National Drug Intelligence Center   Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2009   March 2009   UNCLASSIFIED

Abuse

Ice methamphetamine is abused at particularly high levels throughout the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. Since 2003 the number of amphetamine/methamphetamine-related treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in the region has increased steadily. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS),6 the number of treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities for amphetamines (including methamphetamine) increased 25 percent from 8,695 in 2003 to 10,880 in 2007 (the latest year for which data are available) in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. Methamphetamine abuse severely strains the resources of public health departments, treatment centers, and social services agencies on account of the drug's highly addictive nature, longer treatment program requirements, and high recidivism rates. Moreover, methamphetamine-related domestic violence, child abuse, and child neglect have burdened local foster care and social services programs. Rural areas are often hardest hit because of high methamphetamine abuse levels and the limited number of treatment and social services available.

Cocaine abuse has increased in the HIDTA region--particularly the abuse of crack cocaine--in metropolitan areas. The demand for both powder and crack cocaine has surged in some areas of the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region, a development that may be the result of abusers switching from methamphetamine to cocaine, which they perceive as being less harmful to their health. Moreover, law enforcement officials report that younger illicit drug users continue to experiment with cocaine rather than methamphetamine. The surge in cocaine abuse may also be the result of law enforcement and public awareness programs targeting methamphetamine and alerting potential users to the short- and long-term consequences of methamphetamine abuse. Consequently, new illicit drug users now view methamphetamine as a "full-time" drug with dangerous consequences, while cocaine is viewed as an "occasional, casual drug" without long-term health consequences.

Marijuana is the most widely abused drug in the region. Commercial-grade Mexican marijuana7 is the primary type abused in the region; however, increased availability of high-potency marijuana has contributed to rising abuse among individuals who are willing to pay higher prices for more potent marijuana. Marijuana treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in the region increased 18 percent from 9,023 in 2003 to 10,668 in 2007 (the latest year for which data are available), according to TEDS data.

Mexican black tar and brown powder heroin pose an increasing threat; many drug task forces throughout the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region are reporting increased availability and demand for heroin. For example, law enforcement authorities and public health professionals in Ogden, Orem/Provo, Salt Lake City, and St. George, Utah, and in Evanston, Green River, and Rocky Springs, Wyoming, have reported increased heroin distribution and abuse in their jurisdictions. This increase is partly due to the emergence of younger adolescent heroin abusers (approximately age 16) in the region. These younger abusers often start by using controlled prescription narcotics and later progressing to heroin because it is readily available and lower in cost. According to TEDS data, heroin-related treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in the region increased 13 percent from 3,023 in 2003 to 3,423 in 2007.

CPD abuse is a significant and rapidly growing threat in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region. According to TEDS data, the number of treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities for other opiates8 increased 86 percent from 1,484 in 2003 to 2,753 in 2007. Overdose deaths from CPD abuse are a significant concern; the Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health reports that the state leads the nation in nonmedical painkiller abuse and that over 300 people in Utah died from CPD overdoses in 2007 (the latest year for which data are available). Abusers in the region, primarily Caucasians ranging from 16 to 40 years of age, and independent distributors of CPDs such as OxyContin, Percocet, Percodan, Valium, and Lortab obtain these drugs through forged prescriptions, copied or scanned prescriptions, doctor-shopping, unscrupulous physicians, theft from family and friends, and robberies of retail pharmacies and hospitals. Law enforcement officials in rural areas of Colorado report that the abuse of CPDs is more prevalent than the abuse of heroin because these drugs are more readily available.

MDMA availability and abuse have increased in the region, particularly in Colorado. Most of the MDMA available in the region is produced in Canada and is increasingly transported from Asian sources of supply in Canada and California. MDMA is most commonly abused by teenagers and college-age individuals and is readily available at music concerts and other venues popular with teens and college-age individuals.

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Illicit Finance

Bulk cash shipments and money services businesses (MSBs) are the primary methods used by DTOs to move illicit drug proceeds out of the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region to drug source locations in Mexico and Canada. Drug proceeds that remain in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region are often laundered by traffickers through structured bank transactions, cash-intensive front businesses, and the purchase of tangible assets.

Bulk cash transportation is the most common method used by traffickers to move illicit proceeds from the Rocky Mountain HIDTA to drug source areas. Mexican DTOs use major drug markets in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region as staging areas to consolidate large amounts of bulk currency that they derive from local wholesale drug transactions as well as wholesale transactions with other markets supplied from the region. Mexican DTOs generally transport illicit drug proceeds from secondary markets to consolidation points in and near Colorado Springs, Denver, and Salt Lake City prior to transporting the money in bulk to areas at or near the U.S.-Mexico border. Mexican DTOs compartmentalize their drug distribution and money laundering operations by limiting members' involvement to one specific responsibility and allocating tasks to specific cells. The use of compartmentalized cells minimizes risk to the entire organization in the event that one or more members are arrested. In such an operation, one cell transports a particular drug, such as cocaine, from Mexico or the Southwest Border area to distribution centers in Denver, Colorado Springs, or Salt Lake City. A separate cell transports currency in bulk from those cities to Mexico through southwestern states. Asian DTOs and other traffickers who transport illicit drugs from Canada into the region also transport their illicit proceeds in bulk to source locations.

Mexican DTOs also use MSBs to electronically transfer illicit drug proceeds to areas along the U.S.-Mexico border and into Mexico. Some Mexican DTOs operate MSBs and hire Mexican nationals in groups of 15 to 30; these individuals receive as little as $20 per day to transmit funds to locations in the Southwest Border area. Additionally, in some areas of the HIDTA region, law enforcement officials report that bulk currency shipments have decreased and that wire transfers to Mexico, primarily regular transfers in small amounts, have increased.

Drug proceeds that remain in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region are often laundered by traffickers through cash-intensive front businesses and the purchase of tangible assets. As the Hispanic population has increased, businesses that cater to this segment of the population have emerged. Most of these businesses are legitimate; however, the primary purpose of some is to launder illicit drug money. These businesses concentrate primarily on cash-intensive transactions and include clothing and dry goods stores, music stores, restaurants, auto body detail shops, and stereo installation shops.

Retail-level drug distributors, including African American, Asian, and Hispanic street gang members, rarely engage in the bulk transport of illicit drug proceeds from the HIDTA region. Instead, they typically use proceeds generated from retail-level drug distribution to operate cash-intensive retail businesses through which they commingle drug proceeds, or they purchase expensive personal items such as jewelry, luxury vehicles, and real estate.

Footnotes

6. Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) data for 2007 include the entire states of Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming.
7. Mexican marijuana is produced from cannabis that is typically cultivated along the western Sierra Madre Mountains in Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Durango, Mexico, as well as farther south in Michoacán and Guerrero, Mexico. This type of marijuana contains parts of the marijuana plant such as stems and seeds that are not of high potency. Mexican marijuana is generally the least expensive type of marijuana because of its prevalence and lower potency; the THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) content typically ranges from only 4 to 6 percent.
8. The TEDS category "other opiates" includes nonprescription use of methadone, codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydromorphone, meperidine, opium, and other drugs with morphine-like effects.

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