(U) South Florida HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010 (UNCLASSIFIED)

Archived on: September 1, 2011. This document may contain dated information. It remains available to provide access to historical materials.

This assessment is an outgrowth of a partnership between the NDIC and HIDTA Program for preparation of annual assessments depicting drug trafficking trends and developments in HIDTA Program areas. The report has been coordinated with the HIDTA, is limited in scope to HIDTA jurisdictional boundaries, and draws upon a wide variety of sources within those boundaries.

Your questions, comments, and suggestions for future subjects are welcome at any time. Addresses are provided at the end of the page.

List of Figures

Figure 1. South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
Figure 2. South Florida HIDTA Transportation Corridors

List of Tables

Table 1. South Florida HIDTA Initiative Seizures, by Drug, in Kilograms, 2009
Table 2. Indoor Cannabis Cultivation Sites Seized and Plants Eradicated in South Florida HIDTA Counties, 2005-2009

Strategic Drug Threat Developments

The most significant drug threats to the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) region are the diversion, distribution, and abuse of controlled prescription drugs (CPDs), the distribution and abuse of cocaine, and indoor cannabis cultivation and subsequent distribution and abuse of marijuana. Rising heroin availability and abuse pose a serious threat as well. Local methamphetamine production is an emerging threat to the region. In addition, the South Florida HIDTA region is a major venue for laundering and moving billions of dollars in illicit drug proceeds, particularly through the Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE) and bulk cash smuggling.

The following are significant strategic drug threat developments in the South Florida HIDTA region:

The South Florida HIDTA region is a significant source area for CPDs, particularly opioid pain relievers,a diverted for distribution throughout much of the eastern United States. The hundreds of pain management clinics operating in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties attract drug seekers from many states, including Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The region is expected to remain a source area for CPDs in the near term, until statewide legislation aimed at curbing diversion from pain management clinics is successfully implemented.
National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) analysts expect that if actions to curb CPD diversion from pain management clinics in South Florida are successful, and the supply of prescription opioid pain relievers is disrupted, many prescription opioid users will switch to heroin. Heroin availability and abuse are low but increasing in the South Florida HIDTA region. Rising heroin availability is evidenced by increased heroin purity from 2007 through 2008, which may also have contributed to an observed increase in heroin-related deaths in the same period. In addition, the Center for the Study and Prevention of Substance Abuse (CSPSA) reports that an opiate epidemic involving prescription opioid pain relievers and heroin looms on the horizon for the new decade in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties.
Cocaine availability fluctuated in some parts of the South Florida HIDTA region in 2009 but remained at levels sufficient to support market demand. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Miami Field Division (MFD) reported lower cocaine availability and higher kilogram prices in the Greater Miami area at year-end 2009 than at year-end 2008.
Increased law enforcement efforts against urban, residential, indoor cannabis grow operations in the South Florida HIDTA region caused many growers to relocate their grow sites to suburban and rural communities (sometimes outside the South Florida HIDTA region), where they are harder to detect. Local cannabis cultivators are expected to continue to move their operations to areas that better shield their operations from law enforcement interdiction.
NDIC analysts anticipate the emergence of small-scale methamphetamine production in the region because of the local pseudoephedrine smurfingb occurring there and a rise in methamphetamine production in other areas of Florida.

To Top To Contents

Addresses

National Drug Intelligence Center
319 Washington Street, 5th Floor
Johnstown, PA 15901-1622

Tel. (814) 532-4601
FAX (814) 532-4690
E-mail NDIC.Contacts@usdoj.gov

Office of Policy and Interagency Affairs
U.S. Department of Justice
Robert F. Kennedy Building, Room 3341
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-2000

Telephone: (202) 532-4040
FAX (202) 514-4252

Web Addresses

ADNET: http://ndicosa.adnet.sgov.gov
DOJ: http://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/
LEO: https://www.leo.gov/http://leowcs.leopriv.gov/lesig/archive/ndic/index.htm
RISS: ndic.riss.net

Footnotes

a. Opioid pain relievers include codeine, fentanyl (Duragesic, Actiq), hydromorphone (Dilaudid), meperidine (Demerol), morphine (MS Contin), oxycodone (OxyContin, Roxicodone), methadone (Dolophine), and hydrocodone combinations (Vicodin, Lortab, and Lorcet).
b. Pseudoephedrine smurfing is a method used by some methamphetamine traffickers to acquire large quantities of precursor chemicals. Methamphetamine producers purchase the chemicals in quantities at or below the legal thresholds from multiple retail locations. Methamphetamine producers often enlist the assistance of several friends or associates in smurfing operations to increase the speed of production and the quantity of chemical acquired.

Questions and comments may be directed to Southeast/Florida/Caribbean Unit, Regional Threat Analysis Branch through NDIC.Contacts@usdoj.gov.

To Top To Contents To Next Page

To Publications Page To Home Page

UNCLASSIFIED

End of page.

Title:

South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2010

Publication Date: May 2010

Document ID: 2010-R0813-030