Outlook

Local methamphetamine production in the Michigan HIDTA region is likely to further decrease with continued law enforcement pressure, pseudoephedrine sales restrictions, and preventive products (including GloTell and Chemical Lock). In the near term, it is likely that Mexican traffickers will supplant the decline in local production by supplying methamphetamine that they produce in Mexico.

Heroin use among young, middle-class Caucasians, particularly females, is likely to further increase as prescription narcotics abusers substitute heroin when they have difficulty obtaining pharmaceuticals. Compounding this problem will be rising casual heroin use among middle-class Caucasians. These abusers, who typically have stable employment and health insurance, will increasingly seek treatment, potentially straining local drug treatment facilities.

The availability of clandestinely produced fentanyl in the HIDTA region will decrease significantly, a result of the 2006 seizure of a laboratory in Toluca, Mexico, that had produced the fentanyl supplied to the HIDTA region. As a result, the number of overdoses and deaths associated with heroin/fentanyl combinations and cocaine/fentanyl combinations will continue to decrease from their peak in mid-2006. However, if a new source of clandestinely produced fentanyl emerges, traffickers will almost certainly make the drug available in heroin and cocaine markets in the HIDTA region, resulting in a new wave of overdoses and deaths.

Criminal activities currently associated with the Chaldean criminals, particularly drug distribution, fraud, and money laundering, may increase in the Michigan HIDTA region during the coming year because several thousand Iraqi refugees (including some Chaldeans) are likely to relocate to the Detroit area.

To Top      To Contents     To Previous Page     To Sources

To Publications Page     To Home Page