|
|||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
|
 |
Illinois Drug Alcohol Addiction Recovery and Treatment Programs and Centers
In reference to illegal drugs throughout the Midwest, Chicago is main transportation hub and distribution center. This is because of its geographic location and multi-faceted transportation design. Commercial trucks, passenger vehicles, package delivery services, air packages or couriers, and railways are the most frequent methods that traffickers utilize to smuggle drugs into Chicago. Most of the investigations conducted by the Chicago Division target one of the following drug trafficking organizations: Mexico-based poly-drug organizations, Colombian cocaine and heroin smuggling organizations, and Nigerian/West African organizations smuggling in Southeast and Southwest Asian heroin into the state of Chicago.
Chicago-based gangs including the Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, and Latin Kings dominate the distribution and retail selling of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. The majority of enforcement agencies in Illinois report the violent crime related to gang-related drug smuggling as the most severe criminal threat to Chicago. Violent crime relating to street gangs, while decreasing in some major urban regions, is rising in suburban and rural regions because these gangs grow their drug markets. Mexico-based smuggling groups are shipping methamphetamine into Illinois primarily from California and Mexico. Meth is the main drug threat in Illinois’ rural, central and southern areas.
Mexico-based smuggling groups ship metric-ton amounts of cocaine from the southwest border into Illinois (mainly to Chicago) on a frequent basis. Brokers arrange the shipment at the southwest border; then they go the Chicago area to oversee the delivery to local units. Chicago is also a distribution center, supplying other cities in the Midwest and going far east to New York City. In the early to mid 2007, the Chicago Field Division (CFD) began noticing a shortage in cocaine that continues to this day. Cocaine investigations by the CFD reflect that cocaine costs elevated by approximately $6,000 per kilogram during the shortage. Many possible causes are responsible for this shortage including traffickers’ inability to transport cocaine across the Southwest Border and cocaine apprehensions in Central and South America. Further, smugglers may be taking advantage of the media reporting these sizeable apprehensions to boost costs.
Until recently, Nigerian/West African criminal organizations dominated almost all the white heroin accessible in Chicago area. According to investigative intelligence and Domestic Monitor Program results, South American heroin accessibility has become more prominent. Purity levels are less than generally seen in East Coast markets. On the retail scale, heroin is distributed at many open-air drug markets, mainly on the Chicago west side, which are dominated by street gangs, including the Gangster Disciples and Vice Lords.
The state of Illinois has a two-pronged methamphetamine issue. First, substantial amounts of meth produced by Mexico-based drug trafficking groups are smuggled to Illinois, mainly from California and Mexico. Generally, they utilize established distribution channels, which they utilize for other drugs. Outlaw motorcycle gangs and Hispanic street gangs dominate the meth retail distribution. Second, small-scale meth labs have spread greatly in many areas of Illinois. Meth is the main drug threat in Illinois’ rural, central and southern areas.
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
