(U) Abuse and Illicit Finance - North Texas HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010 (UNCLASSIFIED)

UNCLASSIFIED

ARCHIVED

To Contents To Previous Page To Next Page To Publications Page To Home Page

Abuse

Treatment admissions for heroin abuse in the Texas counties of the North Texas HIDTA region increased overall from 2008 to 2009, whereas treatment admissions for all other major drug categories declined during the same period. The increase in the number of heroin-related treatment admissions reflects the rising availability and abuse of the drug. Of interest, more than half of all adult drug-related treatment admissions in the 15 Texas counties located in the North Texas HIDTA region occurred in Dallas and Tarrant Counties each year from 2007 through 2009. (See Table 6.)

Table 6. Adult Drug-Related Treatment Admissions in Texas: North Texas HIDTA Counties and Statewide, by Drug, 2007-2009

		Collin	Dallas	Denton	Ellis	Henderson	Hood	Hunt	Johnson	Kaufman	Lubbock	Navarro	Parker	Rockwall	Smith	Tarrant
		North Texas HIDTA County (Texas)															Total for NTX HIDTA Counties in Texas	Percent of State Total	Texas State Total
Drug	Year	Collin	Dallas	Denton	Ellis	Henderson	Hood	Hunt	Johnson	Kaufman	Lubbock	Navarro	Parker	Rockwall	Smith	Tarrant
Cocaine (crack)	2007	61	1,277	30	37	17	11	26	28	14	249	*	*	*	61	666	2,477	27	9,197
	2008	35	1,104	26	31	*	*	26	30	23	216	*	15	*	55	670	2,231	27	8,229
	2009	28	739	23	21	*	*	12	*	18	125	*	*	*	37	651	1,654	24	6,976
Cocaine (powder)	2007	44	348	11	41	*	*	*	18	11	115	*	*	*	19	233	840	16	5,394
	2008	23	283	11	21	*	*	*	*	*	86	*	10	*	16	254	704	14	5,046
	2009	21	183	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	51	*	*	*	*	166	421	12	3,453
Marijuana/Hashish	2007	100	517	32	96	13	67	27	89	21	157	*	31	*	22	406	1,578	23	6,981
	2008	91	474	12	72	*	86	29	111	20	169	*	29	*	30	451	1,574	22	7,202
	2009	93	415	14	32	*	78	23	83	25	150	*	29	*	51	472	1,465	19	7,515
Heroin	2007	77	1,686	25	19	*	14	11	11	14	57	*	*	*	*	590	2,504	39	6,501
	2008	81	1,713	49	13	*	*	14	30	16	50	*	*	12	*	719	2,697	38	7,058
	2009	121	1,683	49	20	*	*	*	33	13	48	*	14	17	14	838	2,850	38	7,510
Other Opiates	2007	39	343	18	28	23	11	10	40	24	63	*	17	*	53	271	940	25	3,717
	2008	42	343	45	19	21	38	12	46	14	78	*	20	*	65	374	1,117	26	4,318
	2009	39	352	26	24	15	27	15	52	19	90	*	19	12	62	321	1,073	23	4,726
Amphetamines/ Methamphetamine	2007	*	653	52	134	23	102	97	207	70	221	*	64	13	50	788	2,474	38	6,513
	2008	67	553	39	45	10	97	42	145	55	161	*	59	*	48	737	2,058	42	4,874
	2009	61	436	49	36	18	72	28	117	58	160	*	44	*	38	875	1,992	41	4,890

Source: Texas Department of State Health Services.
*Admissions in any drug category with a frequency of less than 10 have been omitted from North Texas HIDTA county totals as a result of Health Insurance Privacy and Accountability Act confidentiality requirements. Therefore, actual totals are slightly higher than those shown here.

Drug-related treatment admissions for the abuse of marijuana, heroin, other opiates, and amphetamine/methamphetamine in the Oklahoma counties of the North Texas HIDTA increased from 2008 to 2009. Treatment admissions for marijuana were highest (1,514), followed by admissions for amphetamine/methamphetamine (1,372). (See Table 7.)

Table 7. Adult Drug-Related Treatment Admissions in Oklahoma: North Texas HIDTA Counties and Statewide, by Drug, 2007-2009

		North Texas HIDTA County (Oklahoma)						Total for North Texas HIDTA Counties in Oklahoma	Percent of State Total	Oklahoma State Total
		Cleveland	Comanche	Muskogee	Oklahoma	Sequoyah	Tulsa
Drug	Year	Cleveland	Comanche	Muskogee	Oklahoma	Sequoyah	Tulsa
Cocaine (crack)	2007	33	102	48	546	2	213	944	76	1,249
	2008	31	73	45	486	1	169	805	75	1,068
	2009	25	69	30	352	0	144	620	81	768
Cocaine (powder)	2007	33	21	12	167	0	74	307	65	471
	2008	18	13	17	165	3	71	287	65	443
	2009	13	16	8	117	1	52	207	69	301
Marijuana/Hashish	2007	109	76	81	655	12	283	1,216	48	2,522
	2008	98	77	85	745	19	310	1,334	49	2,728
	2009	98	109	66	689	21	531	1,514	53	2,848
Heroin	2007	10	2	1	58	1	16	88	76	116
	2008	16	3	4	97	0	28	148	75	197
	2009	27	4	4	88	1	50	174	70	247
Other Opiates	2007	53	30	25	336	14	177	635	57	1,120
	2008	85	36	31	372	9	233	766	54	1,413
	2009	107	43	28	376	8	256	818	55	1,485
Amphetamines/ Methamphetamine	2007	141	74	135	675	55	328	1,408	42	3,353
	2008	125	69	104	598	23	228	1,147	43	2,686
	2009	106	149	127	570	57	363	1,372	48	2,871

Source: Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

CPD abuse is a significant and growing problem in the six Oklahoma counties in the HIDTA region, as indicated by a rising number of treatment admissions and overdose deaths associated particularly with abuse of opioid pain medications. (See Table 7 and Table 8.) Of particular note is the high percentage of drug-related deaths attributed to the abuse of CPDs. Of the 304 drug-related deaths that occurred in these six counties in 2009, almost 82 percent (248 deaths) involved CPDs. According to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control (OBNDDC), hydrocodone products (such as Lortab and Vicodin) and oxycodone products (such as OxyContin) accounted for the greatest number of CPD-related deaths in Oklahoma.

Table 8. Illicit and Controlled Prescription Drug-Related Deaths in Oklahoma: North Texas HIDTA Counties and Statewide, 2009*

	North Texas HIDTA County (Oklahoma)						Total for North Texas HIDTA Counties in Oklahoma	Percent of State Total	Oklahoma State Total
	Cleveland	Comanche	Muskogee	Oklahoma	Sequoyah	Tulsa
Drug Type	Cleveland	Comanche	Muskogee	Oklahoma	Sequoyah	Tulsa
Illicit	1	1	2	12	2	38	56	61	92
Controlled Prescription Drugs	27	10	9	83	7	112	248	55	447
Totals	28	11	11	95	9	150	304	56	539

Source: Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.
*Death statistics as reported through third quarter 2009, as of March 29, 2010, are the latest data available.

Drug-related deaths attributed to the abuse of methamphetamine also increased in Oklahoma in 2009. OBNDDC reports that at least 51 people died from methamphetamine overdoses in 2009--an almost 89 percent increase from the 27 methamphetamine-related deaths that occurred in 2008.

To Top To Contents

Illicit Finance

Millions of dollars in illicit drug proceeds are smuggled in bulk to Mexico from the HIDTA region for eventual laundering or repatriation. Drug traffickers routinely use the region, particularly the Dallas/Fort Worth area, as a staging location for bulk cash and monetary instruments that they generate through their illicit activities. Internal Revenue Service authorities indicate that some drug traffickers have used color coding to mark packages in bulk currency shipments to identify from where the proceeds have come or to which criminal groups the proceeds should be delivered.

Traffickers in the Dallas and Oklahoma City areas are also being seen in possession of stored value cards, such as gift cards. Traffickers are transporting the stored value cards to Brownsville or other Southwest Border locations. There the transporter withdraws the money from the cards and wires the funds to a recipient in Mexico or another foreign location. (See text box.)

Stored Value Cards

Stored value cards are prepaid debit cards that use magnetic stripe technology to store information about funds that have been prepaid to the card. Payroll cards, government benefit cards, gift cards, and telephone cards are examples of stored value cards. These virtual money cards can be accessed through the Internet and often allow holders to transfer money values anonymously without being subject to the same controls required of institutions that deal with credit and debit cards. Legitimate and criminal users of these virtual money cards store funds on the cards in amounts not exceeding the dollar limit set by the issuing authority; however, a complicit issuing authority can waive the dollar limit, making these cards attractive to money launderers. In addition, the owner of a stored value card can authorize another individual to withdraw funds without requiring any type of identification at the time of the transaction.

Source: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Money launderers also use wire transfer services to move illicit drug proceeds from the Dallas/Fort Worth area to banks and other financial transaction points in Mexico. Money launderers are facilitating wire transfers by using "straw men" to conceal the identity of the transferring party. Also in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, members of Mexican drug trafficking cells are buying properties, renovating them, and then selling them legitimately and sending the profits to Mexico.

To Top To Contents To Previous Page To Next Page

To Publications Page To Home Page

UNCLASSIFIED

End of page.