To Contents
To Previous Page
To Sources
To Publications Page
To Home Page
U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center
Midwest HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010
May 2010
Primary Markets
Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri
Omaha, Nebraska
St. Louis, Missouri
Des Moines/Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Secondary Markets
Fargo/Grand Forks, North Dakota
Sioux City, Iowa/Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Springfield, Missouri
Wichita, Kansas, Area
The Midwest HIDTA region contains several primary drug market areas, including the Kansas City, Omaha, St. Louis, and Des Moines/Cedar Rapids metropolitan areas and a number of secondary markets, including Fargo/Grand Forks, Sioux City/Sioux Falls, Springfield, and Wichita. (See Figure 5.) Individual market discussions are intended to augment the overall discussion of drug trafficking and abuse in the Midwest HIDTA region, highlighting localized trends and deviations. The general drug situation in the Midwest HIDTA region applies to an individual market unless otherwise stated.
The Kansas City metropolitan area includes Clay, Jackson, and Platte Counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas and has a combined population of almost 1.6 million. Kansas City is located near the geographic center of the United States at the intersection of several of the nation's busiest highways (Interstates 29, 35, and 70), making it a major transshipment point for illicit drugs and drug proceeds to, from, and between significant market areas in the West (Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas), the Midwest (Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska), and the East (Illinois, Michigan, New York).
The Kansas City metropolitan area is also a significant consumer market. Combating crack cocaine distribution and abuse consumes public resources in the inner city of Kansas City, while methamphetamine distribution and abuse are the major drug problems in outlying areas. African American crack distributors frequently obtain powder cocaine for conversion from Mexican and Hispanic midlevel dealers located in the northeast section of Kansas City, Missouri, and from Mexican wholesale and midlevel dealers in Kansas City, Kansas. Mexican wholesale and midlevel dealers are typically supplied by sources in the El Paso, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Tucson areas. Mexican wholesale and midlevel dealers typically distribute methamphetamine in outlying and suburban areas of the metropolitan area; most of the methamphetamine available and abused is Mexican ice methamphetamine. While the quantity of heroin available in the market is not comparable to that of methamphetamine or cocaine, the availability of the drug has greatly increased in the Kansas City metropolitan area since 2007. Oxycodone and hydrocodone are the most commonly abused controlled prescription narcotics. Law enforcement officials report CPD abuse is increasing, particularly among Caucasians ages 16 to 24.
Drug-related violent crime poses a problem in the Kansas City metropolitan area. African American and Hispanic street gangs are the primary perpetrators, and both rely on illicit drug distribution for revenue. African American gangs are dominant; while many of these gangs claim Bloods or Crips affiliation, they are local and tend to be loosely organized and based on neighborhood affiliations. Hispanic street gangs are increasing in number and are more organized and tied to nationally affiliated gangs such as Sureņos and F-13.
The Omaha metropolitan area, which includes the city of Omaha and Douglas and Sarpy Counties in Nebraska, and Pottawattamie County in Iowa, is located on the eastern Nebraska border along the Missouri River and has a combined population of over 670,000. Interstates 29 and 80 intersect in the Omaha metropolitan area, providing drug traffickers easy access to the Kansas City metropolitan area and national drug markets in California and southwestern states. Omaha is a regional distribution center for illicit drugs--cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana are distributed from Omaha to neighboring states, including Iowa and South Dakota.
Mexican DTOs and criminal groups transport wholesale quantities of methamphetamine, powder cocaine, and marijuana to and through Omaha from distribution hubs in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, and numerous Southwest region cities, including Phoenix, Tucson, San Diego, and Los Angeles. In addition, Mexican DTOs maintain connections throughout many smaller Nebraska towns near Omaha, such as Fremont, Grand Island, Lexington, and Norfolk, where large numbers of Mexican nationals have sought employment in meat packing and poultry processing plants. Mexican DTOs use their connections in these cities to smuggle illicit drugs into the Omaha metropolitan area.
Mexican DTOs have supplanted locally produced methamphetamine with Mexican ice methamphetamine in Omaha and surrounding counties. While Mexican methamphetamine availability has remained relatively stable in Omaha, law enforcement officials in areas supplied by Omaha report that the purity of Mexican methamphetamine was low during 2009. As a result, some users seeking a "better" high switched back to locally produced methamphetamine or cocaine.
The St. Louis metropolitan area, which includes the city of St. Louis and St. Louis, Jefferson, Franklin, and St. Charles Counties, is located in east central Missouri along the Mississippi River. St. Louis is a significant consumer market and also serves as a transshipment and distribution hub for Mexican traffickers who supply cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine throughout Missouri and to markets in other states, including Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. The convergence of Interstates 44, 55, 64, and 70 in St. Louis provides easy access for distributors to transport illicit drugs from the Southwest Border to St. Louis and markets outside the HIDTA region.
Mexican DTOs in St. Louis have primary sources of supply in Phoenix, and Tucson; they also acquire heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana from sources in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, El Paso, Houston, and Los Angeles. Local law enforcement investigations have also discovered that Mexican traffickers operating in St. Louis frequently have connections in Chicago, Memphis, and New York City.
Heroin and crack distribution and abuse are major drug problems in St. Louis; however, law enforcement officials report that since 2008, cocaine availabilityj in the metropolitan area has declined while heroin availability has increased. White powder heroin (origin often unknown and grey in color) and Mexican black tar heroin and brown powder heroin are all available in St. Louis, although the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Laboratory reports that most submissions in 2009 were of white powder heroin. Investigations in St. Louis have revealed that Chicago is the source of supply for the majority of white powder available and that Oakland and Sacramento, California, also serve as sources of supply for black tar heroin.
Methamphetamine is rarely encountered in the city of St. Louis, but it is the primary drug problem in surrounding counties, including St. Louis County. Methamphetamine production remains relatively high in eastern and southern Missouri, particularly in the areas adjacent to St. Louis. (See Map 1.) According to law enforcement officials, laboratory operators in these locations travel to neighboring counties and states to purchase large amounts of precursor chemicals and return to the area to manufacture methamphetamine.
Map 1. Methamphetamine Laboratory Seizures in Missouri, by County, 2009
Source: National Seizure System, data run March 2010
Cedar Rapids is the second-largest city in Iowa and is located in the eastern part of the state on the Cedar River in Linn County, which has a population of over 197,000. Cedar Rapids is primarily a consumer market for illicit drugs, but some cocaine and marijuana are supplied from Cedar Rapids to neighboring cities in Iowa, particularly Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and Dubuque.
The Des Moines metropolitan area, which includes the city of Des Moines as well as the rest of Polk County, has almost 375,000 residents. The highway infrastructure in the Des Moines area facilitates the transportation of illicit drugs and drug proceeds to and from the area. Interstates 35 and 80 intersect in Polk County northeast of Des Moines and are the principal highways that serve the area. Des Moines is primarily a consumer market, but Mexican DTOs also use Des Moines as a transshipment center for ice methamphetamine destined for northeastern markets.
Crack cocaine distribution and abuse are significant drug concerns to law enforcement and public health officials in Cedar Rapids, while law enforcement officials in Des Moines consider ice methamphetamine to be the greatest drug threat. Chicago serves as a major source of all drugs supplying both cities and Chicago-based street gangs, primarily Latin Kings, Gangster Disciples, and Vice Lords, which dominate the retail distribution of crack and powder cocaine in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. Additionally, law enforcement officials representing the cities report an increase in local methamphetamine production, and officials in Des Moines report use of the one-pot method in 2009.
The Fargo/Grand Forks area includes Cass, Grand Forks, Ramsey, Richland, and Walsh Counties in North Dakota. The population of the area's five counties is approximately 215,000, roughly one-third of the total population of the state. The Fargo/Grand Forks area is primarily a consumer market for illicit drugs; however, it does serve as a distribution center for small communities in eastern and central North Dakota.
Cocaine and methamphetamine distribution and abuse are significant drug concerns to law enforcement and public health officials in Fargo and Grand Forks. State and local law enforcement officials in Fargo report that ice methamphetamine was limited in availability and low in purity during 2009, which contributed to an increase in local methamphetamine production. Powder cocaine availability increased in Grand Forks in the first half of 2009, and law enforcement officials in the area increasingly reported encountering diverted CPDs during 2009. Despite the proximity of the Fargo/Grand Forks area to Canada, Mexican commercial-grade marijuana is more available than Canadian high-potency marijuana. However, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation reported an increase in high-potency marijuana availability in both cities in 2009.
The Sioux City/Sioux Falls area--which includes Woodbury County, Iowa; Dakota County, Nebraska; and Clay, Lincoln, Minnehaha, Union, and Yankton Counties, South Dakota--is located along the I-29 corridor in northwestern Iowa (Sioux City), northeastern Nebraska (South Sioux City), and southeastern South Dakota (Sioux Falls). Sioux City/Sioux Falls is a regional distribution center for methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, and MDMA; these drugs are distributed from the area to markets in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Mexican criminal groups transport wholesale quantities of methamphetamine, marijuana, and powder cocaine, and limited quantities of Mexican black tar heroin to the area from California and Arizona as well as from Omaha. Mexican wholesale traffickers sell methamphetamine and other illicit drugs to Mexican and Caucasian midlevel dealers, who in turn sell the drugs to the area's retail distributors. Caucasian independent dealers are the primary retail distributors in the Sioux City/Sioux Falls area; African American, Mexican, and Native American independent dealers also distribute drugs at the retail level. In addition, law enforcement officials in Sioux Falls report that Asian criminal groups are transporting methamphetamine to the metropolitan area from Worthington, Minnesota.
The distribution and abuse of crack cocaine, powder cocaine, and methamphetamine are significant drug problems in the Sioux City/Sioux Falls area and are frequently associated with violent and property crimes. It is anticipated that crack cocaine availability will temporarily decline in 2010 as the result of the arrests of six Chicago street gang members in late 2009 who were supplying much of the drug. The Sioux Falls Metro Gang Task Force reports an increasing Hispanic gang population active in methamphetamine distribution. CPD diversion and abuse increased in the Sioux Falls area in 2009.
Springfield, with a population of more than 150,000, is the county seat of Greene County and is situated along I-44, which connects Springfield to St. Louis and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Springfield is a consumer market and a state distribution center. Mexican traffickers transport wholesale quantities of ice methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana from Fayetteville, Arkansas; Bakersfield, California; Phoenix, and Texas to Springfield for distribution. Cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine are distributed from Springfield to areas throughout Missouri.
Ice methamphetamine and crack cocaine distribution and abuse are major drug threats to Springfield and are frequently associated with violent crimes. A slight increase in high-potency marijuana availability and abuse is attributed to the large college population in Springfield that typically prefers this type of marijuana and increased seizures of small-scale cannabis grows (both indoor and outdoor) in the Springfield area in 2009. In addition, area law enforcement officials report an increase in local methamphetamine production, including the use of the one-pot method, which resulted in several fires. Local law enforcement officials also report that CPD abuse is a growing concern in the area.
The Wichita metropolitan area, which includes Wichita as well as the rest of Sedgwick County, has more than 450,000 residents and is located in south central Kansas. Situated at the intersection of I-35 and US 54, two major drug transportation routes from the Southwest Border, Wichita is a drug distribution hub and a significant consumer market. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the principal transporters of most illicit drugs available in Wichita and Sedgwick County. Mexican ice methamphetamine, powder cocaine, and marijuana are distributed from Wichita to many southeast and south central Kansas towns. Asian criminal groups from Canada and Washington transport MDMA to Wichita, where it is distributed by Asian street gangs and criminals as well as by independent, college-age users.
j. Law enforcement officials in St. Louis report that cocaine availability has been variable since nationwide cocaine shortages in 2006 but has decreased since 2008. In addition, the number of cocaine submissions to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Laboratory declined in 2009.
UNCLASSIFIED
End of page.
