Press Release -
April 28, 2005
For Immediate Release April 28, 2005
Printable Copy (pdf)
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Contact: Lynn Hollinger
(703) 556-8990
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National Drug Intelligence Center Releases National
Drug Threat Assessment 2005
The National Drug Intelligence Center, a component of the U.S.
Department of Justice, released the Annual National Drug Threat
Assessment 2005 which details national drug trafficking and abuse trends
within the United States.
Overall key findings of the report are as follows:
- Mexican criminal groups exert more influence over drug trafficking
in the United States than any other group. Mexican criminal groups
smuggle most of the cocaine available in domestic drug markets into
the country. Moreover, Mexican criminal groups produce and
subsequently smuggle into the country much of the heroin, marijuana,
and methamphetamine available in U.S. drug markets.
- Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) appear to be gaining
control of a larger percentage of the cocaine smuggled into the
United States. The estimated percentage of cocaine smuggled into the
United States via the Mexico-Central America corridor increased
sharply from 72 percent in 2002 to 77 percent in 2003, and
preliminary data indicate that the percentage may be higher than 90
percent for 2004.
- Domestic drug markets appear to be increasingly supplied with
methamphetamine produced in superlabs in Mexico.
- Production and distribution of ice methamphetamine--a higher
purity, more addictive form of methamphetamine--by Mexican criminal
groups has increased sharply over the past 2 years in many drug
markets.
- Colombian DTOs are increasingly relying on Mexican DTOs and
criminal groups to transport South American heroin to the United
States much as they rely on Mexican DTOs to transport cocaine.
- The threat posed to the United States by the illegal diversion and
abuse of prescription drugs has increased sharply since the
mid-1990s and is now among the leading drug threats to the country.
- Law enforcement reporting indicates that transportation of bulk
currency out of the United States--primarily overland across the
U.S.-Mexico border--is the principal form of money laundering by
DTOs.
The Assessment is a comprehensive annual report on national drug
trafficking and abuse trends. It identifies the primary drug threats to
the nation, monitors fluctuations in consumption levels, tracks drug
availability by geographic market, and analyzes trafficking and
distribution patterns of illicit drugs within the United States. It
evaluates the threat posed by illegal drugs such as cocaine,
methamphetamine, marijuana, heroin, MDMA, pharmaceuticals and other
dangerous drugs comparing availability, demand, production and
cultivation, transportation and distribution.
The National Drug Intelligence Center produces the National Drug
Threat Assessment in partnership with federal, state, and local
agencies. This year's report draws on information from more than 3,400
state and local law enforcement agencies that responded to our National
Drug Threat Survey 2004 as well as thousands of personal interviews with
law enforcement and public health officials.
A copy of the National Drug Threat Assessment 2005 can be found at
http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs11/12620/index.htm.
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