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Louisiana Drug Alcohol Addiction Recovery and Treatment Programs and Centers
There are many factors contributing to Louisiana’s historic position as a drug trafficking center. The Gulf of Mexico, the world’s fifth largest sea, forms Louisiana’s southern border, which includes over 6,000 miles of navigable waterways, 7,721 miles of fractured shoreline, and 397 miles of coastline makes it greatly conducive to maritime trafficking. Along with the Mississippi River that snakes through Louisiana, the state has a superfluous network of rivers, lakes, bayous, and canals.
The highways of Louisiana are still being used by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) to ship drug money into and through the area. Louisiana geographic location places it on many main routes to source cities. A continuous flow of drug apprehensions on highways in Louisiana and on extensions of those highways in the nearby states of Texas and Mississippi reflect that the issue is not declining, in spite of growing pressure from law enforcement.
Cocaine, mainly crack, is Louisiana’s main drug threat. The threat comes from the high addiction rate and associated drug (crack) violence. Cocaine is easily accessible and regularly distributed across Louisiana. Cocaine abuse is cited in the metropolitan cities and rural regions. The abuse and distribution of cocaine is related to several incidents that involve violent crimes. The majority of the powdered cocaine shipped into Louisiana is transformed into crack. Mexican DTOs and African-American criminal groups ship most of the powdered cocaine into the state of Louisiana. DTOs and criminal organizations are the main wholesale distributors of powdered cocaine. African-American street gangs and local African-American independent dealers are the primary distributors of retail level crack.
In Louisiana, heroin is viewed as a low drug threat. The exception is New Orleans, mainly because of accessibility and price. In Louisiana, heroin abuse, particularly New Orleans, is traditionally cyclical. Per the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Domestic Monitoring Program, South American heroin is the most frequent type available. Heroin can be bought at the street level in bags or papers in one-half gram amounts, with the average level of purity for New Orleans from February to August 2005 reflecting 33.04 percent. There was one apprehension in the New Orleans region in June 2005, which had a level of purity of 75.8 percent. In Louisiana, methamphetamine remains a main drug concern. According to law enforcement, in some regions, meth is substituting crack cocaine as the main drug threat because of its accessibility, low price and long lasting effects. Meth production and distribution result in violent crimes and dangerous conditions. In Louisiana, the majority of the meth available is produced in the southwestern states and Mexico, and is shipped into Louisiana through Mexican DTOs. Illegal meth labs encountered in Louisiana do not produce large enough amounts for distribution in Louisiana. Independent Caucasian groups are the main local producers and retail distributors of meth in the state of Louisiana with more African-Americans participating in the distribution.
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