National Drug Intelligence Center   Michigan High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2008   April 2008   UNCLASSIFIED

Abuse

Marijuana is the most widely abused illicit drug in the HIDTA region; however, cocaine poses a more significant concern to law enforcement and public health officials because of its highly addictive nature, the high number of abusers seeking publicly funded treatment, and the drug's common association with violent and property crime. Powder cocaine is typically abused by Caucasians and Hispanics in suburban areas of the region, while crack cocaine is most often abused by African Americans in urban areas.

Heroin abuse in the HIDTA region has been trending upward over the past few years. Heroin treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities increased by over 25 percent from 2003 (6,653) to 2007 (8,372). (See Table 3.) African Americans are the primary heroin abusers in the Michigan HIDTA region, particularly in Detroit. However, heroin abuse among young suburban and rural Caucasians, including females, has increased over the past few years. Many heroin abusers began opiate abuse with prescription narcotics and then switched to heroin, which is typically lower in price. Increased heroin abuse by young suburban and rural Caucasians may also be attributed, in part, to the purity level of heroin in Detroit; relatively high heroin purity in the region has enabled users to inhale the drug and avoid the stigma associated with injection. For example, in late 2007 law enforcement officials tested a heroin sample in Chesterfield Township (Macomb County) with a purity of 72 percent; another heroin sample obtained from the east side of Detroit was tested at over 65 percent purity. All heroin samples tested by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) through the Heroin Domestic Monitor Program in Detroit in 2007 were above 23 percent purity, while the purity of most samples exceeded 40 percent.

Table 3. Publicly Funded Treatment Admissions in the Michigan HIDTA Region, 2003-2007

Source: Michigan Department of Community Health.

Methamphetamine abuse typically occurs in the western HIDTA counties; Caucasians are the predominant abusers of the drug. Methamphetamine is most often smoked or snorted by individuals who also produce the drug locally in limited quantities. Treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities for methamphetamine in Michigan HIDTA counties have decreased by nearly 66 percent from 295 in 2005 to 101 in 2007, a trend concurrent with declining local methamphetamine production (see table 3).

MDMA availability and abuse are trending upward, particularly in the Detroit area. MDMA is abused throughout the region, most often by high school and college age individuals; however, African Americans are increasingly abusing the drug in Detroit, where it is often sold along with marijuana. MDMA treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities more than doubled from 2005 (23) to 2006 (52), and remained at that level in 2007. (See Table 3.) MDMA abuse typically occurs at small gatherings and parties; large "rave-style" gatherings are uncommon.

The availability and abuse of diverted pharmaceutical drugs are a significant problem in the Michigan HIDTA region. OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, and Soma are the more commonly abused pharmaceutical drugs. Methadone abuse is occurring; the drug is increasingly prescribed by doctors for pain treatment instead of OxyContin, which has a higher potential for abuse and has received a higher level of law enforcement attention. Publicly funded treatment admissions show that the abuse of some pharmaceutical drugs increased from 2003 to 2007 including those for opiates/synthetics (98 percent) and benzodiazepines (76 percent). (See Table 3.)

Pharmaceutical drugs are diverted for illicit use by abusers and distributors through various methods, including doctor-shopping, copied or scanned prescriptions, forged prescriptions, theft, and unscrupulous physicians. In Macomb County, numerous instances of prescription fraud are perpetrated by individuals who steal prescription pads and use a computer scanner to duplicate the pads with different doctors' telephone numbers. Other abusers steal large bottles of controlled substances directly from pharmacies. Abusers communicate on the Internet and in doctors' waiting rooms to identify distributors or doctors who will write illegal prescriptions. Some distributors recruit Medicaid patients by offering money in exchange for their prescriptions.

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