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

Strategic Drug Threat Developments

• Cocaine trafficking and abuse pose the greatest drug threat to the Central Florida HIDTA region. Cocaine is readily available throughout most of the region's drug markets because of the region's proximity to reliable international sources of supply.
   
• Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and associated Hispanic criminal groups are the dominant transporters and wholesale distributors of cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and ice methamphetamine in the Central Florida HIDTA region. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups also store a large number of firearms in the Tampa, Florida, area that they use to further their drug-related criminal activities and sell for profit.
   
• Cuban DTOs are satisfying a high and rising demand for high-potency marijuana in the region by cultivating significant amounts of cannabis at indoor grow sites; they are the primary indoor cannabis cultivators in the Central Florida HIDTA region. The number of indoor cannabis plants eradicated in the region increased from 2007 through 2008.
   
• The diversion, distribution, and abuse of controlled prescription drugs (CPDs) such as OxyContin (oxycodone), Vicodin (hydrocodone), and Valium (diazepam) are a significant and growing threat in the Central Florida HIDTA region.
   
• Distributors and abusers often travel to the Central Florida HIDTA region to illicitly obtain CPDs from numerous pain clinics and distributors. In fact, Tampa is a major source area for diverted CPDs distributed in the eastern United States. In addition, distributors and abusers throughout the United States illicitly obtain CPDs from Florida-based Internet pharmacies.

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HIDTA Overview

The Central Florida HIDTA region encompasses Hillsborough, Orange, Osceola, Pinellas, Polk, Seminole, and Volusia Counties. (See Figure 1.) Daytona Beach, Orlando, and Tampa/St. Petersburg are the primary drug markets in the Central Florida HIDTA region. Drug trafficking activities in these metropolitan areas have considerable influence on smaller drug markets in central Florida, such as Largo, Sanford, and Winter Haven.

The Central Florida HIDTA region has a large and increasing population that is racially/ethnically diverse;1 several of the region's metropolitan areas are among the fastest-growing in the country. The Hispanic population in the region, which is the fastest-growing segment, increased more than 60 percent from 557,315 in 2000 to an estimated 892,607 in 2007. (See Figure 2.) Many foreign nationals and/or immigrants have relocated to the region from drug source or transit countries such as Jamaica and Mexico as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, allowing drug traffickers to blend into local communities and conceal their illegal activities.

Figure 2. Estimated Hispanic Population Increase in Central Florida HIDTA Counties, 2000-2007

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The Central Florida HIDTA region has a highly developed transportation infrastructure composed of seaports, airports, and roadways (such as Interstates 4, 75, 95, and 275) that link it to drug source and transit areas as well as other domestic drug markets. (See Figure 3.) The Central Florida HIDTA region is one of the world's most popular vacation destinations; approximately 140,000 travelers arrive and depart daily by automobile, airplane, bus, train, and cruise ship. This high volume of traffic allows traffickers to transport drugs into and through the area with little risk of detection. In addition, millions of tons of commercial truck and maritime freight and parcels transit the region daily.

Figure 3. Central Florida HIDTA Transportation Infrastructure

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Footnote

1. According to U.S. Census Bureau data estimates for 2007 (the latest year for which such data are available), Caucasians account for 76 percent of the Central Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) population, followed by African Americans (14%), Hispanics (11%), Asians (3%), and other races (less than 1%).

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