cocaine and methamphetamine distributed in northern Florida.
2. Cuban drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) are composed of individuals of Cuban descent and ethnic Cubans located in the United States.
3. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, the estimated population of Jacksonville, Florida, was 799,875 in 2006 (the latest year for which such data are available); the city of Miami, Florida, had the second highest estimated population--358,091--in 2006. Census data further indicate that in 2006 the estimated population of Duval County (Jacksonville), Florida, was 837,964, while the estimated population of Miami-Dade County (Miami), Florida, was 2,402,208.

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