Drug Threat Overview

Mexican DTOs dominate illicit drug distribution throughout the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. They have established trafficking networks that provide them with access from sources of supply in Mexico to key distribution centers in the HIDTA region, including Colorado Springs, Denver, and Salt Lake City. Mexican DTOs use these distribution centers to supply illicit drugs to smaller cities in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region, such as Billings, Montana, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, as well as to markets in the Midwest and the eastern United States. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups also exploit remote areas throughout the HIDTA region to further their trafficking operations. For example, Mexican traffickers use ranches in rural areas to store significant quantities of illicit drugs prior to transport to smaller cities within the HIDTA region and as consolidation points for currency derived from drug sales.

Mexican DTOs have supplied the HIDTA region with a continuous and abundant supply of low-cost, high-purity ice methamphetamine, offsetting significant declines in local powder methamphetamine production that have occurred over the past 3 years. This abundant supply coupled with high levels of demand renders methamphetamine the greatest overall drug threat to the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. Methamphetamine-related treatment admissions to publicly funded treatment facilities in the area exceed admissions for any other illicit drug. Moreover, methamphetamine abuse in the region contributes to high levels of drug-related crimes such as automobile theft, burglary, currency counterfeiting, forgery, and home invasion, which abusers typically commit to obtain money to support their addictions.

The distribution and abuse of powder and crack cocaine also are significant drug threats, particularly in urban areas of the region. Mexican DTOs have increased the availability of cocaine in some areas of the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region--Colorado (Aurora, Colorado Springs, Denver, and Greeley), Utah (Provo, Ogden, and Salt Lake City), and Montana (Bozeman)--by supplying members of Hispanic street gangs and independent dealers with powder cocaine, which is often converted to crack cocaine. Hispanic street gangs are aggressively expanding their crack cocaine distribution operations in Denver and Aurora. The availability of cocaine (both powder and crack) is increasing in some rural areas of the region, such as southeastern Colorado and central and southeastern Montana.

To Top      To Contents

Mexican black tar and brown powder heroin availability and abuse are rising in some areas of the region, increasing the threat posed by the drug. Historically, heroin distribution and abuse were limited to metropolitan areas, but currently many drug task forces throughout the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region are reporting increased availability and demand for heroin. Law enforcement and public health authorities in Colorado Springs and Denver; Helena, Montana; Provo, Salt Lake City, and St. George, Utah; and western Wyoming have reported increased heroin distribution and abuse in their jurisdictions. This increase is due, in part, to the emergence of new user groups. Some prescription narcotics abusers, who are unable to obtain diverted narcotics, are switching to heroin. Additionally, teenagers in Boulder County, Colorado, are beginning to use "cheese," the drug combination containing Mexican black tar heroin and the crushed tablets of common OTC medications.

Marijuana is the most frequently abused illicit drug in much of the HIDTA region. Most of the marijuana available in the region is commercial-grade Mexican marijuana; however, the amount of high-potency marijuana smuggled from Canada is increasing. Cannabis is also being grown at indoor sites in the region. Mexican DTOs and Mexican criminal groups are the primary traffickers of Mexican marijuana; they also cultivate cannabis at outdoor sites on public lands and in other remote areas of the region, such as southeastern Colorado and southwestern Utah. Caucasian and Hispanic local independent dealers and Asian criminal groups are the primary cultivators of cannabis, typically grown indoors, that becomes high-potency marijuana.

The availability and abuse of MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as ecstasy) have made a substantial resurgence, particularly in major cities in the HIDTA region. In the Denver metropolitan area, drug task force officers report increasing MDMA distribution by Asian criminal groups, Asian gangs, and Caucasian distributors, who are routinely supplying MDMA in large quantities. Aurora officials also report that the increasing use of MDMA is causing a rebirth of rave-type activities--smaller gatherings that are less publicized than they had been in the past. At a recent rave event, officers seized over 15,000 dosage units of MDMA from four sources and made so many arrests that the police had difficulty supplying enough officers to transport the arrested individuals. Colorado Springs law enforcement officers report that MDMA distribution by heavily armed African American dealers is a growing threat to the Colorado Springs jurisdiction; these independent dealers had previously confined their drug distribution activities to powder and crack cocaine. Law enforcement authorities in Salt Lake City also report a resurgence of MDMA distribution and abuse.

The threats posed by diverted pharmaceuticals and other dangerous drugs (ODDs) vary throughout the HIDTA region. Law enforcement agencies in Colorado and Utah report that abuse of diverted pharmaceuticals, particularly OxyContin (oxycodone) and methadone, has been increasing and that many prescription narcotics abusers are transitioning to heroin abuse because of the wide availability and low cost of Mexican black tar heroin. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation Pueblo Region Laboratory noted an increase in psilocybin mushroom investigations during the last 6 months of 2006. The Larimer County and North Metro Task Forces (both north of Denver) report that psilocybin mushrooms are being discovered more often among other drugs during drug interdiction arrests. Law enforcement reporting indicates that these mushrooms are grown in the Boulder area. Additionally, ODDs, including LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), ketamine, steroids, and GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate) are available and abused to a limited extent, primarily in metropolitan areas of the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. Most LSD available in the HIDTA region is produced in California and transported to Colorado. Ketamine and steroids typically are smuggled from Mexico or mailed to the region as a result of Internet transactions. Caucasian college and high school students are the principal retail distributors and abusers of ODDs.

To Top      To Contents     To Previous Page     To Next Page

To Publications Page     To Home Page