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Illicit drug production in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region is typically limited to small-scale methamphetamine production, crack cocaine conversion, and outdoor and indoor cannabis cultivation. Local methamphetamine production has decreased significantly in the region in recent years, largely as a result of regulatory efforts to control precursor chemicals and successful law enforcement operations. In fact, according to National Seizure System (NSS) data, combined methamphetamine laboratory seizures in Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming HIDTA counties decreased 90 percent from 2003 (278) through 2007 (27).4 (See Figure 2.) However, some small-scale independent domestic powder methamphetamine producers are still active, producing only enough methamphetamine for personal use or limited distribution. Local powder methamphetamine production accounts for less than 10 percent of the methamphetamine available in the HIDTA region, especially in Denver and the Salt Lake City area.
Figure 2. Methamphetamine Laboratory Seizures in Rocky Mountain HIDTA Counties, 2003-2007
Source: National Seizure System, as of May 6, 2008.
Crack cocaine conversion is a significant concern throughout the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. Crack conversion is a particular threat in the large metropolitan areas of Aurora, Colorado Springs, Denver, Ogden, and Salt Lake City, where African American street gangs and independent dealers convert large amounts of powder cocaine. Crack cocaine conversion occurs primarily in residential settings, and retail distribution commonly takes place in surrounding neighborhoods.
Cannabis is cultivated extensively throughout the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region, primarily at outdoor grow sites in remote locations, on public lands, and in rural areas. Outdoor sites are often tended by Hispanic laborers who have been recruited by Mexican criminal organizations and who live at the sites throughout the growing cycle. The damage caused by outdoor cannabis cultivators, particularly on public lands, is a serious environmental concern. The number of indoor cannabis grows that produce high-potency marijuana is increasing throughout the region, particularly in northern Colorado and Utah. Asian criminal groups and Caucasian independent dealers are becoming more knowledgeable about indoor high-potency grow methods; some reporting indicates that experienced growers from California, Washington, and Oregon are moving into the Colorado area to set up complex indoor grow operations. An average indoor grow site contains 75 to 80 plants, but in the Denver area officials report that it is not uncommon to seize houses containing 300 to 400 plants. Law enforcement officials in Colorado and Utah report that cannabis cultivators are taking advantage of the current downturn in the real estate market to purchase multiple vacant residences, which they use for indoor cannabis cultivation. Residential rental properties owned by individuals from out-of-state are considered to be prime locations for indoor grow sites. Many of these properties are rented by older Caucasians who employ college age youths to tend the grow sites. In addition, some cannabis cultivators in Colorado use the state medical marijuana provisions as a pretext for conducting illicit grows within the HIDTA region.
Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the principal transporters of multikilogram quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana and smaller quantities of Mexican black tar and brown powder heroin to the HIDTA region, particularly from source areas in Mexico, including Juárez, Nayarit, and Sinaloa, or through and between POEs along the U.S. Southwest Border. Interstates 15, 25, and 80 are the principal routes used by Mexican traffickers to transport drugs into the region; however, these traffickers also use various state and U.S. highways to attempt to avoid law enforcement interdiction efforts. Interstate 15 begins near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego and passes through numerous drug markets in the region, including St. George and Salt Lake City, Utah, and Butte and Great Falls, Montana, before terminating at the Sweetgrass POE at the U.S.-Canada border. Interstate 25 begins at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, and passes through Colorado Springs, Denver, Cheyenne, and Casper. Interstate 80 begins in San Francisco and passes through Salt Lake City and Cheyenne.
Denver, Colorado Springs, and Salt Lake City serve as principal distribution centers for other regional drug markets as well as transshipment points for drugs supplied to markets in the Midwest and the eastern United States. Mexican DTOs further transport illicit drugs from Denver and Colorado Springs to other markets in the region, such as Billings, Montana, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, and to major Midwest and eastern drug markets, such as Chicago; Kansas City, Missouri; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and New York, New York. They also use Salt Lake City as a distribution and transshipment center for secondary drug markets in the HIDTA region as well as markets in Arizona, California, and other neighboring states.
Canada-based Asian DTOs and various other traffickers smuggle large quantities of MDMA and high-potency marijuana into the region through and between POEs along the U.S.-Canada border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials in Great Falls, Montana, report that significant quantities of these drugs are smuggled by traffickers through POEs in Piegan, Roosville, Sweetgrass, and Raymond, Montana. Asian DTOs, OMGs (HAMC and Bandidos), and Caucasian criminal groups based in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, use Interstates 15, 25, and 90 to transport high-potency marijuana and MDMA across the U.S.-Canada border through Washington and western Montana in private and commercial vehicles. The rugged terrain and remote locations allow these smuggling groups to use other modes of transportation, including ATVs, snowmobiles, and private aircraft (both fixed-wing and helicopter). After smuggling drug shipments into the United States, these groups often smuggle powder cocaine and illicit drug proceeds into Canada on the return trip.
Traffickers who operate in the Midwest and eastern United States often transit the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region with illicit drug shipments that were obtained in California or the Pacific Northwest. Denver, Colorado Springs, and Salt Lake City are the major transshipment and distribution centers in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. The Colorado State Patrol (CSP) reports that most of the drugs seized by its agency are in transit to other states, with Illinois, Montana, New York, and Utah being primary destinations.
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In May 2007 members of the Western Colorado Drug Task Force and the Two Rivers Drug Enforcement Team arrested six illegal aliens from Mexico and seized approximately 4 pounds of methamphetamine, 5 ounces of powder cocaine, and a small amount of crack cocaine. The organization was responsible for transporting multipound quantities of methamphetamine from the Roaring Fork Valley to Mesa County on I-70. The average purity level of the methamphetamine was 76 percent, and the drug sold for approximately $800 per ounce and $12,500 per pound.
Source: Drug Enforcement Administration. |
Private and commercial vehicles are the principal modes used by traffickers to transport drugs along the major interstate highways into and through the region; traffickers also employ couriers on trains, buses, and private and commercial aircraft to transport illicit drugs. Flat, remote, rural areas provide numerous areas for light aircraft to land. However, because of a lack of reporting of suspicious aircraft crossings in Montana, this type of activity is difficult to track. Illicit drugs transported in private vehicles are often placed in hidden compartments; drugs transported in commercial vehicles are typically placed in hidden compartments or commingled with legitimate products such as produce, car parts, building materials, or heavy machinery. Some criminal groups ship marijuana, cocaine, and MDMA through the U.S. Postal Service or use package delivery services in order to reduce transportation costs and increase profits.
4. These figures include seizures of powder methamphetamine laboratories; chemicals, glass, and equipment; and dumpsites.
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