U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center
New Mexico HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010
May 2010

Production

Methamphetamine production is a low and decreasing threat in the New Mexico HIDTA region. Most law enforcement agencies in the region that responded to the NDTS 2010 report that production of the drug is a low threat in their areas and further indicate that this threat either decreased or remained the same relative to 2008. The number of methamphetamine laboratories seized by law enforcement in the HIDTA region decreased 19 percent from 2008 through 2009; however, the number seized in 2009 was still higher than in 2007. (See Table 1.) Laboratory seizure statistics indicate that most laboratories are small, producing less than 2 ounces of the drug, and that 41 percent of the laboratories seized in the HIDTA region from 2007 through 2009 were seized in Bernalillo County. Methamphetamine production in the HIDTA region likely decreased as the availability of Mexican methamphetamine, particularly from Phoenix, Arizona, and southern California, increased in 2009.

Table 1. Methamphetamine Laboratory Seizures in New Mexico, 2007-2009

Source: National Seizure System as of 3/31/10.
*New Mexico HIDTA counties are in bold, italicized type. Counties without methamphetamine laboratory seizures during the 3-year period are not listed.

Small quantities of cannabis are cultivated locally at both outdoor and indoor locations in the New Mexico HIDTA; however, most of the marijuana available in the region is produced in Mexico. According to the NDTS 2010, 22 of the 30 law enforcement agencies in the HIDTA region report that cannabis is cultivated at both outdoor and indoor sites; only 8 agencies report that the drug is grown hydroponically in their areas. Although most HIDTA law enforcement agencies report that cannabis is cultivated in their areas, data from the DEA Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP) indicate that only 1,094 plants, all from outdoor grows, were seized in the entire state in 2009. The largest outdoor grow eradicated in 2009 was an elaborate 350-plant grow in Tucumcari, Quay County (a non-HIDTA county). The Caucasian growers lived in caves and makeshift homes at the site while tending to the plants and used water from a mountain spring to water their crop. Law enforcement officials believe that the grow site had been in operation for several years.

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Transportation

The New Mexico HIDTA region is a major transit area for drugs transported north to states such as Colorado and Kansas and to destinations on the East Coast. Most drug shipments are transported through the HIDTA area via Interstates 10, 25, and 40. Traffickers use I-10 to transport drug shipments from the El Paso Area into the New Mexico HIDTA as well as from Arizona and California. They use I-25 to transport drugs to northern markets in Colorado and Kansas and I-40 for drug shipments from Arizona and California to destinations east. The New Mexico Department of Public Safety (DPS) operates numerous POEs on highways in the state and frequently seizes drug shipments from commercial trucks at these locations. (See text box.) Numerous other state highways and local roadways are also used to transport drug shipments, particularly to avoid law enforcement presence on interstate highways.

Traffickers also transport illicit drugs directly into the HIDTA region from Mexico. Drug loads are smuggled through the Antelope Wells, Columbus, and Santa Teresa POEs along the New Mexico-Mexico border and at unofficial border crossings, particularly in the Boot Heel region and farming areas west of the Columbus POE. Mexican traffickers employ a significant number of backpackers and use pack animals to cross the border with illicit drugs (primarily marijuana) at unofficial crossings. According to the New Mexico HIDTA, the amount of marijuana seized from backpacked loads increased from 2007 (17,100 kg) to 2009 (22,000 kg), despite a decrease in the total amount of marijuana seized in the HIDTA region during the same period. (See Table 2.) The backpackers usually drop their drug loads, which often weigh 70 to 80 pounds, at predetermined locations in the desert and walk to a waiting vehicle. Other DTO members later pick up the drugs and transport them to nearby stash houses for distribution. The rugged, mountainous terrain in the Boot Heel region makes it difficult for law enforcement to seize drug loads smuggled by backpackers through this area.

Table 2. Drug Seizures in the New Mexico HIDTA Region in Kilograms, 2007-2009

Source: National Seizure System, run date April 8 2010.

Increased law enforcement operations along the Southwest Border have caused traffickers to adjust their smuggling routes and methods. For instance, traffickers in the New Mexico HIDTA region have increased their use of ultralight aircraft to smuggle marijuana. According to law enforcement reporting, in mid-November 2009, at least three suspected ultralight incursions were reported: two in Luna County and one in Hidalgo County. The ultralight aircraft usually do not land but drop their loads, which are later picked up by traffickers using global positioning system (GPS) devices. Furthermore, traffickers exploit the hundreds of children who pass through the New Mexico POEs to attend school because they believe that law enforcement is less likely to inspect the belongings of children entering the United States. For example, in February 2010, U.S. Border Patrol officers seized more than 5 pounds of marijuana concealed in a 14-year-old girl's backpack as she passed through the Columbus POE to attend school in New Mexico. Law enforcement reporting also indicates that smugglers are increasingly using U.S. Highways 60 and 380 to avoid the more heavily monitored I-40. Several methamphetamine and cocaine seizures have been made on these highways from vehicles traveling from Arizona and California to Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado.

Fluctuations in drug seizure amounts in the New Mexico HIDTA region over the past 3 years are attributed to increased violence in the El Paso/Juárez corridor and the rising production of heroin and methamphetamine in Mexico. Marijuana seizure amounts decreased steadily from 2007 through 2009. Cocaine seizure amounts peaked in 2008 before declining in 2009 to the lowest amount seized during the 3-year period. (See Table 2.) Marijuana and cocaine seizures are most affected by violence in Mexico because the drugs are smuggled directly into the HIDTA region from Mexico or the El Paso area. Traffickers are also smuggling drug loads across the Southwest Border in areas less affected by violence and then transporting the drugs to New Mexico. Heroin and methamphetamine are most often transported to New Mexico in this manner from Arizona and California. Seizures of these drugs likely increased along the Arizona and California borders because traffickers were less impeded by high levels of violence, such as that occurring in the El Paso/Juárez plaza, and because production of both drugs increased in Mexico. Heroin seizures increased steadily from 2007 through 2009, and methamphetamine seizure amounts increased slightly from 2008 to 2009.

UNCLASSIFIED

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