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National Drug Intelligence Center West Virginia Drug Threat Assessment August 2003 Overview
With approximately 1.8 million residents, West Virginia is the thirty-seventh most populous state in the nation. The state encompasses 24,078 square miles. It is located within 500 miles of 60 percent of the U.S. population and is centrally located between the Southeast, Northeast, and Midwest regions. West Virginia primarily is a rural state, with the most concentrated populations located in Charleston (53,421 residents), Huntington (51,475 residents), Parkersburg (33,099 residents), and Wheeling (31,419 residents). According to 2000 U.S. Census Bureau data, 95 percent of West Virginia's population is Caucasian, and 3.2 percent is African American; the remaining 1.8 percent is composed of residents of other races or more than one race. West Virginia is characterized by rugged, hilly terrain interspersed with many small valleys. The most extensive areas of level to rolling land are located in the Shenandoah and lower Greenbrier Valleys. The rural and mountainous terrain of the state is ideally suited for cannabis cultivation and methamphetamine production. West Virginia is an economically depressed state, with one of the lowest median household incomes ($29,673) and per capita personal incomes ($22,881) in the United States in 2001. More than 16 percent of West Virginians lived in poverty in 2001. According to state and local law enforcement officials, low wages and a high poverty rate have induced some residents to turn to illicit drug production, transportation, or distribution as a means of support.
Law enforcement officials report that drug transporters primarily use private and commercial vehicles to transport illicit drugs into and through West Virginia. Drugs available in West Virginia typically are transported into the state from Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Drugs also are transported from Mexico and other states, although to a lesser extent. State and local law enforcement officials report that Interstates 64, 68, 70, 77, and 79; U.S. Highways 19, 33, 50, 340, and 460; and State Routes 11, 22, 39, 41, and 55 frequently are used to transport drugs into and through the state. Interstate 64 traverses Charleston connecting Chesapeake, Virginia, to St. Louis, Missouri. Interstate 68 connects Morgantown with I-70 and the drug markets in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Interstate 70 provides access from Wheeling to Pittsburgh. Interstate 77 connects Cleveland to Columbia, South Carolina, traversing Parkersburg and Charleston, West Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Interstate 79 connects Charleston, Clarksburg, Fairmont, and Morgantown to Pittsburgh. Drugs also are transported into West Virginia by couriers on passenger trains. Passenger train service is offered daily between Washington, D.C. and Chicago with stops throughout West Virginia. Commuter train services are available Monday through Friday between Martinsburg and Washington, D.C. Drugs occasionally are transported to West Virginia aboard commercial and private vessels on inland waterways. There are approximately 420 miles of navigable waterways in West Virginia. The Port of Huntington/Tri-state, which includes part of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, was designated the largest inland port in the United States. Local law enforcement officials believe that drugs occasionally are transported to the port via commercial vessels. In addition, West Virginia State Police officials in Point Pleasant report that powdered cocaine sometimes is transported across the Ohio River from Gallipolis, Ohio, via private vessels. Drugs infrequently are transported to West Virginia via couriers aboard commercial and private aircraft, as the air transportation infrastructure of the state is somewhat limited. Currently, West Virginia's air transportation infrastructure consists of 40 small public airports and numerous private airstrips. The state has no international airport. As such, many West Virginia travelers use airports in other states such as Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. However, the threat of drug smuggling by couriers aboard aircraft may increase upon the completion of a regional airport in Lincoln County. This airport will serve approximately 900,000 residents from the upper Kanawha Valley, as well as counties in southeastern Ohio and eastern Kentucky. Caucasian and African American local independent dealers and loosely organized criminal groups composed primarily of family members and friends are the principal transporters and wholesale- and retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs available in West Virginia. To a lesser extent, local street gangs such as West Side Posse and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) such as Barbarians and Pagan's also transport and distribute illicit drugs throughout the state. Out-of-state African American, Jamaican, and Mexican criminal groups, among others, as well as street gangs such as Bloods also transport and distribute drugs in the state, although to a lesser extent.
Drug-related crimes commonly occur in West Virginia. Federal, state, and local law enforcement officials indicate that incidents of aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, robbery, prostitution, and fraud often are related to drug distribution and abuse. According to 2001 Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data, there were 2,556 crimes per 100,000 residents in West Virginia in 2001, compared with the national rate of approximately 4,161. Metro Drug Enforcement Network Team (Kanawha County) officials reported in 2001 that all major shoplifting rings in its jurisdiction were composed of drug abusers. The task force defines a major shoplifting ring as one that steals at least $100,000 worth of goods per month. The percentage of federal sentences that are drug-related in West Virginia is higher than the percentage nationwide. According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission (USSC), in fiscal year (FY) 2001 drug-related federal sentences in West Virginia accounted for 56.2 percent of all federal sentences in the state, compared with 41.2 percent nationwide. Most (57%) of the drug-related federal sentences in West Virginia were for powdered or crack cocaine offenses. (See Table 1.) Law enforcement officials attribute the high percentage to local law enforcement investigations being referred to federal prosecution, as federal sentencing guidelines include longer mandatory and aggregate sentencing.
The number of treatment admissions involving illicit drugs in West Virginia remained relatively stable from 1998 to 2000. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources reported 4,535 drug-related treatment admissions in 1998, 3,979 in 1999, and 4,571 in 2000, the most recent data available. (See Table 2.) In 2000, 42 percent of drug-related treatment admissions were marijuana-related, 28 percent were pharmaceutical-related, 22 percent were cocaine-related, 4 percent were heroin-related, and 1 percent was methamphetamine-related. Caucasians accounted for approximately 87 percent of all drug-related treatment admissions in West Virginia in that year.
Survey data indicate that illicit drugs are abused in West Virginia at a rate below the national rate. According to the 1999 and the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), 4.7 percent of individuals aged 12 and over surveyed in West Virginia reported having abused an illicit drug at least once in the month prior to the survey, compared with 6.3 percent nationwide. The financial impact on West Virginia's government from
substance abuse-related costs and services is considerable. West Virginia spent
nearly $338 million on substance abuse programs in the areas including justice,
education, health, child-family assistance, mental health development
disabilities, public safety, and state workforce in 1998, the last year for
which these data are available. This figure amounted to 11 percent of the total
expenditures for the state. When factoring in the cost of lost productivity and
nongovernmental expenses by private social services, estimates for total
substance abuse-related costs were even higher. |
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