National Drug Intelligence Center   Milwaukee High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2009   March 2009

Strategic Drug Threat Developments

• Cocaine distribution by street gang members poses a significant drug threat to the Milwaukee HIDTA region. However, cocaine availability has decreased, as indicated by increased wholesale cocaine prices, decreased cocaine purity, a decline in the number of cocaine-related admissions to publicly funded treatment facilities, and a decline in the number of cocaine-related deaths.
   
• Heroin abuse has increased in the Milwaukee HIDTA region. Law enforcement officials report that young Caucasian individuals are increasingly abusing heroin; many of these individuals switched to heroin after initially abusing controlled prescription opioids.
   
• Heroin purity varies in the region, ranging from as low as 16 percent to as high as 89 percent. Law enforcement officials report that the wide purity range most likely contributed to an increase in heroin-related deaths in the region.
   
• Outdoor cannabis grow operations have increased in the HIDTA region, particularly in Kenosha County. Law enforcement officials report that most of these grows are coordinated and operated by Hispanics and typically yield 1,000 to more than 10,000 plants.
   
• Law enforcement officials report that illegal diversion and abuse of controlled prescription drugs (CPDs) are common in the Milwaukee HIDTA region and that availability and abuse of controlled prescription opioids have increased. According to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner, the number of controlled prescription opioid-related deaths in Milwaukee County increased more than 31 percent from 2003 through 2007. Benzodiazepines are also commonly abused in the region; the number of benzodiazepine-related deaths in Milwaukee County increased from 58 in 2003 to 155 in 2007. 

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HIDTA Overview

The Milwaukee HIDTA region encompasses Kenosha, Milwaukee, Racine, and Waukesha Counties in the southeastern corner of Wisconsin (see Figure 1). An estimated 1.68 million people reside in the region; more than half (56.3%) live in the city and county of Milwaukee. Other significant population centers include Kenosha, Racine, Waukesha, and West Allis.

The Milwaukee HIDTA region receives most of its illicit drug supply from Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and criminal groups based in Chicago, Illinois, which lies approximately 90 miles south of Milwaukee. Mexican traffickers typically transport wholesale quantities of illicit drugs from locations along the Southwest Border to stash houses in the Chicago area, from which they supply distributors in the Milwaukee HIDTA region. Additionally, various other traffickers transport illicit drugs to the Milwaukee HIDTA region from the Southwest Border, the West Coast, and Canada.

The city of Milwaukee is divided by Interstate 94/794, which separates the north and south sides of the city into ethnically and racially distinct communities. Most Hispanics in the region, including persons of Mexican, Dominican, Colombian, and Puerto Rican descent, live south of Interstate 94/794 in Milwaukee County. Hispanic criminal groups and street gangs operate primarily on the south side of Milwaukee, where they mask their operations within Hispanic communities and dominate the distribution of powder cocaine and marijuana. African Americans compose more than 80 percent of the population of Milwaukee residing north of Interstate 94/794. Most African American criminal groups and street gangs operate on the north side of the city, concealing their operations within African American communities; they are the primary distributors of crack cocaine and marijuana in this area of the region. Asian street gangs and Caucasian independent dealers also distribute illicit drugs throughout the region.

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