2017 National Drug Threat Assessment

2017·9.7 MB·English

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Drug Enforcement Administration
2017 National Drug Threat Assessment
OCTOBER 2017
DEA-DCT-DIR-040-17
This product was prepared by the DEA Strategic Intelligence Section.
Comments and questions may be addressed to the Chief, Analysis and
Production Section, at [email protected].
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2017 National Drug Threat Assessment
Table of Contents
Letter from the Acting Administrator....................................................................................iii
Executive Summary..................................................................................................................v
Transnational Criminal Organizations .............................................................................................1
Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations...............................................................................1
Colombian Transnational Criminal Organizations...........................................................................8
Dominican Transnational Organizations...........................................................................................12
Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations.....................................................................................14
Gan gs.....................................................................................................................................................17
Controlled Prescription Drugs...........................................................................................................25
Heroin....................................................................................................................................................45
Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids.............................................................................................57
Methamphetamine.............................................................................................................................67
Cocaine..................................................................................................................................................83
Marijuana..............................................................................................................................................99
New Psychoactive Substances (NPS).............................................................................................117
Illicit Finance......................................................................................................................................125
Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands............................................................................................................133
Guam.........................................................................................................................................................................136
Tribal Lands.............................................................................................................................................................138
Appendix A: National Drug Threat Survey Metholodolgy and Key Findings....................................143
Appendix B: Additional Tables.........................................................................................................................157
Appendix C: Additional Figures.......................................................................................................................162
Appendix D: National Drug Threat Assessement Scope and Methology............................................165
Appendix E: Acronym Glossary.......................................................................................................................167
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Letter from the Acting Administrator
I am pleased to present the 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment
(NDTA), a comprehensive strategic assessment of the threats posed to
our communities by transnational criminal organizations and the illicit
drugs they distribute throughout the United States.
Produced in partnership with local, state, tribal, and federal agencies,
and intergrating the most recently available reporting from law
enforcement, intelligence, and public health agencies, this annual
assessment provides policy makers, law enforcement personnel, and
prevention and treatment specialists with relevant strategic drug
intelligence to assist in formulating counterdrug policies, establishing
law enforcement priorities, and allocating resources.
My thanks to all participants agencies and organizations whose contributions continue to make
possible this vital report. Your views and opinions are important and help us to best meet the
needs of the law enforcement and intelligence communities. My colleagues at DEA look forward
to collaborating on future high-priority strategic counterdrug initiatives that impact our national
security interests, at home and abroad.
Respectfully,
Chuck Rosenberg
Acting Administrator
Drug Enforcement Administration
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Executive Summary
The 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA)1 is a comprehensive strategic assessment
of the threat posed to the United States by domestic and international drug trafficking and
the abuse of illicit drugs. The report combines federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement
reporting; public health data; open source reporting; and intelligence from other government
agencies to determine which substances and criminal organizations represent the greatest threat
to the United States.
Over the past 10 years, the drug landscape in the United States has shifted, with the opioid threat
(controlled prescription drugs, synthetic opioids, and heroin) reaching epidemic levels, impacting
significant portions of the United States. While the current opioid crisis has deservedly garnered
significant attention, the methamphetamine threat has remained prevalent; the cocaine threat
appears to be rebounding; new psychoactive substances (NPS) continue to be a challenge; and
the focus of marijuana enforcement efforts continues to evolve. Drug poisoning deaths are
the leading cause of injury death in the United States; they are currently at their highest ever
recorded level and, every year since 2011, have outnumbered deaths by firearms, motor vehicle
crashes, suicide and homicide. In 2015, approximately 140 people died every day from drug
poisoning (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Number of Injury Deaths by Drug Poisoning, Suicide, Homicide, Firearms, and Motor
Vehicle Crashes in the United States, 1999 – 2015.2
Source: Centers for Disease Control Prevention
1 Analyst Note: The information in this report is current as of August 2017.
2 Injury deaths may be counted multiple times due to categories overlapping.
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Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs): Mexican TCOs remain the greatest
criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group is currently positioned to challenge
them. These TCOs maintain territorial influence over large regions in Mexico used for the
cultivation, production, importation, and transportation of illicit drugs.
Colombian TCOs: Colombian TCOs maintain control over the production and supply of cocaine
to Mexican TCOs. Smaller Colombian TCOs maintain direct cocaine and heroin pipelines into the
United States through couriers and maritime trafficking, as well as air cargo on commercial flights.
Some Colombian TCOs also maintain a U.S.-presence to assist in the laundering of illicit proceeds.
Dominican TCOs: Dominican TCOs are mainly active on the East Coast, where they work in
collaboration with other TCOs, such as Mexican TCOs, to receive their wholesale illicit drug supply.
Some U.S.-based Dominican TCOs receive direct supplies of cocaine and heroin, generally small
quantities, from local TCOs in the Dominican Republic.
Asian TCOs: Asian TCOs are primarily active on the East Coast and West Coast of the United
States, with distribution networks stretching across other parts of the country. Asian TCOs are
involved with marijuana and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, commonly known
as ecstasy) drug trafficking operations.
Gangs: Regional and national-scale gang alliances, such as prison-based gangs, are closely
associated with Mexican TCOs, and have expanded their control over the drug-trafficking
conducted by criminal street gangs in their respective territories. National, transnational, and
prison gangs now significantly impact the domestic distribution of illicit drugs throughout the
United States. Street gangs’ major source of income remains illegal drug trafficking, while the
associated violence and drug addiction threaten community safety across the United States.
Controlled Prescription Drugs (CPDs): CPD-involved overdose deaths have outpaced those for
cocaine and heroin since 2002. Although recent data suggests abuse of these drugs has lessened
in some areas, more individuals report current abuse of CPDs than report the same for cocaine,
heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA, and phencyclidine (PCP) combined.
Heroin: The population using heroin, the number of heroin seizures by law enforcement, and the
number of heroin-related overdose deaths have increased as heroin availability has increased.
Opium poppy cultivation and heroin production in Mexico, believed to be the primary source of
heroin for the U.S. market, have continued to surge, providing traffickers a steady stream of high-
purity, low-cost heroin to market throughout the United States.
Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids: Illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids — primarily
sourced from China and Mexico and shipped directly to the United States or trafficked overland
via Mexico and Canada — are contributing factors in the current synthetic opioid overdose
epidemic. Traffickers in the United States usually mix fentanyl into heroin products and
sometimes other illicit drugs, or press it into counterfeit prescription pills, often without users’
awareness, which leads to overdose incidents.
Methamphetamine: Methamphetamine remains a prevalent threat, with most of the
methamphetamine available in the United States being produced in Mexico and smuggled across
the Southwest Border (SWB). Domestic production continues to occur at much lower levels than
in Mexico, and seizures of domestic methamphetamine laboratories have declined.
Cocaine: Cocaine availability and use in the United States are rebounding, with some domestic
cocaine data sets reaching or surpassing 2007 benchmark levels. In addition, coca cultivation and
cocaine production in Colombia, the primary source of supply for cocaine in the United States,
continue to increase.
Marijuana: Marijuana production in the United States has increased. User demand for
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