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U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center
Philadelphia/Camden HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010
April 2010
The PC HIDTA region comprises Chester, Delaware, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania and Camden County in New Jersey. The HIDTA region and surrounding counties (Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania and Burlington and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey) make up the Philadelphia metropolitan area, which has an estimated population of more than 5.1 million and is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the United States and the second-largest on the East Coast. Approximately 100 million people--more than a third of the U.S. population--live within a day's drive of Philadelphia, providing many distributors and abusers with ready access to illicit drugs distributed from the HIDTA region.
The PC HIDTA region is ethnically diverse, allowing many foreign-born drug traffickers to assimilate into communities and mask their illicit activities. Philadelphia has the second-largest Jamaican population and the fourth-largest African American population in the nation. In recent years, the Hispanic and Asian American (Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese) populations have significantly increased. Hispanics, mostly Puerto Ricans, have settled throughout the city, especially around El Centro de Oro, an area on the east side of North Philadelphia. Philadelphia now has the third-largest Puerto Rican population in the continental United States. The Asian population, once concentrated in Philadelphia's thriving Chinatown, is expanding throughout the region. The majority of Camden residents are African American; however, the local Hispanic population is rapidly increasing, especially in the East Camden section of the city.
Figure 1. Philadelphia/Camden High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
UNCLASSIFIED
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