Strategic Drug Threat Developments

The trafficking and abuse of ice methamphetamine¹are the most significant drug threats to the Northern California HIDTA region. Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) are the primary transporters and distributors of the drug. To increase their customer base, Mexican DTOs began a new technique for marketing methamphetamine that is directed toward younger users by adding flavoring and coloring to the drug. This form of methamphetamine first emerged in Contra Costa County in 2007. Methamphetamine trafficking and abuse also are a significant influence in violent crimes and property crimes perpetrated in the HIDTA region.

Mexican DTOs are cultivating cannabis at an increasing number of outdoor grow sites located in remote locations, on public lands, and in rural areas within the Northern California HIDTA region. As a result, the HIDTA region has emerged as one of the most significant areas for outdoor cannabis cultivation in the United States.

Some Mexican DTOs are beginning to employ indoor cultivation techniques at outdoor grow sites to achieve a higher-quality plant with greater THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) levels.

Indoor cannabis cultivation and marijuana distribution and abuse have increased significantly in the Northern California HIDTA region. According to HIDTA officials, this increase is due to several factors, including rising availability and demand for high-potency marijuana, California Proposition 215 (which legalized the medicinal use of marijuana), and the opening of cannabis clubs, which are established to supply marijuana for medicinal use but are also used by traffickers to purchase significant quantities of marijuana for illegal distribution.

Asian DTOs and criminal groups are operating larger indoor cannabis cultivation sites than those previously maintained in the HIDTA region; this situation has resulted in an increase in the availability of high-potency marijuana in the area.

The increase of cannabis cultivation at outdoor and indoor locations has caused a host of problems with which law enforcement and public health officials must contend, including violent confrontations with outdoor growers, home invasion robberies where the criminals are looking for caches of marijuana or proceeds from indoor grow operations, health-related problems suffered by unwitting citizens and law enforcement officers from exposure to contaminants and other hazards at outdoor and indoor grow sites, and extensive costs associated with the remediation of the environmental damage to public lands caused by outdoor cannabis cultivation.

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.

HIDTA Overview

The Northern California HIDTA region consists of the following 10 counties in the San Francisco Bay area--Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Monterey, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma. The region encompasses major metropolitan areas, including Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, as well as expansive, sparsely populated rural areas. Proximity to illicit drug source areas and an adaptable abuser population have rendered the HIDTA region a national-level transportation hub and significant abuse area for illicit drugs supplied by Mexican and, to a lesser extent, Asian DTOs. Both of these types of DTOs transport a wide variety of illicit drugs, including cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine, from the HIDTA region to drug markets throughout the United States, such as markets in the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, and Hawaii.

A multifaceted transportation infrastructure links the HIDTA region directly to Mexico and Canada--major illicit drug production and source areas--as well as to methamphetamine production areas in central and southern California and marijuana production areas in central and northern California. This infrastructure also links the HIDTA region to major drug markets throughout the nation. Interstate 80, a major east-west corridor, connects San Francisco to New York, New York, and a host of cities in between. U.S. Highway 101, a north-south corridor, provides direct access to the region from Mexico and Canada. International airports and maritime ports further facilitate illicit drug smuggling into and through the area, particularly from Asia and Europe. The San Francisco International Airport is the fourteenth-busiest in the United States and the twenty-third-busiest airport in the world in the number of passengers. The Port of Oakland is the fourth-busiest container port in the United States and the ninth-busiest waterborne freight gateway for international merchandise trade by value of shipments.

End Note

1. For the purposes of this report, ice methamphetamine refers to methamphetamine that has been crystallized from powder methamphetamine.