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Strategic Drug Threat Developments

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HIDTA Overview

The NE HIDTA region comprises 13 counties in 6 states; approximately 8.7 million individuals reside in the region. (See Figure 1.) Nine of the HIDTA counties are located in Massachusetts and Connecticut, with the remaining four located in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, respectively. Two primary drug distribution centers are located within the NE HIDTA region--the Hartford, Connecticut/Springfield, Massachusetts, area in the west and the Lowell/Lawrence, Massachusetts, area in the east. Drug traffickers operating in these distribution centers supply most consumer markets in the HIDTA region. The Providence, Rhode Island/Fall River, Massachusetts, area is a secondary distribution center that supplies communities in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, an area that is located outside the NE HIDTA region. Boston, Massachusetts, New England's largest city, is predominantly a consumer market; it is supplied primarily by distributors operating from Lawrence, Lowell, and New York, New York. Some Boston-based distributors sell drugs in communities located in the surrounding metropolitan area, including Braintree, Cambridge, Chelsea, Framingham, Lynn, Quincy, and Weymouth (all in Massachusetts) as well as in Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

The NE HIDTA region's proximity to New York City and the eastern provinces of Canada facilitates drug smuggling to the region. New York City, the largest drug market in the eastern United States, is the source for most of the SA heroin, cocaine, and commercial-grade marijuana available in New England; traffickers in New York City also are supplying khat to members of Somali communities in Maine and Massachusetts. Moreover, traffickers are increasingly smuggling cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and small quantities of methamphetamine directly from southwestern states to the region, particularly Massachusetts. Additionally, Atlanta has recently emerged as a source city for cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transported to the region, and Florida has emerged as a source for cocaine, diverted pharmaceuticals, and MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as ecstasy).

Canada-based traffickers, who operate primarily from Montreal and Toronto, smuggle significant quantities of marijuana, MDMA, and prescription drugs to the region; they are also smuggling increasing quantities of synthetic drug tablets/capsules that contain multiple substances in various combinations. Moreover, traffickers use the NE HIDTA region as a transit zone for drug shipments from Canada destined for other regions of the United States and for drug shipments (primarily cocaine), drug proceeds, and weapons from the United States destined for Canada.

 
Drug Tablet/Capsule Combinations and Their Potential Impact on Abusers

Drug tablets/capsules often contain multiple ingredients in various combinations, including substances such as MDMA, MDA (3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine), methamphetamine, amphetamine, BZP (1-benzylpiperazine), caffeine, ephedrine, ketamine, LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), OMPP (ortho-methoxyphenylpiperazine), PCP (phencyclidine), procaine, pseudoephedrine, and TFMPP (trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine). Some synthetic drug tablets available in the NE HIDTA region are presented as MDMA but actually contain methamphetamine--or methamphetamine and MDMA in combination.a "Mimic" ecstasy tablets containing a combination of heroin, cocaine, and caffeine have also been reported in other regions of the United States. The extent of mimic ecstasy production is not fully known. Testing of seized tablets by law enforcement officials would assist in quantifying this threat.


a. Some laboratory operators who produce synthetic drugs custom-blend drug tablets and capsules in order to provide abusers with a specific physiological effect, and they use information about that effect as a marketing tool. Moreover, methamphetamine, which is less costly to produce, has been used as an adulterant/additive to MDMA tablets for several years. MDMA producers sometimes add methamphetamine during MDMA manufacturing to stretch their supplies and increase their profit margins. Methamphetamine is often more readily available to laboratory operators and less expensive than pure MDMA. Because the chemical structure of MDMA is similar to that of methamphetamine and the two drugs produce similar stimulant effects, producers can sell combination MDMA/methamphetamine tablets to an unsuspecting MDMA user population.
 

Drug-related violence is increasing throughout much of the HIDTA region, largely because of the proliferation of street gangs, which operate in every New England state. Street gangs are particularly active in major and midsize cities, where they often engage in violent intergang struggles over drug distribution territories.


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