National Drug Intelligence Center   Central Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2009   March 2009

Abuse

Marijuana is the primary illicit substance identified in treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in Florida; however, the most severe drug-related societal and personal consequences are often associated with powder and crack cocaine (the second most identified illicit substance in treatment admissions). According to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), the number of marijuana-related treatment admissions in Florida from 2003 through 2007 (the latest year for which data are available) exceeded the number of treatment admissions for the abuse of cocaine; other opiates, tranquilizers, and sedatives; heroin; or amphetamines (which include methamphetamine).15 (See Table 5.) Moreover, 46.6 percent of marijuana-related treatment admissions in 2007 involved individuals aged 12 to 17.

Source: Treatment Episode Data Set, as of January 7, 2009.
*Florida changed its methodology for reporting treatment admissions to TEDS between 2004 and 2005, resulting in a significant decline in the number of reported treatment admissions in 2005. (Public health officials believe that significant duplicate admissions were taking place under the prior reporting mechanism.) As such, trend analysis cannot be conducted for years prior to 2005.

CPDs are increasingly available and frequently abused in the Central Florida HIDTA region. The most commonly abused CPDs are Darvon, methadone, morphine, OxyContin, Valium, Vicodin, and Xanax. Law enforcement officials in the Central Florida HIDTA region report that the availability and abuse of CPDs are significant threats because of the associated death rates. Florida medical examiner data reveal that the number of deaths associated with CPDs, used either alone or in combination with other drugs,16 exceeded the number of deaths associated with cocaine and heroin in the Central Florida HIDTA counties of Hillsborough, Orange, Osceola, Pinellas, Polk, Seminole, and Volusia during 2007 (the latest full year for which data are available). (See Table 6.) Moreover, law enforcement and public health officials in the region report that the average age of CPD abusers in the region is decreasing.

Source: Florida Department of Law Enforcement; Florida Medical Examiners.

Methamphetamine, ODDs, and heroin are abused at low to moderate levels throughout most of the Central Florida HIDTA region. Law enforcement officials report that most methamphetamine abusers are Caucasian and that methamphetamine abuse levels, while low, are increasing because of the rising availability of high-purity ice methamphetamine. ODDs available in the region, particularly MDMA, are generally abused in combination with other substances, including alcohol, cocaine, and marijuana. MDMA is most commonly used by youths in the region. Heroin is abused by a wide variety of individuals; availability and abuse are stable at low to moderate levels.

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Illicit Finance

The movement of illicit proceeds from wholesale drug distribution in the Central Florida HIDTA region typically involves the transportation of bulk currency from the region to the Southwest Border, southern Florida, the Caribbean, or South America. Mexican DTOs and Hispanic criminal groups are the primary transporters of bulk currency, often concealing it in the same private and commercial vehicles used to transport drugs into the area. DTOs that transport wholesale and midlevel drug quantities often use criminal groups to transport bulk currency to money laundering cells in southern Florida. The drug proceeds are then laundered through financial institutions and other methods, such as the Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE).17

Traffickers operating in the Central Florida HIDTA region also launder proceeds from drug distribution by purchasing real estate and luxury items, using money services businesses, structuring bank deposits, and commingling drug proceeds with revenue generated by cash-intensive businesses such as auto repair shops, auto dealerships, auto auctions, and hair salons. For instance, Cuban DTOs frequently invest drug profits in residential properties that they use to house indoor cannabis grow sites in the region. Retail-level distributors in the HIDTA region typically use their drug proceeds to purchase tangible items such as real estate, vehicles, and jewelry.

Footnotes

15. Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) data are available only at the state level; thus, the number of admissions is not limited to the Central Florida HIDTA region but reflects the entire state of Florida.
16. More than one drug type may be associated with each deceased person because of mixed drug toxicities.
17. The Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE) system originated in the 1960s, when the Colombian Government banned the U.S. dollar with the intention of increasing the value of the Colombian peso and boosting the Colombian economy. The government also imposed high tariffs on imported U.S. goods, hoping to increase the demand for Colombia-produced goods. However, this situation created a black market for Colombian merchants seeking U.S. goods and cheaper U.S. dollars. Those merchants possessed Colombian pesos in Colombia but wanted cheaper U.S. dollars (purchased under official exchange rates) in the United States to purchase goods to sell on the black market. Colombian traffickers had U.S. dollars in the United States--from the sale of illicit drugs--but needed Colombian pesos in Colombia. Consequently, peso brokers began to facilitate the transfer of U.S. drug proceeds to Colombian merchants, and business agreements were forged enabling those Colombian merchants to purchase U.S. dollars from traffickers in exchange for Colombian pesos. Although the ban on possession of U.S. dollars was later lifted, the black market system became ingrained in the Colombian economy, and Colombian drug traffickers continue to rely on this system to launder their U.S. drug proceeds.

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