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Drug Situation: Over the past several years, North Carolina has experienced a significant increase in drug-trafficking activity. The majority of the increased drug-trafficking activity is due to an unprecedented influx of foreign nationals into the state. North Carolina is acknowledged as having one of the fastest growing populations: It is currently the 11th most populated state in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau had estimated the population at nearly 8.7 million during 2005, and projected that by 2025 the state will have 9.35 million residents, ranking it as the 8th largest state in the nation. One of the factors fueling the population growth is the high rate of migration of Spanish-speaking, specifically Mexican, nationals to the state. The Mexican population had traditionally been a migrant population that worked in the agriculture-based industries, but now is a permanent segment of the population, capitalizing on the many job opportunities available in the state. Though most immigrants themselves are not involved in drug trafficking, their presence allows Mexican traffickers to effectively conceal their activities within immigrant communities in numerous North Carolina counties frequently conducting local parceling to mid-level Caucasian and African-American distributors as well as to out-of-state distributors. Mexican drug traffickers most commonly transport and distribute cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and heroin.

Cocaine: North Carolina is a destination state for cocaine, as well as a staging and transshipment point to the more northern states along the Eastern Seaboard and in the mid-west, including Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Cocaine is readily available and major traffickers take advantage of the state's interstate highways, which are major transshipment routes for cocaine being transported from source areas to other states. These major source areas are California, Arizona and Texas, with major sources of supply being traffickers based in Mexico. Cocaine hydrochloride is usually shipped in private or rental vehicles. Cocaine hydrochloride shipments transported into North Carolina by Mexican organizations are used to supply crack cocaine distribution networks that further present an enormous social threat to North Carolina's inner city communities.

Heroin: Heroin use and availability is reportedly low in North Carolina and is mainly confined to the major Central and Eastern metropolitan centers; however, developing information may suggest heroin trafficking has been underreported. Mexican drug-trafficking organizations transport small consignments of Mexican brown and black tar heroin from the Southwest Border states to North Carolina using private and commercial vehicles and express parcel services. Other Hispanic, Asian, and African-American traffickers transport South American, Southeast Asian, and Southwest Asian heroin from Miami, New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia by private vehicles and networks of commercial bus and airline couriers.

Methamphetamine: Local, clandestine production of methamphetamine became a statewide epidemic; however, seizures stabilized by the end of 2005 because of coordinated law enforcement operations, and federal and state laws that govern the sale of precursor chemicals such as pseudoephedirne, iodine, and anhydrous ammonia. Although domestic methamphetamine production is waning, Mexican-manufactured methamphetamine, particularly in the crystalline form (Ice), is readily available in the large metropolitan centers of the state, and increasingly in rural communities elsewhere. Most methamphetamine in North Carolina is imported in multi-pound quantities from Mexico through the Southwest Border states, but a significant amount also comes from Mexican sources of supply based in Northern Georgia, e.g., Gainesville and Dalton. Mexican traffickers rely on private and commercial vehicles and express parcel services. Mexican-manufactured methamphetamine and Ice concealment often mimics those methods used for cocaine.

Marijuana: Marijuana is one of the most prevalent drugs in North Carolina. In the Charlotte metropolitan area, there is a local preference for Canadian, Sinsemilla, and exotic hydroponic strains over Mexican and domestic outdoor varieties because of the purported higher levels of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Over the past five years, Domestic Cannabis Eradication/ Suppression Program authorities have witnessed changes in domestic outdoor and indoor marijuana cultivation throughout the state that would confirm this market shift. (In 2002, a total of 112,017 marijuana plants was seized. During 2003 and 2004, only 70,212 plants were seized. Official 2005 and 2006 figures indicated 70,882 and 80,345 plants were seized, respectively. Statewide eradication was also impacted by the number of National Guard assets available due to multiple deployments from 2003 to the present.) Vietnamese criminal groups import Canadian marijuana into the larger metropolitan centers from Canada, but Mexican trafficking organizations control most of the wholesale market in foreign-grown marijuana throughout the state, importing multi-hundred-pound quantities through the Southwest Border and North Georgia areas from Mexico for in-state consumption and further distribution to surrounding states and the Northeast. Marijuana is transported by pickup trucks, RVs, commercial tractor-trailers, buses and other vehicles.

MDMA: MDMA (Ecstasy) has increased in popularity across the state and is especially popular with college and high-school aged people (15- to 25-year-old age bracket) who frequent rock concerts, bars, dance clubs, and other social venues. With more than 50 four-year colleges and universities and several major military installations in North Carolina, there is a large potential market. Domestic intelligence gleaned from local and state agencies in North Carolina indicate that MDMA use is on the rise, arriving from trafficking networks in New York, Florida and California; however, it does not pose near the equivalent threat to most North Carolina communities as does cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana. Most prominently distributed in larger metropolitan centers and the military and coastal resort communities, authorities are targeting MDMA distributors and their out-of-state sources of supply. Because of the increasing demand for MDMA, local wholesale distributors began to emerge during 2005. Vietnamese organized criminal groups control most of the wholesale distribution of MDMA in the state. The primary foreign sources are Canada, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Sales are often facilitated by the Internet. A recent DEA Boston Division investigation involving a seizure of 150,000 dosage units resulted in the dismantling of an Asian organization with ties to Canadian laboratories supplying a source in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Charlotte DO is targeting the rise of local Asian gangs trafficking MDMA and conducting money laundering for other trafficking groups.

Other Drugs: Other drugs of abuse that are popular in North Carolina are GHB, LSD, PCP, Ketamine, and Psilocybin. As with MDMA, the use of such drugs is especially popular at social settings frequently by young people under the age of 25 who would be inclined to use, or succumb to peer pressure to experiment with these substances to enhance their experience. GHB and its analogs are also used by others who likewise frequent these outlets to target unsuspecting individuals for purposes of sexual predation. Law enforcement agencies have sporadically reported attempts to manufacture GHB locally with precursor chemicals ordered over the Internet. Local LSD and PCP distributors generally have Pacific Northwest or West Coast sources. Ketamine is reportedly diverted from local veterinary clinics or shipped to North Carolina from out-of-state sources by express mail service or private vehicle. Psilocybin mushrooms reportedly can be acquired from both local and out-of-state cultivators.

Pharmaceutical Diversion: Although not a prominent class of drugs of abuse like cocaine or marijuana, the illegal distribution and abuse of controlled pharmaceuticals is widespread throughout North Carolina. Controlled pharmaceuticals are thought to be easily obtainable. Their widespread appeal is simply due to the relative ease of acquisition and application; plus the belief of taking any substance, with mood-altering properties that is legally manufactured under exacting conditions, is safe. Current investigations indicate that diversion of prescription opiates such as Methadone, Morphine, Codeine, OxyContin® and Hydrocodone continues to be a problem in the largest metropolitan centers of the state. Benzodiazepines, such as Xanax® and Valium®, were also identified as being among the most commonly abused and diverted pharmaceuticals. Primary methods of diversion being reported are illegal sale and distribution by health care professionals and workers, “Doctor Shopping” (going to a number of doctors to obtain prescriptions for a controlled pharmaceutical), forged prescriptions, employee theft, and the Internet. In January 2007, DEA Greensboro, Wilmington, San Francisco and San Jose culminated an 18-month-long investigation into the illegal distribution of thousands of dosage units of controlled pharmaceuticals nationwide each week by a North Carolina Internet pharmacy. Four suspects were arrested and $4.2 million in assets seized. Local North Carolina news services have also carried reports of high-school-age children who swap or sell at “Pharm Parties” personal prescription medications for Attention Deficit Disorders (such as Adderall® and Ritalin®) and whatever they can literally secrete from the family medicine cabinet. In several incidents, a mix of pills was taken with an over-the-counter cough syrup.

DEA State and Local Assistance: The DEA continues to support North Carolina state and local efforts with specialized programs aimed at reducing the availability of drugs, to include its Mobile Enforcement Teams (MET), Regional Enforcement Teams (RET), Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Program, Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program (DCE/SP), Demand Reduction and Law Enforcement Officer Training.

DEA Mobile Enforcement Teams: This cooperative program with state and local law enforcement counterparts was conceived in 1995 in response to the overwhelming problem of violent street gangs and drug-trafficking organizations in communities across the nation. Since the inception of the MET Program, 473 deployments have been completed, resulting in 19,643 arrests. There have been six MET deployments in the State of North Carolina since the inception of the program, namely to Monroe, Kinston, Durham, Lumberton, Rocky Mount, and Durham. In March 2005, the DEA redirected its MET Program to address areas most heavily impacted by methamphetamine production and distribution. By the end of December 2005, 66 percent of all new MET deployments were targeting methamphetamine organizations.

DEA Regional Enforcement Teams: The RET Program was conceived in 1999 in response to the threat posed by drug-trafficking organizations that have established networks of drug-trafficking cells in smaller, non-traditional locations throughout the United States. This program was designed to augment existing DEA Division resources where there was a lack of sufficient local drug law enforcement. As of January 2005, there had been 27 deployments nationwide, and one deployment or to the U.S. Virgin Islands, resulting in 671 arrests. Two of these RET deployments were to Asheville and Charlotte.

Other Enforcement Operations: The OCDETF programs in the Eastern, Middle, and Western Federal Judicial Districts of North Carolina are very strong. The Western District ranks number one in prosecutions in the Southeast OCDETF Region.

More information about the Atlanta Division Office.

Sources

Factsheet last updated: 6/2007