Cocaine Price, Purity, and Trafficking Trends (From Epidemiology of Cocaine Use and Abuse, 1991, P 297-303, Susan Schober and Charles Schade, eds. -- See NCJ-135854)

• NCJ Number: 135862
• Author(s): M Rinfret
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: Superintendent of Documents, GPO; National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In fiscal year 1987, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) confiscated 36,000 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride, compared with approximately 200 kilograms of cocaine seized 10 years earlier. Despite these seizures, cocaine remains readily available in all major metropolitan areas in the U.S. as well as in many smaller cities.

Abstract

The primary domestic entry points include Miami, New York and the States adjacent to the Mexican border. While cocaine is trafficked by independent operators and many groups of various ethnic composition and size, Colombian nationals remains the predominant ethnic groups involved in cocaine processing, importation, and distribution. One means of determining if a drug is increasing or decreasing in availability is to monitor trends in its purchase price and purity. Since the 1980's, cocaine prices have fallen while purities have risen. In contrast, the price and purities of crack cocaine have remained relatively stable since its introduction to the U.S. in late 1985. A number of large centralized operations distributing wholesale quantities of crack cocaine in the U.S. have emerged; the four major groups that dominate interstate trafficking of crack include Jamaican, Haitian, Dominican, and black street gangs. This article outlines the crack situation in the various field divisions of the DEA.