Illegal+Drugs+US

Minors and the illegal drug trade
The U.S. government's most recent 2005 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reported that nationwide over 800,000 adolescents ages 12-17 sold illegal drugs during the twelve months preceding the survey.[|[2]][//[|not in citation given]//] The 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey by the U.S. [|Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] (CDC) reported that nationwide 25.4% of students had been offered, sold, or given an illegal drug by someone on school property. The prevalence of having been offered, sold, or given an illegal drug on school property ranged from 15.5% to 38.7% across state CDC surveys (median: 26.1%) and from 20.3% to 40.0% across local surveys (median: 29.4%).[|[3]] Despite over $7 billion spent annually towards arresting[|[4]] and prosecuting nearly 800,000 people across the country for marijuana offenses in 2005 (FBI Uniform Crime Reports), the federally-funded Monitoring the Future Survey reports about 85% of high school seniors find marijuana “easy to obtain.” That figure has remained virtually unchanged since 1975, never dropping below 82.7% in three decades of national surveys.[|[5]]

Trade of specific drugs
The price per gram of heroin is typically 8 to 10 times that of cocaine on US streets.[|[6]] Generally in Europe (except the transit countries Portugal and the Netherlands), a purported gram of street Heroin, which is usually between 0.7 and 0.8 grams light to dark brown powder consisting of 5-10%, less commonly up to 20%, heroin base, is between 30 and 70 euros, which makes for an effective price of pure heroin per gram of between 300 and 2000 euros. The purity of street cocaine in Europe is usually in the same range as it is for heroin, the price being between 50 and 100 euros per between 0.7 and 1.0 grams. This totals to a cocaine price range between 500 and 2000 euros.

Anabolic steroids
According to the [|Office of National Drug Control Policy], anabolic steroids are relatively easy to smuggle into the United States. Once there, they are often sold at gyms and competitions as well as through mail operations.

Cannabis
World Drug report 2006 [|UNODC] focused on //The New Cannabis//, distribution of stronger marijuana with more [|THC] and its health effects.[|[7]] Most of the high grade cannabis sold in the U.S. is grown in hidden grow operations indoors. The number one producer is California with an annual revenue of nearly 14 billion dollars in production, Tennessee is second with nearly 5 billion in production, Kentucky is third with around 4.5 billion, Hawaii is fourth with close to 4 billion, and Washington is fifth with a little over a billion. [|[8]]

Tobacco
The illegal trade of tobacco is motivated primarily by increasingly heavy taxation. When tobacco products such as name-brand cigarettes are traded illegally, the cost is as little as one third that of retail price due to the lack of taxes being applied as the product is sold from manufacturer to buyer to retailer. It has been reported that smuggling one truckload of cigarettes within the United States leads to a profit of 2 million U.S. dollars.[|[10]] The source of the illegally-traded tobacco is often the proceeds from other crimes, such as store and transportation robberies. Sometimes, the illegal trade of tobacco is motivated by differences in taxes in two jurisdictions, including smuggling across international borders. Smuggling of tobacco from the US into Canada has been problematic, and sometimes political where trans-national native communities are involved in the illegal trade.

Heroin/Morphine
Heroin is smuggled into the [|United States] and [|Europe] from areas such as the [|Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)] ; with [|Afghanistan] currently being "the world's largest exporter of heroin".[|[27]] Allegedly, during the [|Vietnam war], drug lords such as [|Ike Atkinson] used to smuggle hundreds of kilos of heroin to the U.S. in coffins of dead American soldiers (see [|Cadaver Connection)]. Since that time it has become more difficult for drugs to be imported into the United States than it had been in previous decades, but that does not stop the drug industry from getting their drugs onto U.S. soil. Purity levels vary greatly by region with, for the most part, Northeastern cities having the most pure heroin in the United States (according to a recently released report by the DEA, [|Elizabeth] and [|Newark], [|New Jersey] , have the purest street grade A heroin in the country). Heroin is a very easily smuggled drug because a small, quarter-sized vial can contain hundreds of doses. Heroin is also widely (and usually illegally) used as a powerful and addictive drug that produces intense euphoria, which often gradually disappears with increasing tolerance. This 'rush' comes from its high [|lipid solubility] provided by the two [|acetyl] groups, resulting in a very rapid penetration of the [|blood-brain barrier] after use. Once in the blood stream, heroin is rapidly converted to morphine. The morphine then binds to the opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord, causing the subjective effects. Heroin and morphine can be taken or administered in a number of ways, including snorting and injection. They may also be smoked by inhaling the vapors produced when heated from below, usually on aluminum foil (known as " [|chasing the dragon] "). Penalties for smuggling heroin and/or morphine are often harsh in most countries. Some countries will readily hand down a death sentence or years in prison for the illegal smuggling of heroin or morphine, which are both, internationally, Schedule I drugs under the [|Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs].

Methamphetamine
In some areas of the United States, the trade of methamphetamine is rampant. Because of the ease of production and its addiction rate, methamphetamine is a favorite amongst many drug distributors. According to the Community Epidemiology Work Group, the numbers of [|clandestine methamphetamine laboratory] incidents reported to the National Clandestine Laboratory Database decreased from 1999 to 2004. During this same period, methamphetamine lab incidents increased in midwestern States ( [|Illinois], [|Michigan] , [|Missouri] , and [|Ohio] ), and in [|Pennsylvania]. In 2004, more lab incidents were reported in Missouri (2,788) and Illinois (1,058) than in California (764). In 2003, methamphetamine lab incidents reached new highs in Georgia (250), Minnesota (309), and Texas (677). There were only seven methamphetamine lab incidents reported in Hawaii in 2004, though nearly 59 percent of substance abuse treatment admissions (excluding alcohol) were for primary methamphetamine abuse during the first six months of 2004. As of 2007, [|Missouri] leads the [|United States] in clandestine lab seizures, with 1,268 incidents reported.[|[28]] Often K9 units are used for detecting [|rolling meth labs] which can be concealed on large vehicles, or transported on something as small as a motorcycle. These labs are more difficult to detect than stationary ones, and can be often obscured with the legal cargo on big trucks.[|[29]] Methamphetamine is sometimes used in an injectable form, placing users and their partners at risk for transmission of [|HIV] and [|hepatitis C] .[|[30]] "Meth" can also be inhaled, most commonly on aluminum foil or through a [|Pyrex] test tube or light bulb fashioned into a pipe. This method is reported to give "an unnatural high" and a "brief intense rush"[|[31]] to its users. In South Africa the abuse of methamphetamine has reached epidemic proportions in especially the [|Cape Flats] area of [|Cape Town] where it is called "tik" or "tik-tik". Youngsters as young as eight are abusing the substance where it is smoked in crude glass vials constructed from light bulbs. Since methamphetamine is easy to produce the substance is manufactured in staggering quantities in "backyard" factories. After the new South African government came into power, the [|South African Narcotics Bureau] (SANAB) was disbanded, allowing dealers an unprecedented freedom of operation and causing a simultaneous drop in prices and rise in availability.[|[32]]