NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE EPIDEMIOLOGIC ...

and 15 items were identified as pseudoephedrine (each
accounting for less than one-tenth of a percent).
Throughout the first half of calendar year 2004, 221
amphetamine arrests were made within the city of
Los Angeles, exceeding the number of arrests made
during the same period in 2003 (135 arrests) by 64
percent. Despite this large increase in the overall
number of amphetamine arrests, as a class, they continued
to account for slightly more than 1 percent of
the total. Arrests for methamphetamine are included
in the category “other narcotics.” In early 2004, 8,497
arrests for other narcotics were made, accounting for
48 percent of all arrests.
While methamphetamine is not reported separately in
citywide drug arrests, it is broken out in citywide
seizures. Citywide methamphetamine seizures increased
101 percent, from 84.9 pounds seized in the
first half of 2003 to 171 pounds seized in the first half
of 2004. The street value of the seized methamphetamine
accounted for approximately 8 percent of
the total street value of all drugs seized in early 2004.
Los Angeles is considered by NDIC to be one of the
largest methamphetamine markets in the United
States. Mexican criminal groups based in both Mexico
and California control the wholesale and midlevel
distribution of methamphetamine and distribute the
drug via private vehicles and commercial trucks. Not
only does a large quantity of the drug stay in the
southern California region, but methamphetamine is
transported to other major cities and regions, including
San Francisco and Phoenix, and the West Central,
Southwest, and Southeast areas of the United States.
Hispanic gangs, independent dealers, outlaw motorcycle
gangs (OMGs), and Asian gangs control the
retail distribution of methamphetamine within and
beyond California.
The wholesale price per pound of methamphetamine
ranged from $5,000 to $7,000 (exhibit 13), which is
similar to the range reported in June 2004, but higher
than the wholesale price reported in 2002–2003
($3,700 to $5,000). The midlevel and retail prices
are $450–$550 per ounce, $20 per one-quarter gram,
$40–$100 per gram, $60 per one-sixteenth ounce
(“teener”), and $100–$120 per one-eighth ounce.
According to one intelligence source, the purity of
finished methamphetamine available in the Los Angeles
area remains at approximately 30–35 percent.
Given the many different production “recipes” and
the multiple types of methamphetamine entering into
and staying in the Los Angeles area (locally produced
and Mexican produced), however, it is very possible
that there is a wide range of purity (especially since
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EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRENDS IN DRUG ABUSE—Los Angeles County
such a high percentage of users report smoking
methamphetamine).
Crystal methamphetamine has a wholesale price of
$8,000–$11,000 per pound in Los Angeles. The midlevel
price for an ounce of crystal methamphetamine is
$600–$800. A double case of pseudoephedrine (17,000
60-milligram tablets per case) sells for $3,250–$4,000.
In parts of the United States, the number of methamphetamine
clandestine laboratory seizures has consistently
increased. According to Rudy Lovio, Criminal
Intelligence Specialist in the LA CLEAR Research
and Analysis Unit, this increase is due to the proliferation
of “Nazi” methamphetamine labs (small-scale
labs capable of producing gram to ounce quantities of
finished product) in the Midwest and rural South.
Since calendar year 1999, however, the number of
clandestine laboratory incidents has decreased consistently
in both the LA HIDTA and in California overall.
In 1999, 2,090 labs were seized in California
(1,187 of which occurred in the 4-county LA HIDTA
region). By 2003, only 831 labs were seized statewide
(452 in the LA HIDTA). Possible explanations
for the decrease in seizures include precursor chemical
restrictions, chemical control laws, increased
methamphetamine production in Mexico, and the
downsizing of clandestine laboratory enforcement
teams. Despite the decrease in the number of seizures,
the wholesale and retail prices for methamphetamine
have remained relatively stable over the
same time period, which is a barometer for methamphetamine
availability in Los Angeles County.
According to EPIC’s National Clandestine Laboratory
Seizure System, California had the fourth highest
number of laboratory-only seizures in the first
half of 2004 (243), following Tennessee (353), Arkansas
(300), and Illinois (244). Within California,
the Los Angeles HIDTA once again led the State in
the overall number of methamphetamine seizures
(including laboratories, dumpsites, and chemicals/glass/equipment)
made in the first half of 2004,
accounting for 49 percent of all seizures made in
California (138 of 331 total incidents). Of the 4 counties
in the LA HIDTA, Los Angeles County had the
second highest number of seizures during that time
period (37), lagging behind San Bernardino County
(60), but followed very closely by Riverside County
(36). Orange County rounded out the HIDTA with
just five seizures.
Even though three States exceed California in terms
of laboratory seizures, California leads the country in
the number of domestic “superlabs.” Twenty-five of
30 U.S. superlabs (83 percent) seized in the first half
Proceedings of the Community Epidemiology Work Group, Vol. II, January 2005