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National Drug Intelligence
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Opioids--including heroin, primarily SA heroin, and diverted prescription narcotics such as OxyContin and Percocet (both oxycodone) and Vicodin (hydrocodone)--collectively pose the greatest drug threat to the NE HIDTA region, according to law enforcement and public health officials. Opioid abuse in the region is driven in part by an increasing number of prescription narcotics abusers who are switching to heroin because of its higher potency and greater affordability. Heroin prices at the street level reportedly decreased substantially in some primary drug distribution centers over the past year. Heroin abuse is widespread in New England and now encompasses a wide cross-section of individuals, including chronic abusers in urban areas, residents of suburban and rural communities, and young adults and teenagers who switched to heroin after initially abusing prescription narcotics. Moreover, the number of heroin-related treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in the region exceeded admissions for all other illicit substances combined from 2003 through 2006, the latest year for which such data are available.
Other illicit drugs also pose significant threats to the NE HIDTA region. Cocaine, particularly crack, is commonly abused in some parts of the region, mainly inner-city neighborhoods in Boston, Massachusetts; Bridgeport, Hartford, and New Haven, Connecticut; and Providence, Rhode Island. Crack availability has also expanded in many northern New England cities, such as Burlington, Vermont; Manchester, New Hampshire; and Portland, Maine, largely because African American and Hispanic criminal groups and street gangs from southern New England states and New York City have increased distribution in those areas. Cocaine availability decreased in some parts of the region during the spring of 2007 as a result of large seizures of cocaine in transit to the United States, successful law enforcement efforts against prominent Mexican DTOs, violent conflicts in Mexico between competing Mexican DTOs, and increased demand for cocaine in non-U.S. markets. During this period some drug markets in New England reported sustained cocaine shortages and higher prices; however, availability and prices in most markets in which these changes occurred appear to be returning to normal levels. Marijuana abuse is pervasive throughout the HIDTA region. High-potency marijuana from domestic and Canadian suppliers and commercial-grade Mexican marijuana are readily available.
Methamphetamine is a relatively low threat to the NE HIDTA region--one of the few areas in the country where the drug is not a significant threat. Powder methamphetamine production is limited in New England and typically involves Caucasian abusers who produce personal use quantities of the drug. Distributors in southwestern states and Canada supply limited amounts of ice methamphetamine to the NE HIDTA region. Additionally, increasing quantities of methamphetamine tablets are becoming available in the NE HIDTA region; some are sold as MDMA to unwitting abusers. Recent indicators suggest that methamphetamine abuse in some parts of New England may be increasing; drug treatment programs located in the northern counties of Vermont report an increase in methamphetamine abuse and availability, and law enforcement officials in Maine report an increase in methamphetamine-related arrests.
The threat that other dangerous drugs (ODDs) pose to the NE HIDTA region is mixed; MDMA distribution and abuse are increasing in some areas, while the abuse of GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate), ketamine, LSD, PCP, and psilocybin mushrooms is stable at low levels. The distribution and abuse of steroids, human growth hormone (HGH), and other prescription pharmaceuticals, which are often purchased by abusers through the Internet from domestic and foreign distributors, pose additional threats to the region. In 2007 the largest steroid and HGH enforcement action in U.S. history was linked to distributors in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island as well as to distributors in other states and foreign countries.
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In September 2007 "Operation Raw Deal," an international
enforcement effort and the largest steroid enforcement action in U.S. history,
targeted the global illicit trade of anabolic steroids, HGH, and insulin growth
factor (IGF). This investigation focused on raw material manufacturers and
suppliers in China and other countries; underground anabolic laboratories in the
United States, Canada, and Mexico; approximately 100 web sites that advertised
the sale and distribution of materials; and Internet bodybuilding discussion
boards that were the catalysts for individuals to learn how to illicitly use,
locate, and discreetly purchase performance-enhancing drugs. U.S. law
enforcement agencies seized 56 steroid laboratories across the United States,
11.4 million steroid dosage units, and 242 kilograms of raw steroid powder of
Chinese origin. They also arrested distributors who operated nationwide, some in
the states of Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The U.S. operation
was coordinated with enforcement efforts in Australia, Belgium, Canada, China,
Denmark, Germany, Mexico, Sweden, and Thailand. |
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