National Drug Intelligence Center   Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2009   April 2009

Drug Threat Overview

The production, distribution, and abuse of methamphetamine pose the principal illicit drug threats to the Los Angeles HIDTA region. However, the production, distribution, and abuse of cocaine, marijuana, and PCP as well as the distribution and abuse of Mexican black tar heroin (and, to a lesser extent, Mexican brown powder heroin) and MDMA also pose significant law enforcement challenges.

Forty-three of the 59 respondents to the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) National Drug Threat Survey (NDTS) 20096 located within the Los Angeles HIDTA region report that methamphetamine is their greatest drug threat; the remainder report that crack (5), marijuana (4), heroin (2), and MDMA (2) are the greatest drug threats to their jurisdictions. All of these respondents indicate that other drugs, including powder cocaine and PCP, are also problematic, albeit to varying degrees.

Los Angeles HIDTA seizure data for 2008 reveal increases in methamphetamine, marijuana, powder cocaine, and heroin seizures in the region (see Table 1). Increased methamphetamine seizures (up 343% from 2007 to 2008), together with increased prices for pound quantities, indicate that the availability of methamphetamine decreased in the region. Consequently, methamphetamine laboratory seizures increased in 2008 as local producers sought to supplement the low availability of methamphetamine in the region.

Source: Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

Marijuana seizures also increased (213%) within the region from 2007 to 2008. This increase is consistent with the continuing high seizure totals for Mexican marijuana at California POEs and the increasing number of cannabis cultivation operations seized by law enforcement throughout the region. The price for commercial-grade marijuana remained steady in the region, indicating that high seizure totals did not substantially affect marijuana availability. Wholesale prices for sinsemilla and high-potency marijuana increased from 2007 to 2008; this increase may be the result of successful law enforcement cannabis eradication efforts in the Los Angeles HIDTA region.

Increased powder cocaine seizures (up 166% from 2007 to 2008) together with increased wholesale prices (see Table 2) indicate that the availability of powder cocaine has declined in the region. Lower cocaine availability is most likely the result of effective law enforcement efforts to stop cocaine shipments from reaching Mexico (and eventually the Los Angeles HIDTA region) and increased seizures within the HIDTA region. For example, in October 2007, Mexican authorities seized 23 metric tons of cocaine in Colima, Mexico; in 2008, Colombian authorities made several large cocaine seizures--2 metric tons of cocaine were seized from a soda shipment container originating in Chile and destined for Quetzal, Guatemala, and another 10 metric tons were seized en route to Mexico.

Source: Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Green-Price decreases from 2007 to 2008.
Red-Price increases from 2007 to 2008.
*Boat-1,000 tablets
NA-Not available

Heroin seizures increased approximately 11 percent from 2007 to 2008. Despite the increases in heroin seizures and expanding trafficking operations through the HIDTA region to heroin markets in the Great Lakes and eastern states, prices remain stable, thereby indicating that heroin production in Mexico increased.

MDMA and PCP seizures declined from 2007 to 2008 (see Table 1). Consequently, the wholesale price for both MDMA and PCP remained stable from 2007 to 2008 (see Table 2). Some law enforcement officials in the region report that MDMA prices are stable because of a steady supply and declining demand for the drug because of adverse publicity regarding the drug's effects and the closing of raves and other venues where MDMA abuse once was popular. Other law enforcement reporting indicates that MDMA pricing data are limited and/or inaccurate, in part because of the current barter system whereby Asian street gang members and other traffickers are trading MDMA from Canada for cocaine obtained through Mexican sources in the Los Angeles HIDTA region.

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Drug Trafficking Organizations

Highly sophisticated Mexican DTOs and criminal groups--whose drug operations often mirror successful, legitimate businesses--pose the most formidable law enforcement challenges to the Los Angeles HIDTA region. Los Angeles-based Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are closely aligned with the most significant drug cartels in western Mexico--principally the Sinaloa Cartel (also known as the Chapo Guzmán Organization) and the Tijuana Cartel7 (also known as the Arellano Félix Organization (AFO))--and they successfully exploit these relationships to maintain control of the smuggling of illicit drugs to the HIDTA region and wholesale distribution in and outside the region. These well-integrated networks as well as those the groups increasingly forge with members of other DTOs, criminal groups, street gangs, prison gangs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) that distribute significant quantities of illicit drugs help Mexican DTOs and criminal groups drug networks flourish. Each of these trafficking groups willingly works with Mexican DTOs and criminal groups for profit. In 2008, law enforcement officials supporting Los Angeles HIDTA initiatives arrested members of 305 drug trafficking groups, up significantly from 262 drug trafficking groups in 2007 and 251 in 2006. Most of the 2008 arrests involved Mexican (217) or Mexican American (79) criminals that ran international (138) and/or multistate (117) drug trafficking operations. Many of the criminals were polydrug traffickers who most often distributed cocaine (152), methamphetamine (151), marijuana (94), heroin (21), MDMA (9), and/or PCP (1).

Mexican DTOs and criminal groups often compartmentalize duties to ensure that knowledge about the various aspects of their operations is limited and tightly controlled. Their members often have a strong sense of loyalty, particularly because many are family members or close friends, a practice that makes detection by law enforcement more difficult. Although Mexican DTOs and criminal groups typically rely on well-established smuggling routes, they easily adapt their smuggling routes and techniques to law enforcement pressures, particularly when that pressure could impact the flow of illicit drugs into the Los Angeles HIDTA region and the return of drug proceeds to Mexico. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups do not tolerate disobedience by their members, particularly at the highest levels. Individuals who jeopardize Mexican DTOs' and criminal groups' drug operations and other illicit activities are often dealt with violently, frequently resulting in serious injury or death.

Mexican DTOs and criminal groups in the Los Angeles HIDTA region often exploit the region's large Mexican illegal alien population for the riskier aspects of drug trafficking, typically by coaxing them to smuggle illicit drugs from Mexico to the HIDTA region or by using them to tend cannabis grow sites or methamphetamine production operations. When illegal aliens are arrested for transporting illicit drugs, they typically are too afraid to cooperate with law enforcement officers because of the high level of violence or threat of violence to them and their family members. In many cases, members of the DTO or criminal group quickly replace one illegal alien with another.

The number of street gangs, prison gangs and, to a lesser extent, OMGs that purchase significant quantities of illicit drugs from Mexican DTOs and criminal groups for distribution in the Los Angeles HIDTA region is among the largest in the country. Street gang members are increasingly infiltrating suburban and rural communities that previously had minimal drug threats, including the Antelope Valley area (parts of which are located in both Los Angeles County and nearby Kent County), and the Inland Empire.

African American, Caucasian, Colombian, Salvadoran, Canadian, Chinese, Jamaican, Vietnamese, and other Asian criminal groups and independent dealers also transport illicit drugs to the Los Angeles HIDTA region for distribution. However, the nature and scope of their trafficking operations are relatively minor in comparison with the operations of Mexican DTOs and criminal groups and, to a lesser extent, the street gangs, prison gangs, and OMGs with which they affiliate.

Footnotes

6. National Drug Threat Survey (NDTS) data for 2009 cited in this report are as of February 12, 2009. NDTS data cited are raw, unweighted responses from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies solicited through either the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) or the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program. Data cited may include responses from agencies that are part of the NDTS 2009 national sample and/or agencies that are part of HIDTA solicitation lists.
7. Mexican and U.S. law enforcement efforts have severely weakened the Tijuana Cartel over the past year, resulting in several high-ranking AFO leaders being captured, which has led to infighting among various factions of the cartel.

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