U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center

Title:

Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2010

Publication Date: May 2010

Document ID: 2010-R0813-001

Archived on: September 1, 2011. This document may contain dated information. It remains available to provide access to historical materials.

This assessment is an outgrowth of a partnership between the NDIC and HIDTA Program for preparation of annual assessments depicting drug trafficking trends and developments in HIDTA Program areas. The report has been coordinated with the HIDTA, is limited in scope to HIDTA jurisdictional boundaries, and draws upon a wide variety of sources within those boundaries.

Your questions, comments, and suggestions for future subjects are welcome at any time. Addresses are provided at the end of the page.

Contents

List of Figures

Figure 1. Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area

List of Tables

Table 1. Appalachia HIDTA Initiative Seizures, by Drug, in Kilograms, 2009
Table 2. Methamphetamine Laboratories Seized in Appalachia HIDTA Counties, 2005-2009
Table 3. Cannabis Plants Eradicated at Outdoor and Indoor Grow Sites in Appalachia HIDTA Counties, 2005-2009

List of Tables in Appendix A

Table A1. Drug-Related Treatment Admissions to Publicly Funded Facilities in Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia, by Drug, 2004-2008

Strategic Drug Threat Developments

The principal drug threats to the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) region are the diversion and abuse of controlled prescription drugs (CPDs), particularly prescription opioid pain relievers,a the distribution and abuse of cocaine, and the production and abuse of methamphetamine. In addition, marijuana production and distribution continue to pose serious threats to the region.

The following are significant strategic drug threat developments in the Appalachia HIDTA region:

• CPD diversion and abuse pose the greatest drug threat to the Appalachia HIDTA region. Operational prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) in the Appalachia HIDTA region have made acquiring CPDs more difficult, and as a result, many residents travel to states outside the region, particularly Florida and Georgia, to obtain these drugs from doctors, pharmacies, and pain management clinics.
   
• Methamphetamine laboratory seizures in the Appalachia HIDTA region increased 32 percent from 2008 to 2009, suggesting rising methamphetamine production, particularly in HIDTA counties in Kentucky. Increasing production is attributed to the growing popularity of the one-pot production method and the many pseudoephedrine smurfing operations in the region.b
   
• Some outdoor cannabis cultivators in the Appalachia HIDTA region are now planting smaller, decentralized plots rather than single, larger outdoor plots and have moved some grow operations indoors to avoid detection and eradication by law enforcement officers. These changes are reflected in a 26 percent decrease in the number of cannabis plants eradicated from outdoor grow sites from 2008 to 2009.
   
• While the distribution and abuse of cocaine remain a significant drug threat in the region, no significant changes in availability or abuse of the drug were noted during 2009.

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Addresses

Web Addresses

ADNET:  http://ndicosa.adnet.sgov.gov
DOJ:  http://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/
LEO:  https://www.leo.gov/http/leowcs.leopriv.gov/lesig/archive/ndic/index.htm
RISS:  ndic.riss.net

Footnotes

a. Opioid pain relievers include codeine, fentanyl (Duragesic, Actiq), hydromorphone (Dilaudid), meperidine (Demerol), morphine (MS Contin), oxycodone (OxyContin), methadone (Dolophine), and hydrocodone combinations (Vicodin, Lortab, and Lorcet).
b. Pseudoephedrine smurfing is a method used by some methamphetamine producers to acquire large quantities of pseudoephedrine by enlisting the assistance of several friends or associates in making purchases at or below the legal thresholds from multiple retail locations.

UNCLASSIFIED

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