|
National
Drug Intelligence Center
Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis
June 2007
Strategic Drug
Threat Developments
- Methamphetamine abuse is increasing in the region, particularly
among adolescents in northern Virginia and teenagers, young adults,
and homosexual males involved in the club scene in the Washington,
D.C., area. However, the overall demand for methamphetamine in the
W/B HIDTA region is relatively low, far less than the demand for
cocaine and heroin.
- Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) are increasing
their drug trafficking activities in the W/B HIDTA region. Mexican
DTOs and criminal groups already supply most of the marijuana available
in the area. Further, they are increasingly transporting cocaine
into the region as well as transporting large quantities of methamphetamine
into the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia, adjacent to the HIDTA
region.
- Midlevel and retail drug traffickers are using various techniques
to gain market share in the region, including providing free heroin,
using brand names to establish repeat customers and, as evidenced
by the rise in incidents involving heroin/fentanyl combinations
reported in 2006, offering "hot bags" of heroin combined with fentanyl
to increase potency. Fentanyl was linked to at least 36 fatal overdoses
in Maryland and 23 in Virginia in 2006.
- Abuse of powder and crack cocaine is increasing among young
Caucasian professionals, blue-collar workers, and students in small
cities, towns, and rural areas in the W/B HIDTA region.
- The demand for marijuana in the W/B HIDTA region is high and
increasing. Marijuana is abused by every ethnicity, socioeconomic
group, and age group. The popularity of high-potency marijuana,
especially among younger abusers, is a key factor in driving the
growth in demand.
Drug Trafficking
Organizations, Criminal Groups, and Gangs
Drug trafficking organizations are complex organizations
with highly defined command-and-control structures that
produce, transport, and/or distribute large quantities of
one or more illicit drugs.
Criminal groups operating in the United States
are numerous and range from small to moderately sized, loosely
knit groups that distribute one or more drugs at the retail
and midlevels.
Gangs are defined by the National Alliance of
Gang Investigators' Associations as groups or associations
of three or more persons with a common identifying sign,
symbol, or name, the members of which individually or collectively
engage in criminal activity that creates an atmosphere of
fear and intimidation.
|
To Top
To Contents
The W/B HIDTA region encompasses four distinct population centers--the
Baltimore Metropolitan Area, the District of Columbia, northern Virginia,
and the Richmond metropolitan area. The region includes the following
city and county jurisdictions: Maryland (the city of Baltimore and Anne
Arundel, Baltimore, Charles, Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George's
Counties), northern Virginia (the city of Alexandria and Arlington,
Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties), the Richmond metropolitan
area (the cities of Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Petersburg,
and Richmond and Hanover, Henrico, and Prince George Counties), and
Washington, D.C.
Economic, demographic, and transportation factors render the W/B
HIDTA region an increasingly fertile environment for drug trafficking
and abuse. Many areas of the region are in the midst of an economic
boom, resulting in population growth and increasing levels of disposable
income for abusers to spend on drugs. At the same time, some areas,
such as inner-city Baltimore, Richmond, and Washington, remain economically
depressed, leading some residents to view drug trafficking as the only
means of financial gain and drug abuse as a form of escape. Revitalization
efforts in Washington, D.C., have included the demolition of several
public housing projects, resulting in the dispersion of drug- and gang-related
problems to suburban areas, particularly in Maryland. Between 1990 and
2000 (the year of the latest census), the population of the W/B HIDTA
region increased at approximately the national rate and became more
ethnically and racially diverse; these demographic trends have continued
since 2000. In particular, a dramatic increase in the Hispanic population
has enabled Colombian, Dominican and, increasingly, Mexican, Guatemalan,
and Salvadoran criminal groups and gangs with ties to drug source and
transit countries to operate more easily. Drug trafficking in the region
is facilitated by an extensive transportation infrastructure that includes
highways--Interstate 95, in particular--railway and bus systems, two
international seaports, and four international airports with passenger
and cargo services.
To Top
To Contents
To Next Page
To Publications Page
To Home Page
|