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National Drug Intelligence Center |
Mexican DTOs operating out of the southwestern United States and major distribution centers on the East Coast, such as Atlanta, will most likely increase their wholesale distribution of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana in the HIDTA region in the coming year. Limited local methamphetamine production and the growing presence of Mexican DTOs in the HIDTA region may also lead to increased availability of Mexican ice methamphetamine in the region. Mexican organizations have well-established transportation and distribution networks that will enable them to supply wholesale quantities of illicit drugs to the region.
Dominican DTOs and criminal groups will quite likely increase their influence in the PC HIDTA region and become a significant threat in the next year. Dominican DTOs already travel to the Southwest Border area to obtain large quantities of cocaine and heroin for transport to the PC HIDTA region. They are branching out and obtaining illicit drugs from sources in the Caribbean and are increasingly supplying large quantities of marijuana and ice methamphetamine throughout the region as well.
Street gangs, particularly Bloods, will very likely continue to expand their influence from urban communities into suburban and rural locations throughout the region to establish new markets and territories and to escape the scrutiny of urban law enforcement. This expansion will most likely increase competition for market share and cause a corresponding increase in drug-related violence.
Sporadic cocaine shortages will quite likely continue in the PC HIDTA region into early 2009. Disruptions to traditional cocaine supply routes from Mexico and to alternative routes, such as those through the Caribbean, will more than likely affect cocaine availability in the region through early 2009.
Indoor cannabis cultivation, particularly cultivation that yields high-potency marijuana, will most likely increase over the next year. The rising demand for high-potency marijuana and the high profit potential will quite likely entice more traffickers in the region to become involved in indoor cannabis cultivation.
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