WHAT IS THE NATIONAL DRUG THREAT ASSESSMENT?
The National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA) is a report that details information related to intelligence and other data specific to drug trafficking. The NDTA aims to help inform the American public and United States policymakers about what drugs are currently the biggest threat to enter the United States through illegal drug trafficking. Specifically, the NDTA assesses drug threats through data relating to drug trafficking and abuse, the diversion and abuse of illegal drugs, and illegal money laundering operations that traffickers are involved in. In March 2021 the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released its NDTA report for the year 2020. The main sections of the NDTA report include reports on:
- Illicit opioids & heroin,
- Methamphetamine,
- Cocaine,
- Prescription drugs,
- Marijuana, and
- New psychoactive substances.
The 2020 NDTA report provides analysis and information for the entire year of 2019 and the first half of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to traffickers which resulted in disruptions in supply, and fluctuations in street price. Mexican transnational criminal organizations were listed in the NDTA report as the main threat to drug trafficking in the United States for their alleged involvement in smuggling drugs and weapons across the country. If you have specific questions related to federal drug trafficking, then it is important that you speak to an experienced federal drug trafficking attorney immediately.
IMPORTANT DRUG THREAT ASSESSMENT STATISTICS
Opioids, namely synthetic opioids are widely considered the biggest drug threat to the American public. In the year 2018, almost 70% of all drug overdoses that resulted in death involved an opioid drug. During this period, drug overdose deaths that involved a synthetic opioid, such as fentanyl, rose by 10% according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While deaths related to heroin overdoses have fallen slightly, decreasing by 4%, heroin is still a significant health and safety threat to the American public. The NDTA also reports that the DEA Field Divisions across the country indicated that fentanyl availability was high in 17 of 23 DEA Field Divisions.
The NDTA shows that it was fairly easy to get heroin on the streets. Mexican heroin continues to be the dominant form found on the streets, accounting for 92% of heroin analyzed through the Heroin Signature Program (HSP). The HSP is a program operated by the DEA which annually analyzes between 600-900 heroin samples that originate from both seizures and street buys. Testing various characteristics of the heroin, they are able to generate a profile of where the heroin is from. With heroin being such a big problem, the DEA will continue to collect as much information as possible to stop and deter heroin trafficking.
The El Paso Intelligence Center, National Seizure System is a database that compiles information related to drug seizures across the country. The National Seizure System showed a dramatic increase in seizures for methamphetamines in pill form, from 11 seizures in 2018 to 115 seizures in 2019. This appears to be a new form of the drug that will be on the DEA’s radar as well. These are just a few examples of the information contained in this year’s NDTA. To read the NDTA in its entirety, you can find it here.
HOW DOES THIS AFFECT ME?
Hopefully, none of this affects you. But if you are currently being investigated for drug trafficking, or have already been charged, then this can affect you directly. Investigation and enforcement related to illicit opioid trafficking are at an all-time high. Precursor drugs to fentanyl have also been recently added to the controlled substances list by the DEA because of the ease of availability and transfer. As synthetic opioids are continually created in the lab, law enforcement and the DEA will continue to focus their resources to fight against the newest national drug threats.
