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National Drug Intelligence Center
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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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