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National Drug Intelligence Center |
Illicit drug production in the Midwest HIDTA region generally includes methamphetamine production, crack cocaine conversion, and cannabis cultivation. Caucasian independent manufacturers and criminal groups are the primary producers of methamphetamine and marijuana, while African American criminal groups and street gangs dominate crack cocaine conversion. Domestic methamphetamine production has decreased substantially in many areas of the Midwest HIDTA since the passage of precursor control legislation; however, clandestine production continues to represent a significant threat, and law enforcement officials in Iowa and Grand Forks, North Dakota, are reporting the use of mobile methamphetamine laboratories by traffickers. Methamphetamine production in the Midwest HIDTA region represents a greater threat to public safety and the environment than all other illicit drug production, and combating production of the drug consumes vast amounts of public resources. In addition to posing safety and environmental hazards, continued methamphetamine production forces local law enforcement agencies to divert funding from battling wholesale- and retail-level distribution organizations to remediate laboratory sites.
While methamphetamine production has decreased substantially in many areas of the Midwest HIDTA, production continues throughout the HIDTA region. Notably, many HIDTA counties in Missouri have experienced a resurgence in methamphetamine production following an initial decrease after the passage of precursor control legislation.
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Missouri Precursor Chemical Laws Despite stringent state precursor chemical control laws, methamphetamine production continues in the HIDTA region because producers are still able to obtain sufficient quantities of pseudoephedrine, albeit with a greater effort. Some state precursor control laws have limited access to pseudoephedrine by listing it as a Schedule V controlled substance, and four Midwest HIDTA states have required sellers to maintain a logbook. However, many states do not have a centralized database of the logs, which hampers law enforcement investigative efforts; many law enforcement agencies must visit each pharmacy and manually gather logbook information--a time-consuming practice. Methamphetamine producers exploit this loophole by smurfing. |
Law enforcement agencies seized more methamphetamine laboratories (1,437) in Missouri in 2008 than in any other state,5 a 13.3 percent increase over the number of laboratories seized in Missouri in 2007. (See Figure 3.) Most of the methamphetamine laboratories seized in Missouri in 2007 were discovered in southern counties and in the St. Louis metropolitan area; however, 2008 laboratory seizure data reflect a spread throughout the state. (See Figure 4.) In response to continued methamphetamine production and smurfing, the Missouri General Assembly introduced a bill in 2008 to modify existing recordkeeping for pseudoephedrine products; the law, which went into effect on January 1, 2009, requires replacing existing written logbooks with a centralized electronic database. In addition, several large retailers have begun to cooperate with law enforcement officials in the Eastern District of Missouri to combat smurfing. (See text box.) Law enforcement officials in southeastern Kansas and Nebraska (Lincoln and Omaha as well as Cass, Douglas, Lancaster, and Madison Counties) also report notable increases in local methamphetamine production during 2008.
Figure 3. Methamphetamine Clandestine Laboratory Seizures, by Midwest HIDTA State, 2004-2008
Source: National Seizure System, data run on January 27, 2009.
Figure 4. Methamphetamine Laboratory Seizures in Missouri, by County, 2008
Source: National Seizure System, data run on January 27, 2009.
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HIDTA-Funded Initiative Success: Law Enforcement Investigation Leads to Indictment of Smurfers In response to increasing methamphetamine production, the St. Louis County Precursor Task Force developed a program in partnership with large retailers in the area to target smurfers and thus curtail local methamphetamine production. With funding through the Midwest HIDTA, task force members collated and analyzed 2007 and 2008 pseudoephedrine purchase records to identify individuals who purchased excessive amounts of pseudoephedrine. As a result, federal grand juries in the Eastern District of Missouri indicted 68 defendants in eight cases through August 2008. These individuals contributed to the purchase of more than 141,000 units of pseudoephedrine. The St. Louis County Police Department developed the plan, which was executed with the help of the FBI Safe Streets Task Force; St. Charles County and Jefferson County Drug Task Forces; and the Arnold, Chesterfield, Kirkwood, Maplewood, and St. John Police Departments. Source: U.S. Attorney Eastern District of Missouri. |
Crack cocaine conversion, primarily by African American street gangs, is a significant concern to law enforcement agencies in metropolitan areas such as Columbia; Kansas City; Moline, Illinois; Omaha; St. Louis; Sioux Falls; Springfield; and Topeka and Wichita, Kansas, because of crack's association with high levels of violence and property crime. African American street gangs often obtain powder cocaine from Mexican sources and then convert the cocaine into crack for local sales and further distribution. Limited cannabis cultivation--both indoor and outdoor--takes place throughout the Midwest HIDTA region, but most of the marijuana available in the HIDTA is produced in Mexico.
The Midwest HIDTA is a significant transit area for illicit drugs; its central geographic location is widely used by traffickers who transport cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and other illicit drugs into the area from the Southwest and Northwest6 Border regions en route to midwestern and northeastern markets including Chicago and New York. Major interstates that traverse the HIDTA region are Interstates 29, 35, 44, 55, 70, 80, 90, and 94. (See Figure 2.) These highways are extensively used by traffickers to transport illicit drugs into and through the HIDTA region. As such, many opportunities exist for the interdiction of drugs and illicit proceeds in the region--and recent seizures on I-80 highlight the usefulness of interdiction programs in the HIDTA region. For example, in September 2008 the Douglas County Sheriff's Department seized approximately $280,000 on I-80 from a private vehicle en route to Tucson from Springfield, Illinois.
Investigative information captured from highway seizures reveals that most illicit drug shipments destined for the region originate in Arizona, California, and Texas. Common source cities identified by Kansas Highway Patrol and Missouri Highway Patrol interdiction efforts include El Paso; Los Angeles; Phoenix and Tucson; and San Diego, California.
Mexican DTOs and criminal groups transport most of the ice methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and Mexican black tar and brown powder heroin available in the HIDTA region. These organizations primarily use commercial and private vehicles with sophisticated hidden compartments to transport these drugs into the region. Mexican DTOs frequently recruit unaffiliated Mexican immigrants living in the region to transport illicit drugs from the Southwest Border to the region, thereby insulating themselves from law enforcement detection in the event of interdiction.
African American, Asian, and Caucasian street gangs, criminal groups, and independent dealers transport powder and crack cocaine, Mexican marijuana, and PCP to the region, but less frequently than in the past. These local, retail-level distributors avoid the risk of interdiction and law enforcement detection by purchasing illicit drugs from Mexican wholesalers in Kansas City, Wichita, and other HIDTA markets. African American street gang members based in Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis also transport crack and powder cocaine and marijuana to metropolitan areas in Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
Asian trafficking groups transport MDMA and Canadian marijuana into and through the HIDTA region. Additionally, Caucasian trafficking groups transport Mexican and Canadian marijuana, Mexican methamphetamine, and limited quantities of MDMA to the region.
5.
These data (as of January 27, 2009) include all methamphetamine laboratories; dumpsites;
and chemicals, glassware, and equipment seized by federal, state, and local authorities
and reported to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) El Paso Intelligence Center
(EPIC).
6.
Law enforcement officials believe that available arrest and seizure statistics underrepresent
the level of smuggling along the U.S.-Canada border.
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