U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center

Title:

Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2010

Publication Date: May 2010

Document ID: 2010-R0813-010

Archived on: September 1, 2011. This document may contain dated information. It remains available to provide access to historical materials.

This assessment is an outgrowth of a partnership between the NDIC and HIDTA Program for preparation of annual assessments depicting drug trafficking trends and developments in HIDTA Program areas. The report has been coordinated with the HIDTA, is limited in scope to HIDTA jurisdictional boundaries, and draws upon a wide variety of sources within those boundaries.

Your questions, comments, and suggestions for future subjects are welcome at any time. Addresses are provided at the end of the page.

Contents

List of Figures

Figure 1. Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area

List of Tables

Table 1. Drug-Related Treatment Admissions to Publicly Funded Facilities in Hawaii, 2004-2008

Strategic Drug Threat Developments

The trafficking and abuse of methamphetamine are the greatest drug threats to the Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) region. Illicit cannabis cultivation and subsequent marijuana trafficking and abuse are significant and ever-present drug threats as well. Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) pose the greatest organizational drug threat and are responsible for the transportation and distribution of most of the ice methamphetamine available in the Hawaii HIDTA region.

The following are significant strategic drug threat developments in the Hawaii HIDTA region:

• Mexican DTOs are expanding their ice methamphetamine distribution operations in the region, leading to increased availability and lower wholesale-level prices for the drug. Ice methamphetamine is the foremost drug concern in the region because abuse of the drug is associated with the majority of treatment admissions and drug-related crime in the state. Increased ice methamphetamine availability will result in continued high levels of abuse, violent crime, and property crime.
   
• Illegal cannabis cultivation operations are pervasive throughout the Hawaii HIDTA region, particularly on the Big Island and Maui. This situation is a serious drug threat that is driven by the growing demand for high-potency marijuana, high levels of abuse, and the continued exploitation of Hawaii's medical marijuana laws by illegal marijuana producers and drug traffickers.
   
• Restrictions placed upon cannabis eradication efforts on the Big Island resulted in a 54 percent decrease in the number plants seized at outdoor grows in the state from 2008 through 2009. In 2008, the Hawaii County Council voted not to accept federal funding for state and local law enforcement eradication programs. (See text box in Production section.) Hampered by limited aerial surveillance operations, law enforcement eradication of outdoor plants is expected to continue to decline or remain at low levels.
   
• Over the last year, HIDTA officials have reported increased abuse of other drugs, including the hallucinogen Salvia divinorum, the stimulant mephedrone (4-MMC), and synthetic cannabinoids, commonly referred to as "K2" and "Spice." These "legal highs" are typically sold online and in head shops, smoke shops, and health food stores. Because these products are relatively new, they have yet to be regulated, and reliable information about their effects is not available. The Hawaii State Department of Public Safety, Narcotics Enforcement Division (NED) requested emergency scheduling of Salvia divinorum in August 2009 and is in the process of introducing similar restrictions for mephedrone and synthetic cannabinoids.

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Addresses

Web Addresses

ADNET:  http://ndicosa.adnet.sgov.gov
DOJ:  http://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/
LEO:  https://www.leo.gov/http/leowcs.leopriv.gov/lesig/archive/ndic/index.htm
RISS:  ndic.riss.net

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