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.
Figure 1. Chicago
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
Figure 2. Greatest Drug Threat to the Chicago HIDTA Region, as Reported By Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement Agencies by Number of Respondents
Figure 3. Treatment Provider Services in the Chicago HIDTA Region by Substance,
SFY2005-2009
Table 1. Metropolitan Areas Most Often Identified as Origination and Destination Points for Seized Drug Shipments,
2008-2009
Table 2. Drug Use Among Adult Male Arrestees, Urinalysis Results, 2008
The Chicago High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) is one of the nation's largest drug markets. It is a national-level distribution center for multiton quantities of cocaine and marijuana and for lesser quantities of heroin and methamphetamine supplied to the Midwest and the eastern United States. Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) represent the single greatest drug trafficking threat and dominate the wholesale distribution of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana in the region. Some of the cocaine, heroin, and marijuana and most of the ice methamphetamine transported to the Chicago area are destined for other drug markets, primarily in the Midwest. Street gangs are the principal retail-level distributors in the region. They pose a major public safety concern to law enforcement because they engage in violent criminal activities to protect their drug supplies, distribution territories, and illicit drug proceeds. According to the Chicago Police Department, nearly 60 percent of the murders in that city in 2009 were gang-involved.a
The distribution and abuse of cocaine, followed by heroin and marijuana, are the primary drug threats in the Chicago HIDTA region. MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as ecstasy) and controlled prescription drugs are abused but pose much lesser threats. Hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds are generated each year, and bulk cash smuggling is the primary method used by traffickers to move these proceeds from Chicago to locations along the Southwest Border and into Mexico.
The following are significant strategic drug threat developments in the Chicago HIDTA region:
National Drug Intelligence Center
319 Washington Street, 5th Floor
Johnstown, PA 15901-1622
Tel. (814) 532-4601
FAX (814) 532-4690
E-mail NDIC.Contacts@usdoj.gov
Office of Policy and Interagency Affairs
U.S. Department of Justice
Robert F. Kennedy Building, Room 3341
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-2000
Telephone: (202) 532-4040
FAX (202) 514-4252
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
a. The Chicago Police Department defines a gang-involved murder as either a murder involving a victim or offender with known gang association or a murder that was gang-related.
UNCLASSIFIED
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