U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center
North Texas HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010
June 2010
NDIC analysts expect that Mexican DTOs will continue to dominate wholesale drug distribution in and from the North Texas HIDTA region and further exploit the Dallas/Fort Worth area as a major staging area for their drug trafficking and bulk currency consolidation operations. No other trafficking group appears to have the sources of supply or organizational structure to challenge them. Methamphetamine, primarily Mexican ice methamphetamine, will remain the most significant drug threat in the HIDTA region as distributors and abusers continue to commit violent crimes and property crimes. Although Mexican methamphetamine will remain the most available type of the drug, it is expected that the production and availability of one-pot, or shake-and-bake, methamphetamine will increase in the Oklahoma areas of the HIDTA region and expand to some areas of North Texas. The increasing abuse of CPDs in the North Texas HIDTA, particularly in the HIDTA's Oklahoma counties, will result in more drug-related deaths. NDIC analysts expect indoor and outdoor cannabis grow operations to increase in number throughout the HIDTA region. DTOs will exploit the region's rural wooded areas to situate larger and more sophisticated outdoor cannabis grow sites and, thereby, avoid the risk of having their marijuana shipments interdicted along the Southwest Border. It is expected that Mexican traffickers will exploit the rising demand for hydroponic or high-potency marijuana and the high profit margins associated with the drug to develop indoor grow operations in the North Texas HIDTA region.
End of page.