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Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis
June 2007

Production

Most of the methamphetamine available in the Los Angeles HIDTA region is produced in Jalisco, Sonora, and Sinaloa, Mexico, and is smuggled across the California-Mexico border for local and national distribution. However, local powder methamphetamine production and ice conversion at both large-scale and small-scale laboratories, although decreasing, continue to be more problematic than in most other areas of the country. The number of powder methamphetamine laboratory seizures in the HIDTA region decreased annually from 2002 to 2006 (see Table 2)--the result of increased precursor chemical control regulations, successful law enforcement efforts, and public awareness campaigns. Likewise, the number of superlabs and major laboratories4 combined decreased dramatically from 2002 to 2006. (See Table 3.) Despite these decreases, the quantities of both powder and ice methamphetamine produced in the HIDTA region continue to be sufficient for national-level distribution and abuse. Moreover, law enforcement officials seized more superlabs and major laboratories in California in 2006 than in any other state (20 of the 52 superlabs and major laboratories seized in the United States); one-half of the superlabs (5 of the 10) and one-fifth of the major laboratories (2 of the 10) seized in California during 2006 were seized in the Los Angeles HIDTA region. Additionally, most of the ice conversion laboratories seized in the United States from 2002 through 2006 were located in California; over 21 percent (9 of the 41 laboratories) were seized in the Los Angeles HIDTA region.

Methamphetamine Producers in the Los Angeles HIDTA Region

Mexican DTOs and criminal groups produce methamphetamine at superlabs and major laboratories in remote areas of the Los Angeles HIDTA region, particularly in Riverside, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino Counties; they also are significant sources for methamphetamine distributed in the U.S. Pacific, Southwest, Midwest, and Southeast Regions as well as in the Pacific Rim nations.a These Mexican DTOs and criminal groups typically are not the same DTOs and criminal groups that produce the drug in Mexico; however, the leaders of some of the groups that produce methamphetamine in Mexico frequently reside in and direct their laboratory operations from the Los Angeles HIDTA region. In reaction to recent precursor chemical control legislation and enhanced law enforcement efforts, many methamphetamine producers no longer share information with their counterparts, such as where and when they plan to cook methamphetamine at a major laboratory. Instead, these producers may only provide a location by presenting a map of an address in San Bernardino, for example, and wait until the last moment to inform their counterparts of when the drug is ready to be picked up or delivered, primarily to avoid law enforcement interdiction. Others create elaborate underground laboratories in suburban locations to produce the drug. Regardless of the production method, Mexican DTOs rarely stockpile the drug; it is produced, often only partially, and then transported to another destination for further processing and/or distribution.

Caucasian and Hispanic criminal groups and independent producers and, to a lesser extent, Asian criminal groups, are the principal small-scale methamphetamine producers in the HIDTA region; they typically produce limited quantities of methamphetamine (less than 1 pound per production cycle).

a. The Pacific Rim includes nations that border the Pacific Ocean; it extends from North and South America to Asia and Oceania.

Table 2. Number of Powder Methamphetamine Laboratory Seizures
in the Los Angeles HIDTA Region, 2002-2006 

  2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Superlabs 57 55 27 10 2
Major Laboratories 74 43 43 8 5
Small-Scale Laboratories 476 372 147 94 71
All Laboratories 607 470 217 112 78

 Source: National Seizure System (as of 5/2/07).

Table 3. Number of Major and Super Powder Methamphetamine and Ice Conversion Laboratory Seizures in the Los Angeles HIDTA Region, by County, 2002-2006

Los Angeles

 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2002-2006
  Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super
Powder 34 22 20 24 5 13 4 5 3 4 66 68
Ice Conversion 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 2 0 0 4 2

Orange

 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2002-2006
  Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super
Powder 6 7 2 8 3 1 0 3 1 0 12 19
Ice Conversion 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 1
Riverside 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2002-2006
  Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super
Powder 13 14 8 10 16 7 3 0 1 1 41 32
Ice Conversion 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
San
Bernardino		 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2002-2006
  Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super
Powder 21 14 13 12 19 6 2 2 0 0 55 34
Ice Conversion 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 0
Total Laboratory Seizures in Los Angeles HIDTA Region
  2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2002-2006
Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super Major Super
Powder 74 57 43 54 43 27 9 10 5 5 174 153
Ice Conversion 1 0 0 0 6 0 2 2 0 1 9 3
Total 132 92 76 23 11 339

Source: National Seizure System, as of 5/2/07.

Methamphetamine producers in the HIDTA region have recognized that laboratory waste materials are valuable evidence to law enforcement officers attempting to identify laboratory operators and sites. For example, dumpsite wastes may contain evidence such as suspects' fingerprints or information as to where the chemicals were procured. As a result, laboratory operators in the Los Angeles HIDTA region increasingly set fire to laboratory dumpsites before abandoning the sites or use machinery to bury waste materials on the property around the laboratory site as the waste is produced. Such practices result in tremendous environmental damage and significant cleanup costs. According to the California Department of Toxic Substance Control, methamphetamine laboratory cleanup costs in the four Los Angeles HIDTA counties alone reached $317,650 in 2006 and accounted for nearly one-third (31%) of the $1,011,129 spent in the 58 California counties combined that year.

"Dirt Barons" and "Tinkle Tweekers"

Methamphetamine abusers in the Los Angeles HIDTA region often obtain their supplies through desperate measures. Some abusers visit superlab dumpsites to harvest buckets of contaminated dirt or collect urine excreted by other methamphetamine abusers, which is then processed for further use. "Dirt barons," who often learn of superlab dumpsites through word of mouth, visit these sites to collect toxic soil, which they then take to their residence or other locations to process. They extract methamphetamine through a simple process that involves the use of chemical solvents and lye. A 5-gallon bucket of contaminated soil can yield 1 to 2 grams of methamphetamine. "Tinkle tweekers," as the name implies, are methamphetamine abusers who commonly deposit urine and other bodily fluids into large buckets. Once filled, the buckets containing bodily fluid are processed similarly to the methamphetamine that is processed by dirt barons; abusers add a base such as lye, acetone, or paint thinner and then filter and separate liquid stages and gases to complete the methamphetamine crystallization process. Every 2 gallons of bodily fluids collected in this fashion can yield a gram of methamphetamine.a Although the purity levels of methamphetamine obtained through either means are relatively low, the methamphetamine is potent enough for personal use.

Source: Inland Narcotics Clearing House.
a. Since body fluids are considered biohazards, the threat posed by the "tinkle tweekers" to children, others living in a residence where such biohazards are stored, or law enforcement officials investigating a site, is enhanced.

Most of the marijuana available in the Los Angeles HIDTA region is produced locally by Mexican DTOs and criminal groups at indoor (including hydroponic) and outdoor grow sites; some of this marijuana is of a higher potency than in the past.5 Law enforcement officials seized a total of 391,284 cannabis plants from indoor and outdoor grow sites in the Los Angeles HIDTA region in 2006, a significant increase from the 167,279 plants similarly reported seized in 2005.6 Indoor cultivation usually occurs in private residences throughout the HIDTA region, while outdoor cultivation frequently occurs on federal public lands in Riverside, San Bernardino, and Los Angeles Counties,7 respectively. The largest outdoor cannabis cultivation plots often are manned by Mexican DTOs and criminal groups in the San Bernardino, Cleveland, and Angeles National Forests. (See Figure 2.) In addition, Mexican DTOs and criminal groups that once produced marijuana with average THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) levels of 2 or 3 percent now produce marijuana with THC levels of 15 to 20 percent. Much of this change is due to an increasing demand for high-grade marijuana in the Los Angeles HIDTA region and in drug markets supplied by the traffickers as well as the increased profit margins associated with high-potency marijuana. Additionally, many of the Mexican DTOs and criminal groups that cultivate cannabis also produce methamphetamine, usually during the off-season for cannabis cultivation.

Figure 2. Cannabis eradication in the Los Angeles HIDTA region, 2006.

Map showing cannabis eradication in the Los Angeles HIDTA region, 2006.
 d-link

African American criminal groups and street gangs in the Los Angeles HIDTA region-- particularly those in the Los Angeles, Compton, and North Long Beach areas of Los Angeles County and in the high desert areas of San Bernardino County--produce PCP for local, regional, and national-level distribution; these traffickers are the principal PCP producers in the HIDTA region and in the United States. Despite significant seizures of PCP during 2006 (314 kg), PCP production in the region is reportedly decreasing. National Seizure System data indicates that PCP production in the region trended downward from 6 laboratories seizures in 2004 to 0 laboratory seizures in 2006. Such a decrease could impact PCP availability in the HIDTA region as well as throughout the rest of the country, since the HIDTA region is the nation's leading location for PCP production.

End Notes

4. Superlabs are capable of producing 10 or more pounds of methamphetamine per production cycle; major laboratories are capable of producing 2 to 9 pounds per production cycle; and small-scale laboratories are capable of producing less than 2 pounds per production cycle.
5. Additional quantities of marijuana available in the region are produced in the Mexican states of Guerrero, Michoacán, Nayarit, Oaxaca, and Zacatecas.
6. Most of the cannabis plants reported seized in the HIDTA region in 2005 and 2006 were seized outdoors.
7. Seizure statistics indicate that cannabis typically is not cultivated in Orange County.

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