Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
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ARCHIVED Drug Market Analysis 2008 Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area NATIONAL DRUG INTELLIGENCE CENTER U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE National Drug Intelligence Center 319 Washington Street 5th Floor, Johnstown, PA 15901-1622 • (814) 532-4601 NDIC publications are available on the following web sites: INTERNET www.usdoj.gov/ndic ADNET http://ndicosa RISS ndic.riss.net LEO https://www.leo.gov/http://leowcs.leopriv.gov/lesig/ndic/index.htm 050608 This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED Product No. 2008-R0813-025 May 2008 Drug Market Analysis 2008 Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area NATIONAL DRUG INTELLIGENCE CENTER U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 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. This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED National Drug Intelligence Center This page intentionally left blank. ii This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED OHIO High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 2008 TABLE OF CON T EN T S Preface ...................................................................................................................................................... 1 Strategic Drug Threat Developments ......................................................................................................... 2 HIDTA Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Drug Threat Overview ............................................................................................................................... 2 Drug Trafficking Organizations .................................................................................................................. 4 Production ................................................................................................................................................. 4 Transportation ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Distribution ............................................................................................................................................... 6 Drug-Related Crime ................................................................................................................................... 8 Abuse ........................................................................................................................................................ 9 Illicit Finance ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Outlook ................................................................................................................................................... 10 Sources .................................................................................................................................................... 11 iii This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED National Drug Intelligence Center This page intentionally left blank. iv This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED OHIO High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 2008 PREFA C E This assessment provides a strategic overview of the illicit drug situation in the Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) region, highlighting significant trends and law enforcement concerns relat- ed to the trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. The report was prepared through detailed analysis of recent law enforcement reporting, information obtained through interviews with law enforcement and public health officials, and available statistical data. The report is designed to provide policymakers, resource planners, and law enforcement officials with a focused discussion of key drug issues and developments facing the Ohio HIDTA. MICHIGAN i e E r e k L a LUCAS CUYAHOGA PENNSYLVANIA LORAIN NORTHERN SUMMIT OHIO MAHONING RICHLAND STARK OHIO INDIANA FRANKLIN MONTGOMERY FAIRFIELD r GREENE e v i R i o h O WARREN WEST VIRGINIA HAMILTON SOUTHERN OHIO WI MI NY O h i o R i v e r PA OH KENTUCKY IL IN MD U.S. Attorney District Boundary WV VA KY Proposed HIDTA County TN NC HIDTA County Area of Ohio HIDTA Figure 1. Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. 1 This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED National Drug Intelligence Center ST RA T EGI C DRUG THREA T HIDTA OVERVIEW DEVELO P MEN T S The Ohio HIDTA region consists of Cuyahoga, Lucas, Mahoning, Stark, and Summit Counties in • Mexican drug trafficking organizations northern Ohio, and Fairfield, Franklin, Greene, (DTOs), the primary transporters and whole- Hamilton, Montgomery, and Warren Counties in sale distributors of illicit drugs in the Ohio southern Ohio. (See Figure 1 on page 1.) These HIDTA region, are increasingly bypassing counties contain more than half of Ohio’s popula- Chicago and Detroit and transporting drugs tion and encompass the nine largest cities in the directly from the Southwest Border to mar- state. The Ohio HIDTA region is linked to major kets in the HIDTA region. domestic drug source areas, including Chicago, • Mexican DTOs have greatly increased the Detroit, New York City, and the Southwest Bor- availability of Mexican brown powder and der, by numerous interstate highways that often black tar heroin in southern counties of the are used by drug traffickers to smuggle illicit drugs Ohio HIDTA region; they are also expanding into and through the region. Ohio has the fourth- their heroin distribution networks into north- largest interstate highway system and carries the eastern Ohio markets, where Dominican and fifth-largest volume of traffic in the nation. Com- Puerto Rican traffickers supply South Ameri- mercial truck traffic in Ohio has grown 90 percent can (SA) heroin. over the last 25 years and is expected to further increase 60 percent by 2020. Large amounts of • Heroin availability and abuse are rising in illicit drugs transported to the area are abused the Ohio HIDTA region and throughout the locally; however, some are transshipped to drug state, primarily among young Caucasian markets in neighboring states. Mexican and, to adults who previously abused prescription a lesser extent, Dominican and Jamaican DTOs narcotics. This may be attributed to an in- are the predominant transporters of illicit drugs creased supply of Mexican heroin throughout that are distributed in or pass through the area. the HIDTA region and the implementation of Additionally, Mexican DTOs are expanding their Ohio’s prescription monitoring program. wholesale and midlevel distribution of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana in the HIDTA region and • Methamphetamine laboratory seizures in the in neighboring jurisdictions. Significant amounts Ohio HIDTA region decreased over 52 per- of illicit drugs are seized annually from such traf- cent from 2005 to 2007, indicating a decline fickers by law enforcement officials through Ohio in local methamphetamine production—de- HIDTA initiatives. (See Table 1 on page 3.) creasing supplies of locally produced meth- amphetamine have not yet been supplanted by methamphetamine produced outside the DRUG THREA T OVERVIEW region, including methamphetamine pro- duced in Mexico. The distribution and abuse of cocaine, particu- larly crack cocaine, pose the greatest drug threat • African American and Hispanic street gangs to the Ohio HIDTA region because of the drug’s have increased their distribution of MDMA highly addictive nature and its association with (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, violent crime and property crime. Despite report- also known as ecstasy) in the HIDTA region, ing that cocaine availability had decreased in particularly in Cleveland and Columbus; some areas of Ohio in 2007 (see textbox on page treatment providers report that MDMA abuse 3), the drug remains widely available and abused is rising in Cleveland. throughout the HIDTA region. According to the 2 This document may contain dated information. It has been made available to provide access to historical materials. ARCHIVED OHIO High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 2008 The availability and abuse of other drugs, Table 1. Illicit Drugs Seized Through Ohio including MDMA, methamphetamine, LSD (ly- HIDTA Initiatives, in Kilograms, 2007 sergic acid diethylamide), PCP (phencyclidine), khat, and psilocybin, are limited and pose much Powder Cocaine 1,131 lesser threats to the HIDTA region than other il- Crack Cocaine 166 licit drugs. MDMA is generally available in urban Heroin 23 areas and is increasingly being distributed by Khat 306 street gangs in Columbus and Cleveland. Metham- phetamine production in the region has declined Marijuana 10,369 significantly since 2005; however, locally pro- MDMA 47,740* duced methamphetamine still accounts for most Methamphetamine