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Appendix C: Scope and Methodology

The National Drug Threat Assessment 2010 is a comprehensive assessment of the threat posed to the United States by the trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. It was prepared through detailed analysis of the most recent law enforcement, intelligence, and public health data available to NDIC through the date of publication.

The National Drug Threat Assessment 2010 includes information provided by 3,069 state and local law enforcement agencies through the NDIC National Drug Threat Survey 2009. State and local law enforcement agencies also provided information through personal interviews with NDIC Field Intelligence Officers (FIOs), a nationwide network of law enforcement professionals assembled by NDIC to promote information sharing among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.

This report addresses emerging developments related to the trafficking and use of primary illicit substances of abuse, the nonmedical use of CPDs, and the laundering of proceeds generated through illicit drug sales. It also addresses the role that DTOs and organized gangs play in domestic drug trafficking, the significant role that the Southwest Border plays in the illicit drug trade, and the societal impact of drug abuse. Analysts considered various quantitative data (data on seizures, investigations, arrests, drug purity or potency, and drug prices; law enforcement surveys; laboratory analyses; and interagency production and cultivation estimates) and qualitative information (subjective views of individual agencies on drug availability, information on the involvement of organized criminal groups, information on smuggling and transportation trends, and indicators of change in smuggling and transportation methods) in the preparation of this report.

The evaluation of societal impact was based in part on analysis of national substance abuse data measuring prevalence of drug use among various age groups, ED information, information on admissions to treatment facilities, and information on drug-related crimes. The societal impact of drugs was also evaluated through analysis of health care, criminal justice, workplace productivity, and environmental data and reporting.

NDTS data used in this report do not imply that there is only one drug threat per state or region or that only one drug is available per state or region. A percentage given for a state or region represents the proportion of state and local law enforcement agencies in that state or region that identified a particular drug as the greatest threat or as available at low, moderate, or high levels. This assessment breaks the country into nine regions as shown in Map A1 in Appendix A. For representation of survey data by regions, see Map A5 in Appendix A. For national-level data, see Map A6 in Appendix A.


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