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National Drug Intelligence Center Nebraska Drug Threat Assessment July 2003 Overview
Nebraska ranks thirty-eighth in population with approximately 1.7 million residents. Over 36 percent of the population is concentrated in the cities of Omaha and Lincoln. The state's population is 87.3 percent Caucasian, 5.5 percent Hispanic/Latino, 4.0 percent African American, 1.3 percent Asian, and 0.9 percent American Indian and Alaska Native.
The Hispanic population has increased in Nebraska. A rise in employment in meatpacking plants has resulted in an increase in the number of Hispanic immigrants--primarily Mexican nationals--in Nebraska. In 1999 the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), now the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), estimated that Nebraska had 4,000 illegal Hispanic immigrants, primarily Mexican, due in large part to the growth of the meatpacking industry. This migration led the Mexican government to establish a consulate in Omaha in early 2001. INS investigators in Omaha noted a nearly 600 percent increase in the number of undocumented Mexican aliens arrested in the state from 1994 through 1999. Nebraska has a well-developed transportation infrastructure, and its location in the west central United States makes the state ideal for the movement of licit and illicit goods. Drug transporters use private and commercial vehicles, motor homes, and trailers to transport drugs into and through Nebraska. Commercial buses and, to a lesser extent, couriers on airlines and freight and passenger trains are also used to transport illicit drugs. Nebraska's highway infrastructure facilitates illicit drug transportation into and throughout the state. Interstate 80 is the principal east-west highway in Nebraska and is a well-known drug transportation route. All drug seizures in Nebraska reported to Operation Pipeline in 2000 occurred on I-80. Illicit drugs also are transported on U.S. Highways 81 and 77, which are north-south routes that traverse eastern Nebraska. State Route 2 and US 30, US 34, and US 281 converge near Grand Island, making the city a primary distribution point for the state.
Drugs also are transported into Nebraska via aircraft, although seizures at airports are infrequent. The five primary airports in the state are in Grand Island, Lincoln, North Platte, Omaha, and Scottsbluff; none offer international flights. In June 2000 nearly 1 kilogram of powdered cocaine was seized at the Omaha airport from a courier on a flight originating in Phoenix, Arizona. No seizures of this size have occurred since. Freight and passenger rail systems in Nebraska also are vulnerable to illicit drug transportation. The Bailey Yard, located in North Platte, covers 2,850 acres and is the world's largest railroad yard; approximately 10,000 railroad cars are processed every 24 hours; however, there have been no seizures from freight trains. Law enforcement authorities occasionally seize illicit drugs from rail passengers traveling to and through Nebraska. In March 2000 Operation Jetway Task Force officers in Portland, Oregon, seized 1 kilogram of cocaine and approximately 200 grams of methamphetamine from the luggage of a Mexican national on a passenger train bound for Lincoln, Nebraska. Mexican criminal groups are the primary transporters of illicit drugs into Nebraska. They obtain wholesale quantities of methamphetamine, powdered cocaine, and marijuana and smaller quantities of heroin from Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and other Mexican criminal groups operating in Mexico, California, and southwestern states. Caucasian local independent dealers also transport methamphetamine, powdered cocaine, marijuana, and small quantities of heroin into Nebraska from California and southwestern states. Some African American street gangs and local independent dealers transport crack cocaine from metropolitan areas in surrounding states. Mexican criminal groups often employ a variety of individuals to transport drugs, including Mexican nationals, Caucasians, and African Americans. Mexican criminal groups employ, to a lesser extent, some Native Americans to transport illicit drugs into Nebraska and to distribute drugs on reservation lands. There are three Indian reservations located entirely within Nebraska--the Omaha, Santee Sioux, and Winnebago--all in the eastern portion of the state. Three other reservations, the Iowa, Pine Ridge, and Sac and Fox, straddle Nebraska's borders with either Kansas or South Dakota. The South Sioux City Police Department reports that Mexican criminal groups recruit Native Americans from the Omaha and Winnebago reservations to transport drugs. Mexican criminal groups dominate the wholesale distribution of methamphetamine, powdered cocaine, and marijuana in Nebraska. Law enforcement authorities have identified more than 40 Mexican criminal groups operating in the state. These criminal groups obtain drugs from Mexico-based DTOs and Mexican criminal groups operating in California and southwestern states. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Omaha Field Office, Mexican criminal groups in Nebraska range in size from 18 to 100 individuals. Mexican criminal groups, local independent dealers, street gangs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) distribute drugs at the retail level in Nebraska. Mexican criminal groups distribute methamphetamine produced in Mexico, California, and southwestern states; powdered cocaine; Mexico-produced marijuana; and heroin. Local independent dealers also distribute methamphetamine, powdered cocaine, marijuana, and heroin. Street gangs distribute methamphetamine, powdered and crack cocaine, and marijuana. OMGs also distribute methamphetamine. From 1997 through 2001, the number of drug-related treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in Nebraska varied from drug to drug with increases reported for methamphetamine and cocaine and decreases reported for marijuana and heroin. Data from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) indicate that methamphetamine-related treatment admissions more than doubled during that period, reflecting the increasing threat the drug poses to Nebraska.
Juvenile drug abuse is a concern in Nebraska. The 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey reported that, of 1,856 high school students who responded in Nebraska, 20 percent of males and 14 percent of females reported that they were offered, sold, or given an illegal drug on school property during the past 12 months. According to combined data from the 1999 and the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), 7.7 percent of those aged 12 to 17 in Nebraska reported having abused an illicit drug within the past month, a rate lower than the nationwide percentage of 9.8 percent. Drug-related arrests, particularly among adults, are increasing in Nebraska. According to the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, the total number of arrests for drug violations in Nebraska, both juvenile and adult, increased 11 percent from 9,059 in 1999 to 10,070 in 2000. The number of juveniles arrested for drug violations increased 2 percent from 1,357 in 1999 to 1,384 in 2000, while the number of adults arrested increased 13 percent from 7,702 in 1999 to 8,686 in 2000. In Nebraska the percentage of federal sentences that were drug-related was higher than the national percentage in fiscal year (FY) 2001. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC), drug-related sentences accounted for 60 percent of all federal sentences in the state in FY2001 compared with 41 percent nationally. (See Table 2.) Over 66 percent of all drug-related federal sentences in Nebraska during FY2001 were methamphetamine-related, significantly higher than the national rate of 14 percent.
The financial impact on Nebraska's government from substance abuse-related costs is significant. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reported that in 1998--the most recent year for which these data are available--Nebraska spent over $291 million--approximately $176 per resident--on substance abuse-related costs. This accounted for over 8 percent of the state's total budget. |
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