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National Drug Intelligence Center |
Illicit drug production in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region is typically limited to small-scale methamphetamine laboratories, outdoor and indoor cannabis grow operations, and crack cocaine conversion. Local methamphetamine production has decreased dramatically since 2004 as a result of precursor chemical control legislation. According to National Seizure System (NSS) data, the number of methamphetamine laboratories seized in the Rocky Mountain HIDTA region decreased 86 percent, from 311 laboratories in 2004 to 44 laboratories in 2008. However, law enforcement officials at the Southern Colorado HIDTA Drug Task Force report that a shortage of Mexican methamphetamine in their jurisdiction during the summer of 2008 led to higher methamphetamine prices and a small increase in local methamphetamine production. The task force seized 14 laboratories in 2008, compared with 11 in 2007.
Figure 2. Methamphetamine Laboratory Seizures, Rocky Mountain HIDTA Counties, 2004-2008
Source: National Seizure System, as of March 18, 2009.
African American street gang members and independent dealers routinely convert powder cocaine to crack cocaine. Because of harsh federal criminal penalties associated with trafficking crack cocaine, street gang members and independent dealers typically convert powder cocaine to crack in residential settings that are close to the intended market in order to limit exposure to law enforcement operations.
Mexican DTOs have increased their efforts to expand outdoor cannabis cultivation in the region and typically conduct their operations in remote, rural areas, primarily on public lands. Law enforcement officials in Utah seized several large-scale outdoor cultivation sites on public lands; in 2008, 44,716 cannabis plants were seized on public lands in the state. Included in this total were 26,863 cannabis plants eradicated by the Washington County Sheriff's Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in August 2008 from several fields in the Dixie National Forest located in southern Utah. These outdoor grow sites are generally tended by laborers recruited from Mexico who live at the sites to maintain operations and provide site security. The environmental damage caused by outdoor cannabis cultivators, particularly on public lands, is a serious concern and includes erosion, contaminated watersheds, nonbiodegradable garbage, and human waste.
High-potency marijuana is produced at numerous indoor cannabis grow operations in the region to meet the increasing demand for the drug. Indoor cannabis cultivation operations are generally managed by Asian DTOs and criminal groups. Additionally, some Canada-based Asian DTOs are relocating high-potency, hydroponic indoor grow operations to the region from Canada to avoid law enforcement interdiction operations along the U.S.-Canada border and to reduce transportation costs. Caucasian and Hispanic local independent dealers also operate indoor cannabis grow sites. In October 2008 the Larimer County Sheriff's Office in Fort Collins, Colorado, seized a three-house grow operation conducted by two Caucasians who used their illicit proceeds to start a legitimate construction business and to purchase property. The seizure consisted of more than 1,300 cannabis plants and 47 pounds of marijuana from one house. This complex indoor cannabis grow operation featured a hydroponic system that was powered by a 20,000-watt diesel generator buried beneath a horse stable to muffle the noise. (See Figure 3.)
Figure 3. Indoor Grow Operation Powered by a 20,000-Watt Diesel Generator
Larimer County Sheriff's Office.
Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the principal transporters of multikilogram quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana and smaller quantities of Mexican black tar heroin and brown powder heroin to the HIDTA region. Mexican traffickers obtain these drugs from source areas in Mexico such as Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Juárez, Michoacán, Nayarit, Sinaloa, and Sonora, and later transport them through and between POEs along the U.S. Southwest Border. Interstates 15, 25, 70, and 80 are the principal routes used by Mexican traffickers to transport drugs into the region; however, they also use various state and U.S. highways to attempt to avoid law enforcement interdiction efforts. Interstate 70 begins in Utah, passes through Denver, Colorado, and has a direct connection with 21 major cities before terminating in Pennsylvania. 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, Wyoming. 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 centers 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 and Cheyenne, and to major Midwest and eastern drug markets, such as Chicago, Illinois; 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 other traffickers smuggle large quantities of MDMA and high-potency marijuana into the region through and between POEs along the U.S.-Canada border. Asian DTOs based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, supply multikilogram quantities of MDMA to Asian DTOs operating in Los Angeles, who supply the drug to distributors in Colorado. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials in Great Falls report that significant quantities of these drugs are smuggled by traffickers through POEs in Piegan, Rooseville, 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. For example, in February 2008 the Montana Highway Patrol seized 150 pounds of MDMA from a Canadian courier who was transporting the drug in three large duffle bags; the courier was paid $5,000 to smuggle the drug across the border by vehicle. The rugged terrain and remote locations also allow smuggling groups to use other modes of transportation, including ATVs, snowmobiles, and private aircraft (both fixed-wing and helicopter). Most of the high-potency marijuana and MDMA smuggled across the border is transported to distribution centers in Denver; Salt Lake City; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Los Angeles and San Francisco. 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 Southwest Border states, Mexico, 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 that agency are in transit to other states; Illinois, Montana, New York, New Jersey, and Utah are primary destinations. Law enforcement officials from the Front Range HIDTA Task Force4 report that some Mexican couriers transit Denver aboard Amtrak passenger trains while transporting heroin from the Southwest Border to eastern destinations, including New York and New Jersey.
Traffickers in the region typically transport drugs in private and commercial vehicles along major interstate highways into and through the region; they also employ couriers on trains, buses, and private and commercial aircraft to transport illicit drugs. Law enforcement reporting indicates that drug traffickers in the region exploit the numerous flat, remote, rural areas to transport drugs into the area, largely undetected, aboard light, private aircraft. 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 seizures and to increase profits.
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