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National Drug Intelligence Center |
Illicit drugs--predominantly heroin and methamphetamine--are abused at high levels in the New Mexico HIDTA region, as reflected in the high numbers of treatment admissions, drug-related hospitalizations, and drug-caused deaths that occur within the region and throughout the state each year. The need for drug abuse treatment frequently exceeds the availability of treatment resources in the state.
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Methamphetamine Abuse on the Navajo Indian Reservation Methamphetamine has become a serious problem on the Navajo Indian Reservation, particularly in the Shiprock District (the New Mexico portion of the reservation). In fact, methamphetamine abuse by individuals of all age groups supplanted the abuse of alcohol and marijuana in 2005, and that is still the case today. As a result, the Navajo Nation criminalized the distribution, possession, and use of methamphetamine on the reservation in accordance with state and federal drug laws. Source: New Mexico Investigative Support Center. |
Heroin abuse is endemic in the Upper Rio Grande and Espanola Valley areas of New Mexico, which encompass portions of Bernalillo, Rio Arriba, and Santa Fe Counties. In the Rio Arriba County communities of Abiquiu, Alcalde, Chimayo, and Espanola, multigenerational heroin abuse is common. Children of these users often start abusing the drug as teenagers. Their parents and grandparents usually abuse and often distribute the drug. According to the New Mexico Department of Health, Rio Arriba County has the highest per capita drug-caused death rates in the state.
Methamphetamine is abused at high levels in Farmington, Kirtland, and Bloomfield (San Juan County); Deming, Lordsburg, and Silver City (southwest New Mexico); and Artesia, Carlsbad, Roswell, Lovington, and Hobbs (southeast New Mexico). High levels of methamphetamine abuse in Farmington and San Juan County have also negatively impacted the nearby Navajo Indian Reservation, which straddles New Mexico and Arizona.
Mexican DTOs and criminal groups--the primary money launderers in the New Mexico HIDTA region--often smuggle bulk quantities of cash and monetary instruments generated through their drug trafficking activities into Mexico using private and commercial vehicles. Bulk proceeds from other drug markets such as Chicago and Denver also transit the New Mexico HIDTA region en route to Mexico. DTOs also smuggle bulk drug proceeds from the HIDTA region into Mexico using private and commercial aircraft and express shipping services. Once in Mexico, the proceeds are typically deposited into Mexican financial institutions, including casas de cambio (exchange houses) and banks, for eventual physical transport back to the United States or electronic movement through wire transfers and are subsequently declared as legal funds. Other criminal groups, street gangs, OMGs, prison gangs, and independent dealers also transport drug proceeds in bulk from the region, but to a lesser extent than Mexican DTOs and criminal groups.
Mexican and other DTOs and criminal groups exploit traditional financial institutions and money services businesses (MSBs) in the New Mexico HIDTA region by transferring vast sums of illicit funds to international locations, including Mexico. Over 200 financial institutions are located in Las Cruces, including banks and other MSBs. Many of these businesses operate from private residences, are uninsured, and are used solely for laundering drug proceeds.
DTOs and criminal groups, primarily Mexican, in the New Mexico HIDTA region also launder drug proceeds through money transmittal businesses located in their own communities. Some transfer funds using small, local transmittal businesses or commercial businesses such as Western Union; others operate private transmittal businesses to further their criminal enterprises. Owners of the large number of money transmittal businesses in the HIDTA region serve the sizable Hispanic population in the area by legitimately wiring money to requesters' family members in Mexico, a situation that helps those who use the services for illicit purposes to more easily blend with the high volume of legal transfers.
Traffickers in the New Mexico HIDTA region also regularly launder illicit proceeds through a variety of other methods. They commonly commingle illicit proceeds with funds from legitimate businesses such as restaurants, automobile or tire shops, retail stores, and real estate companies; traffickers also purchase high-value assets with the funds and use gaming casinos to launder drug proceeds. They are also using the Internet more often to launder money via electronic pay systems or to transfer funds between accounts. The anonymity afforded by Internet transactions allows traffickers to launder drug proceeds with minimal risk of law enforcement detection.
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