U.S. Department of Justice
National Drug Intelligence Center
Northern California HIDTA Drug Market Analysis 2010
June 2010

HIDTA Overview

The Northern California HIDTA region consists of 10 counties in the San Francisco Bay area--Alameda, Contra Costa, Lake, Marin, Monterey, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma. (See Figure 1.) The region encompasses major metropolitan areas, including Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, and expansive, sparsely populated rural areas. Proximity to illicit drug source areas and an adaptable abuser population have rendered the HIDTA region a national-level transportation center and significant abuse area for illicit drugs supplied by Mexican and, to a lesser extent, Asian DTOs. In addition to supplying drug markets in the region, Mexican and Asian DTOs transport various illicit drugs from the area to markets throughout the United States.

A multifaceted transportation infrastructure links the HIDTA region directly to Mexico and Canada--major illicit drug production and source areas--as well as to methamphetamine production areas in central and southern California and marijuana production areas in central and northern California. For example, U.S. Highway 101, a north-south corridor, provides direct access to the region from Mexico and Canada. This infrastructure also links the HIDTA region to major drug markets throughout the nation. Interstate 80, a major east-west corridor, connects San Francisco to New York City. U.S. International airports and maritime ports further facilitate illicit drug smuggling into and through the area, particularly from Asia and Europe. The San Francisco International Airport is the tenth-busiest airport in the United States and the twentieth-busiest in the world in the number of passengers processed. The Port of Oakland is the fourth-busiest container port in the United States; it loads and discharges more than 99 percent of the containerized goods moving through northern California.

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