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Mexican ice methamphetamine availability will increase in the Northwest HIDTA region as Mexican DTOs establish a stronger presence in the area and expand into the rural areas that lack the law enforcement resources to counter the threat. Mexican DTOs will continue to be able to meet methamphetamine market demands by supplying increasing amounts of Mexican ice methamphetamine, although this supply may be disrupted at times as a result of ongoing law enforcement operations and precursor chemical shortages. Local methamphetamine production will continue, although at a greatly reduced level. Strict legislation placed on retail pseudoephedrine sales will continue to prompt local methamphetamine producers to search for alternate means of obtaining sufficient precursor chemicals.
Rising demand for high-potency marijuana within and outside the Northwest HIDTA region will fuel increasing levels of indoor cannabis cultivation throughout the area. Canada-based Vietnamese DTOs and criminal groups will significantly contribute to this increase by establishing new indoor grow operations in HIDTA counties in an attempt to profit from the rising demand while avoiding the risk of apprehension by law enforcement officials during cross-border smuggling operations at POEs along the U.S.-Canada border.
Cocaine distribution and use have increased in the region and will very likely rise further, although not to a level that would rival the methamphetamine threat in the near term. This increase is most likely the result of a combination of factors including lower-purity methamphetamine entering the market, periods of reduced availability, and an influx of new abusers who are initially drawn to powder cocaine under the misconception that it is a purer and safer drug compared with methamphetamine.
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