National Drug Intelligence Center   North 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).16 (See Table 5.) Moreover, 46.6 percent of marijuana-related treatment admissions in 2007 involved individuals aged 12 to 17 at the time of admission.

Source: Treatment Episode Data Set, as of February 17, 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 between these years. (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 widely available and frequently abused throughout the North Florida HIDTA region. The most widely available and commonly abused CPDs are methadone, morphine, OxyContin, Valium, Vicodin, and Xanax. Florida medical examiner data reveal that the number of deaths associated with the combined class of CPDs, used either alone or in combination with other drugs,17 exceeded the number of deaths associated with cocaine and heroin in the North Florida counties of Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam, and St. Johns from January through July 2008 (the latest period for which such data are available). (See Table 6.) Moreover, law enforcement and public health officials in the region report that the average age among CPD abusers in the region is decreasing.

Source: Florida Department of Law Enforcement; Florida Medical Examiner's Commission.
*January through July 2008.
**Prescription benzodiazepines include alprazolam and diazepam.
***Prescription narcotics include oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone, morphine, and propoxyphene.

Methamphetamine, ODDs, and heroin are abused at low levels throughout most of the North Florida HIDTA region. Methamphetamine abuse levels, while low, are increasing because of the rising availability of high-purity ice methamphetamine. Law enforcement officials report that most methamphetamine abusers are Caucasians. ODDs available in the region, particularly MDMA, are generally abused in combination with other substances, including alcohol, CPDs, cocaine, and marijuana. MDMA is most commonly used by youth. Heroin availability and abuse are stable at low levels.

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Illicit Finance

The movement of illicit drug proceeds in the North Florida HIDTA region typically involves the transportation of bulk currency from the region to the Southwest Border and southern Florida. Mexican DTOs and Hispanic criminal groups are the primary transporters of bulk currency and typically conceal it in the same private and commercial vehicles used to transport drugs into the area. Colombian DTOs use Colombian and Dominican criminal groups to transport bulk currency to money laundering cells in southern Florida. They, in turn, use financial institutions and other methods, such as the Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE), to launder drug proceeds.18

Traffickers operating in the North 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, construction companies, and hair salons. For instance, Cuban DTOs frequently reinvest 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. Moreover, some criminal groups and street gangs are investing in upstart record labels and recording studios.

Footnotes

16. Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) data are available only at the state level; thus, the number of admissions is not limited to the North Florida HIDTA region but reflects the entire state of Florida.
17. More than one drug type may be associated with each deceased person because of mixed drug toxicities.
18. 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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