Appendix C. OCDETF Regional Summaries

The following regional drug threat summaries provide strategic overviews of the illicit drug situation in each of the nine OCDETF regions, highlighting significant trends and law enforcement concerns relating to the trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. The summaries were prepared through detailed analysis of recent law enforcement reporting, information obtained through interviews with law enforcement and public health officials, OCDETF case files, and currently available statistical data.

Florida/Caribbean Regional Overview

Regional Overview

The Florida/Caribbean Region (FCR) encompasses Florida and the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. There are four High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) programs within the region--the Central, North, and South Florida HIDTAs and the Puerto Rico HIDTA. The FCR also has four U.S. Attorney Districts--three in Florida and one in Puerto Rico. Most of the illicit drugs available in the FCR are transported from South American and Caribbean countries; however, geographically, the FCR's proximity to the Gulf Coast region is increasingly being exploited by traffickers to smuggle drugs into the region overland from Mexico. Additionally, Mexican DTOs increasingly are extending and expanding their distribution networks into smaller and more rural communities of Florida as well as urban regions previously controlled by other DTOs.

Drug Threat Overview

Cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine, as well as pharmaceuticals and other dangerous drugs (ODDs) pose varying threats to the FCR. Cocaine and heroin pose the greatest threats to the FCR because they are readily available and widely abused. Further, significant quantities of cocaine and heroin transit the FCR en route to other parts of the United States, especially the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Regions. Marijuana is the most widely available, abused, and seized drug in the FCR. Indoor cultivation of high quality marijuana is an increasing problem in the FCR. Moreover, some indoor growers in Florida are selling to wholesale distributors in the Northeast. Methamphetamine poses a serious threat to Florida. While precursor laws have caused a decline in methamphetamine production at local laboratories, ice availability is rising, driven by the increasing activity of Mexican DTOs. Pharmaceuticals typically are not distributed by large-scale trafficking organizations; however, abuse of these drugs, particularly powerful prescription opiates, is a serious and ongoing public health concern. The threat posed by ODDs, including MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as ecstasy) and GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate), is low and decreasing overall in the FCR; however, distribution and abuse of these drugs are a concern in some locations, particularly the large metropolitan areas of Florida.

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Strategic Regional Developments

• The increasing dominance of Mexican DTOs in wholesale cocaine distribution in the eastern United States has altered the flow of cocaine into the FCR. Nearly all cocaine previously available in Florida was transported by Caribbean and South American DTOs from South America through the Caribbean; however, large amounts of the drug are now transported into the state by Mexican DTOs from Mexico and the southwestern United States as well as southeastern cities such as Atlanta.

• Indoor cannabis cultivation is significant and increasing in the FCR. Marijuana produced indoors in Florida is increasing in potency and often is transported to the New York and Boston metropolitan areas.

• Methamphetamine is a significant and escalating problem throughout Florida. Mexican DTOs are increasingly supplying large quantities of high purity ice methamphetamine to distributors throughout Florida, and availability and abuse have spread from rural areas of the state to a number of cities, including Orlando and Tampa.

• In 2005 prescription drugs were found to be the cause of or were present in more overdose deaths in Florida than all other illicit drugs combined. Not only are prescription drugs a serious threat in Florida, but abusers and people working for domestic, organized prescription drug diversion rings based outside the FCR often travel to South Florida, obtain prescriptions for and purchase supplies of these drugs, and transport them home for use or resale.

• Each year millions of cargo containers enter ports in the FCR; most of this cargo originates in drug source and transit countries in South and Central America and the Caribbean. Typically, fewer than 5 percent of containers are inspected--less than 1 percent are opened and searched--by customs officials because of manpower limitations.

Variations From National Trends

• The number of indoor cannabis grows in the FCR is likely to increase significantly in the coming year. Marijuana abuse is extremely widespread in the FCR. As many established abusers have been exposed to the superior product, the popularity of marijuana grown indoors will certainly continue to climb, enticing traffickers to establish additional grow sites or to increase the size of existing sites.

• The smuggling of illicit drugs into Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) in maritime cargo is expected to increase over the next 4 years. The enactment of the Central America-Dominican Republic-United States Free Trade Agreement in 2005--legislation designed to eliminate trade barriers and tariffs among the cosignatories--is being implemented by Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua on a rolling basis over the next year. Also, the construction of the Port of the Americas in Ponce, Puerto Rico, is expected to be completed in the next 2 to 3 years. As commercial activity through Puerto Rico and the USVI increases, DTOs in South and Central America may divert some additional drug flow away from the Central America-Mexico land corridor to the Caribbean corridor, particularly Puerto Rico.

• Although drug smuggling into the FCR via maritime cargo vessels is expected to increase, the transportation of illicit drugs into Puerto Rico and the USVI via go-fast boats will remain significant. First, these vessels can rapidly transport substantial quantities of drugs and offload them at locations inaccessible to larger cargo vessels, including remote areas of the island region. Second, go-fast operations are easier to coordinate than cargo smuggling operations, which require interfacing with many more people to obtain access to a particular port, vessel, and container. Third, using these vessels allows trafficking organizations to maintain closer control of drugs during transit, because the transporters typically work for the organization or are contractors who are being directly paid by the organization to move the drugs.

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