Party Vibe

http://www.dea.gov/pubs/intel/02058/02058.html

April 2003

This report was prepared by the Domestic Strategic Unit of the Office of Domestic Intelligence. This report reflects information received prior to December 2002.

Excutive Summary:

This edition of the Illegal Drugs Price and Purity Report provides cocaine, heroin, marijuana, hallucinogen, depressant, and stimulant prices in the United States from January 1998 through December 2001. In addition, purity levels are included for cocaine and heroin as is the delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content for marijuana. The price data were compiled from DEA field division reports. The highest and lowest reported prices during the year for each drug provide the national range. The wide range in kilogram prices reflects the following variables: buyer/seller relationship; quantity of kilograms negotiated (more kilograms = lower price); purchase frequencies; location (higher prices paid in outlying areas); purity (higher price paid for higher purity); and transportation costs. Purity information for cocaine and heroin comes from DEA’s System To Retrieve Information from Drug Evidence (STRIDE). Purity data are based on STRIDE printouts of average purities for the 1-to-10-gram, 1-to-10-ounce, and 1-to-10-kilogram ranges. STRIDE is a computerized data base program used to record, collate, and display the results of qualitative and quantitative chemical analysis of all drug evidence submitted to the DEA laboratory system. The University of Mississippi’s Marijuana Potency Monitoring Project provides THC levels for marijuana.

Cocaine prices at the kilogram level remained relatively low in the primary importation/distribution centers, such as Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City, as well as in most other major U.S. cities. (Price information for Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City is provided in this report; price information is available upon request for major cities not included in the report.) Cocaine prices nationwide have remained relatively stable over the time period, particularly for ounce and gram quantities, suggesting that cocaine was readily available to the user. “Crack” cocaine prices also remained stable, indicating it too was readily available nationwide. Typically, cocaine is converted into crack cocaine, or “rock,” within the United States by the secondary wholesaler or retailer. Crack cocaine is often packaged in vials, glassine bags, and film canisters. The size of a crack rock can vary, but generally ranges from 1/10 to 1/2 gram. Rocks can sell for as low as $5 to as high as $100, but prices generally range from $10 to $20. Cocaine purity levels decreased at the kilogram level from 82 percent in 1998 to 69 percent in 2001. Ounce and gram levels have also decreased from 69 percent in 1998 to 53 percent in 2001 and from 69 percent to 56 percent, respectively.

Heroin is readily available in many U.S. cities as evidenced by the unprecedented level of average retail, or street-level, purity. Criminals in four foreign source areas produce the heroin available in the United States: South America (Colombia), Southeast Asia (principally Burma), Mexico, and Southwest Asia (Afghanistan). While virtually all heroin produced in Mexico and South America is destined for the U.S. market, each of the four source areas have dominated the U.S. market at some point over the past 30 years. Over the past decade, the northeastern states, with the largest concentration of heroin addicts in the country, shifted from a largely Southeast Asian heroin market to one now dominated by heroin from South America. In the West, by contrast, “black tar,” and to a lesser extent, brown powdered heroin from Mexico have been, and continue to be, the predominant available type.

Heroin price and purity vary widely. Nationally, 2001 data show that South American heroin ranged from $60,000 to $125,000 per kilogram. Southeast Asian and Southwest Asian heroin ranged in price from $35,000 to $120,000 per kilogram. Wholesale-level prices for Mexican heroin were the lowest of any type, ranging from $15,000 to $65,000 per kilogram. Overall heroin purity at the kilogram level increased slightly, but remained below 70 percent in 2001. However, gram- and ounce-purity levels declined slightly, but remained over 50 percent.

Marijuana is available in two grades: commercial grade and sinsemilla. Sinsemilla is the unpollinated flowering bud from the female cannabis plant. Commercial-grade marijuana is a designation used by the DEA for non-sinsemilla marijuana. Prices for commercial-grade marijuana have remained relatively stable over the past decade, ranging from approximately $300 to $700 per pound in U.S. Southwest border areas to between $1,400 to $3000 per pound in the Midwest and northeastern United States. The national price range for sinsemilla, a higher quality marijuana usually grown domestically, is between $900 and $8,000 per pound. The term “BC Bud” literally refers to the bud of the female cannabis plant grown in British Columbia; the term has become synonymous in the popular media for high-potency Canadian-grown marijuana. BC Bud, which sells for $1,500 to $2,000 per pound in Vancouver, when smuggled into the United States, sells for between $3,000 and $8,000 per pound in major metropolitan areas. According to the University of Mississippi’s data, the average commercial-grade potency THC levels have increased from 4.19 percent in 1999 to 4.72 percent in 2001. Average sinsemilla potency THC levels have decreased from 13.38 percent to 9.03 percent over the same time period.

National methamphetamine prices at the pound level decreased significantly from 1998 to 1999, but increased in 2000 and remained stable in 2001. Nationally, methamphetamine prices at the ounce level increased slightly at the upper end of the price range and prices at the gram level remained stable.

Regionally, methamphetamine prices vary throughout the United States. At the wholesale level, prices range from $3,000 to $17,000 per pound in the West and from $5,000 to $23,000 per pound in the Midwest, southeastern, and northeastern portions of the country. Ounce prices range from $300 to $2,200.

Ice is a very pure, smokable form of methamphetamine that is more addictive than other forms of the substance. Ice contains the same chemical compound as powder methamphetamine, but undergoes a recrystallization process in which some impurities are removed. Ice is predominantly available on the West Coast, parts of the Southwest, and in Hawaii; however, it is increasingly available in other areas of the country. Ice is also used on the West Coast where a gram sells for approximately $140, from $1,200 to $1,500 per ounce, and from $10,000 to $18,000 per pound. There is limited information on the price of ice for the rest of the United States since its use is not that widespread. Ice prices in Hawaii are the highest in the United States with gram prices ranging from $200 to $400, ounce prices averaging $2,300, and pound prices as high as $30,000.

In 2001, methamphetamine continued to be a problem throughout the United States, although international chemical control efforts have reduced the supply of those chemicals needed to produce high-quality methamphetamine. Clandestine laboratory operators are likely to use more cutting agents to stretch their supply of methamphetamine to meet demand and increase profits. As a result, the national purity level for methamphetamine dropped dramatically; however, as methamphetamine makers found alternative chemicals, the purity has begun to increase. The average purity of methamphetamine exhibits seized by DEA dropped from 71.9 percent in 1994 to 31 percent in 1999, but increased in 2000 to 35 percent, and to 40 percent in 2001.

Dangerous drugs pose a continuing threat to the United States, in particular for adolescents and young adult populations. Prices for lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), 3, 4 – methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), phencyclidine (PCP), gamma hydroxy butyrate (GHB), and ketamine are contained in this report. However, because these drugs are either emerging or resurgent threats, in the case of ketamine, GHB, and PCP respectively, price information for the last 4 years was not available for use in this report. Consequently, only 2000 and 2001 prices are reported.