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National Drug Threat Assessment 2007
October 2006

Appendix C. OCDETF Regional Summaries

New York/New Jersey Regional Overview

Regional Overview

The New York/New Jersey Region is composed of the entire states of New York and New Jersey. The New York High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) and portions of the Philadelphia/Camden HIDTA are represented in the region, as are five U.S. Attorney Districts. The region is densely populated and includes approximately 28 million individuals--9.4 percent of the U.S. population. New York City is the most significant drug market in the region and one of the largest in the United States. The region shares a 445-mile border with Canada, which serves as a major conduit for drug smuggling. Secondary markets in the region include Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany in New York and Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth, Trenton, and Camden in New Jersey.

Drug Threat Overview

Cocaine and heroin pose the most serious threats to the New York/New Jersey OCDETF Region (NY/NJ Region). Cocaine is frequently abused throughout the region, and crack cocaine poses an increasing problem to urban areas where its sale has become the primary source of income for several violent street gangs. Heroin abuse is extensive in the region and is rapidly spreading to new and younger populations. Young adults in New Jersey, where the purest heroin in the country is sold, are abusing heroin at a rate more than twice the national average. Marijuana is the most commonly abused drug in the NY/NJ Region, and availability of high potency hydroponic marijuana is increasing. Crystal methamphetamine poses a lesser, yet increasing, threat; the drug is rising in popularity and may soon spread to a wider abuser population. MDMA, diverted pharmaceuticals, and ODDs are a concern but, overall, pose a low threat.

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Strategic Regional Developments

  • Mexican DTOs are transporting an increasing amount of the cocaine and heroin available in the NY/NJ Region and are taking a more significant role in distributing drugs within the region. Their growing involvement has led to a larger volume of drugs being transported to the region overland, mostly from the Southwest Border area, and a significant decline in the amount of drugs being transported from Florida.

  • Venezuela is increasingly serving as a departure area for cocaine and South American heroin transported by Colombian DTOs to the region. This development results from some trafficking groups moving their bases of operations from Colombia to Venezuela to avoid increasing law enforcement scrutiny.

  • Many Colombian and Dominican DTOs that once stored large quantities of cocaine and heroin in New York City are now stashing the drugs in suburban areas outside the city and bringing smaller amounts into the city on an as-needed basis.

  • Members of the Bloods street gang are moving from northern New Jersey to Camden to sell illicit drugs, primarily cocaine and heroin. This has led to increased violence in that part of the region.

  • Heroin seemingly is becoming an increasing threat to the region. Abuse is increasing, particularly among youth, and is spreading throughout all demographic classes. In New Jersey heroin abuse has risen among youth to the point where rates of abuse among young adults are more than twice the national average.

  • South American heroin is being transported to the region in larger quantities. An interdiction of several kilograms, once considered large by law enforcement, is now considered average.

  • Heroin purity in southern New Jersey (although still among the highest in the nation) has declined, causing local abusers to seek alternative methods of use, such as injecting increased amounts, injecting more frequently, or simultaneously abusing other drugs, such as fentanyl or alcohol--combinations that sometimes lead to overdose deaths.

  • Italian organized crime groups are increasingly producing high-grade, hydroponic marijuana on Long Island because of the tremendous profit margin and lower penalties for possession and distribution associated with the drug.

  • Buffalo has become a major entry point for hydroponic marijuana being transported into the United States from Canada. Various traffickers are bringing the drug in private vehicles across the Peace Bridge and transporting it to markets throughout the New York/New Jersey Region and to cities in other regions.

  • The abuse of crystal methamphetamine21 is increasing within the gay male community and nightclub scene of New York City. Law enforcement and treatment personnel are monitoring this situation closely because these segments of society have long been on the cutting edge of drug trends that later spread to the general population.

  • Asian DTOs, primarily Vietnamese and Chinese DTOs, are smuggling MDMA into the region from Canada, using networks previously established for the distribution of Canadian marijuana.

Variations From National Trends

  • Heroin poses a more serious threat to the NY/NJ Region than it does to most other regions of the country. The heroin consumed in the NY/NJ Region is among the purest in the nation because of a consistent high level of direct smuggling from Colombia to the region; in New Jersey rates of abuse among young adults are more than twice the national average.

  • Some heroin abusers in the region are simultaneously abusing other drugs, such as fentanyl or alcohol--combinations that are beginning to emerge in other parts of the country and that have led to a number of overdose deaths in the NY/NJ Region.

  • Significant quantities of high potency marijuana are smuggled to and through the NY/NJ Region from Canada, particularly through the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation, which straddles the Northern Border. Canada-based DTOs transport drugs through the reservation because the risk of law enforcement interdiction there is lower. Further, demand and availability of marijuana, principally high potency marijuana, continue to increase in the NY/NJ Region.

  • The threat posed by methamphetamine, while increasing nationally, is low in the NY/NJ Region--one of the few areas in the country where methamphetamine does not pose a significant problem. Only small amounts of methamphetamine are produced in the region; most of the methamphetamine available in the area is transported from California and southwestern states.


End Note

21. Law enforcement and treatment authorities in the region use the term crystal methamphetamine to refer to both powder methamphetamine that has been recrystallized and high purity ice methamphetamine. Recrystallized powder is the form most commonly found in the region.


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