National Drug Intelligence Center   Atlanta High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2008   June 2008   UNCLASSIFIED

Strategic Drug Threat Developments

• The Atlanta HIDTA region has become the principal drug distribution center for Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) that supply illicit drugs to drug markets in the eastern United States.
   
• Mexican DTOs have moved some of their illicit drug operations from Atlanta, Georgia, to North Carolina and are increasingly using North Carolina locations to distribute wholesale quantities of illicit drugs to eastern U.S. drug markets. The Mexican traffickers operating in North Carolina are not competing with the Mexican traffickers operating in Atlanta; instead, the traffickers have formed a cooperative relationship in an attempt to expand control of Mexican drug trafficking and to increase market share.
   
• A shortage in wholesale quantities of powder cocaine was reported by several law enforcement agencies in the Atlanta area in 2007. This shortage led to an increase in wholesale kilogram prices; however, retail prices did not increase because retail distributors adapted to the shortage by cutting cocaine to stretch supplies. This action resulted in a slight decrease in the purity of cocaine sold at the retail level during this period. In early 2008 mixed reporting from law enforcement agencies revealed that some wholesale powder cocaine distributors continue to experience decreased cocaine availability, while others are able to supply multikilogram quantities.
   
• MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as ecstasy) distribution and abuse have increased among African Americans in the Atlanta HIDTA region. MDMA is frequently mentioned and referred to as "X" in hip-hop music, which may account for the increased popularity and abuse of the drug.

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HIDTA Overview

The Atlanta HIDTA region's emergence as a national-level drug distribution center has resulted in the continued expansion of the HIDTA region. When established in 1995, the Atlanta HIDTA region was composed of DeKalb and Fulton Counties; in 2006, Cobb and Gwinnett Counties in Georgia were added to the region. Then, in February 2008, the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) announced the designation of Barrow, Bartow, Cherokee, Clayton, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, and Henry Counties in Georgia and Durham, Johnston, Wake, Wayne, and Wilson Counties in North Carolina as additions to the Atlanta HIDTA region. (See Figure 1.) Moreover, many HIDTA initiatives and investigations extend into counties within the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) that are adjacent to the HIDTA region.¹ (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. Atlanta metropolitan area transportation infrastructure.

d-link

The Atlanta HIDTA region is the leading drug distribution center for Mexican DTOs that supply illicit drugs, particularly powder cocaine, to drug markets in the eastern United States.² The drug flow from the Atlanta HIDTA region has positioned it as a national-level drug distribution center for many eastern U.S. drug markets. Mexican DTOs distribute illicit drugs from the Atlanta HIDTA region to cities throughout the eastern United States, including Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Columbia, South Carolina; Gainesville, Orlando, and Pensacola, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Knoxville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; and Norfolk, Virginia. Mexican DTOs also use Atlanta as a distribution center for cities in the central United States, such as St. Louis, Missouri. Moreover, these DTOs distribute ice methamphetamine from Atlanta to southeastern drug markets. The illicit drugs distributed by Mexican DTOs from the Atlanta HIDTA region are generally smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border (Southwest Border) by Mexican traffickers and then through California and Texas en route to the HIDTA region.

The Atlanta HIDTA region has a highly accessible transportation system, including major roadways that link it to the Southwest Border and major eastern U.S. drug markets. (See Figure 2.) Mexican DTOs exploit the Atlanta HIDTA region's geographic location between these areas to transport illicit drugs to Atlanta and then on to eastern drug markets; these DTOs also transport illicit drugs directly to distribution points in North Carolina for further distribution to eastern drug markets.

End Notes

1. The Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes the following 28 counties: Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton.
2. According to the Rand McNally Road Atlas and Travel Guide 2007, the eastern United States consists of Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

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