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U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center
New England HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010
June 2010
Opioid abuse will remain the primary drug threat in the NE HIDTA region over the next year. SA heroin will continue to be widely available and abused and will present a greater threat if street-level prices continue to decline. Additionally, the availability of SWA heroin in the region may increase if heroin demand escalates. The rate at which controlled prescription opioid abusers switch to heroin use will increase as more of these abusers are attracted by the lower cost and higher potency of heroin. The abuse of CPDs that are used to treat opioid addiction is expected to increase if abuse of heroin and CPDs continues to rise in New England; this situation will result in greater demand for drug treatment and other health-related services.
NDIC analysts expect that Dominican DTOs will take a more prominent role in drug trafficking in the NE HIDTA region as increased law enforcement efforts along the Southwest Border cause Colombian and Dominican DTOs to use the Caribbean corridor and the Dominican Republic as transshipment points to transport cocaine and heroin to the eastern United States.
The level of violence occurring among street gangs competing for drug distribution territory in New England will escalate as gangs expand their areas of operation to suburban and rural locations. Canada-based Asian DTOs will pose a serious threat as they expand their high-potency marijuana and synthetic drug distribution networks. They will use their well-established marijuana distribution networks to introduce larger quantities of synthetic drugs, primarily MDMA and methamphetamine, into the region.
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