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U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center
South Florida HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010
May 2010
Large-scale, indoor cannabis grow operations pose the most significant drug production threat to the South Florida HIDTA. According to 2010 NDTS data, 27 of 40 law enforcement agency respondents in the South Florida HIDTA region report that marijuana is produced at indoor grow sites in their jurisdictions. Indoor cultivators produce high-potency marijuana because it yields more money than commercial-grade marijuana. For example, hydroponic marijuana sold for $2,500 to $5,000 per pound and commercial-grade marijuana sold for $650 to $1,300 per pound in the South Florida HIDTA area during the first half of 2009. Indoor cannabis is cultivated primarily by Cuban and Hispanic DTOs, as well as members of various criminal groups and independent dealers, including Asians and Caucasians.
Increased law enforcement efforts against urban residential indoor grow operations in the South Florida HIDTA region in 2008 caused many growers to relocate their grow sites to suburban and rural communities (sometimes outside the South Florida HIDTA region), where they are harder to detect. In addition, some growers have become more sophisticated and have adapted to law enforcement efforts by using countersurveillance techniques and establishing grow sites in areas that limit surveillance by law enforcement. For example, some growers have established grow houses in the Redlands area of Miami-Dade County, where homes are located in remote areas and have distant setbacks from the road, which limits law enforcement surveillance. The difficulty in detecting these operations appears to be reflected in 2009 seizure data that show a decrease in the number of indoor grow sites seized in the South Florida HIDTA region.e (See Table 2.) Law enforcement officers report that decreased eradication and seizures are not indicative of decreased production in the region and that they continue to seize indoor grow operations in the region. For example, in December 2009, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida, announced the results of a law enforcement operation that targeted indoor marijuana grow operations in Miami-Dade, Monroe, Broward, Collier, Lee, Henry, Highlands, Okeechobee, and Marion Counties. This operation, coordinated by the South Florida HIDTA, resulted in the seizure of 1,937 marijuana plants, 13.6 kilograms of processed marijuana, 25 firearms, $185,200 in U.S. currency, and the arrest of 43 individuals involved in 40 residential hydroponic marijuana grow sites.
Table 2. Indoor Cannabis Cultivation Sites Seized and Plants Eradicated in South Florida HIDTA Counties, 2005-2009
| HIDTA County | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sites Seized | Plants Eradicated | Sites Seized | Plants Eradicated | Sites Seized | Plants Eradicated | Sites Seized | Plants Eradicated | Sites Seized | Plants Eradicated | |
| Broward | 31 | 2,669 | 33 | 3,021 | 30 | 1,906 | 11 | 1,333 | 10 | 1,523 |
| Miami-Dade | 157 | 12,016 | 206 | 15,749 | 382 | 26,019 | 348 | 23,621 | 340 | 20,223 |
| Monroe | 5 | 501 | 0* | 0* | 2 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Palm Beach | 29 | 2,356 | 26 | 1,938 | 36 | 3,727 | 79 | 4,997 | 41 | 2,887 |
| Total HIDTA | 222 | 17,542 | 265 | 20,708 | 450 | 31,679 | 438 | 29,951 | 391 | 24,633 |
| Total Florida | 384 | 45,217 | 511 | 37,311 | 944 | 74,698 | 1,022 | 78,489 | 863 | 55,378 |
Source: Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program.
*
Monroe County did not participate in the program in 2006.
NDIC analysts anticipate the emergence of small-scale methamphetamine production in the region in 2010 because of the local pseudoephedrine smurfing occurring within the region and increased methamphetamine production in other areas of Florida. The South Florida HIDTA Intelligence Center reports pseudoephedrine smurfing being noted in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties. Quantities purchased by the noted smurfers are sufficient to produce methamphetamine for personal use and limited retail distribution.f Methamphetamine production has been very limited in the South Florida HIDTA region. According to 2010 NDTS data, 21 of 40 law enforcement agency respondents report that methamphetamine is produced at moderate to low levels in their jurisdictions. Moreover, National Seizure System (NSS) data show that no methamphetamine laboratories were seized in the region from 2007 through 2009. However, NSS data indicate that the number of methamphetamine laboratories seized statewide increased from 96 in 2008 to 215 in 2009. Law enforcement officers report that the one-pot or "shake and bake" production method is gaining popularity in Florida and is expected to become the production method of choice in the South Florida HIDTA region. (See text box.)
|
One-Pot or "Shake and Bake" Methamphetamine Production A one-pot cook is a variation of the lithium ammonia method of production--also commonly referred to as the "Nazi" method. Instead of producing methamphetamine through a series of sequential steps--normally used in the Nazi method--the one-pot method is concluded in a single reaction vessel (typically a 2-liter plastic soda bottle), and all ingredients are mixed together at the outset. The mixture is left to react, naturally producing the necessary ammonia, which then reacts with the lithium metal to convert the pseudoephedrine into methamphetamine. Like all clandestine methamphetamine production operations, the one-pot method is dangerous because the reactions are volatile and difficult to control. |
Drug traffickers routinely exploit the South Florida HIDTA region's highly developed transportation infrastructure to move illicit drugs and drug proceeds into, through, and from the region. (See Figure 1 in HIDTA Overview section.) Traffickers use two principal corridors--the southern corridor and the northern corridor--to transport illicit drugs into the region. (See Figure 2.)
Figure
2. South Florida HIDTA Transportation Corridors
d-link
Colombian and various Caribbean-based traffickers transport cocaine, heroin, and marijuana through the southern corridor from source and transit areas in South America and the Caribbean to South Florida using couriers on commercial flights; maritime conveyances such as container ships, cruise ships, commercial fishing vessels, and recreation vessels; and package delivery services. For example, in July 2009, U.S. Coast Guard officers seized a substantial amount of marijuana from a fishing vessel in the Miami area. Officers reported that the Cuban suspect obtained the marijuana in the Bahamas.
Mexican DTOs, and to a much lesser degree other multiethnic traffickers, transport cocaine and Mexican commercial-grade marijuana, as well as lesser quantities of heroin and methamphetamine through the northern corridor from the Southwest Border area and Atlanta to the South Florida HIDTA region. They use overland means, primarily private and commercial vehicles, on Interstates 75 and 95, and to a lesser extent, package delivery services. For example, in January 2010, a sheriff's deputy in Harrison County, Mississippi, stopped a Texas-registered vehicle heading east on I-10 and found 4 pounds of cocaine. The driver of the vehicle, an illegal alien from Panama residing in Miami, was en route to Miami. The passenger was a naturalized U.S. citizen from Mexico residing in Mission, Texas.
e.
South Florida HIDTA officials report that some law enforcement agencies in the
region do not report all eradication data to the Domestic Cannabis
Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP).
f.
It is currently unknown if the pseudoephedrine obtained through smurfing in the
South Florida HIDTA region is destined for methamphetamine production within or
outside the South Florida HIDTA region; however, it is likely that at least some
of the pseudoephedrine obtained in the region is intended for local
methamphetamine production.
UNCLASSIFIED
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