Cocaine
Texas is a distribution and trans-shipment area for cocaine, transported (via passenger vehicles & tractor-trailers) to destinations throughout the U.S. Illicit transporters favor the exploitation of the commercial trucking industry to move bulk (multi-hundred kilogram) quantities of cocaine. Smaller loads are routinely seized from privately owned vehicles or from couriers utilizing public transportation. In the major metropolitan areas and the small towns crack cocaine remains easily attainable.

Heroin
Mexican black tar and Mexican brown heroin continue to remain the primary heroin threats. As with cocaine and marijuana, Texas is a distribution and trans-shipment point for heroin going to other locations in the U.S.. There has also been an increase in the availability of Colombian and Southwest Asian heroin. The common methods of smuggling heroin are in private vehicles and couriers.

Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is readily available throughout the state, and. enforcement activities in Texas related to methamphetamine continue to escalate. Mexican-manufactured methamphetamine is being transported into the region via passenger and commercial vehicles. Small toxic laboratories produce small quantities of extremely high-quality methamphetamine and are encountered in both rural and urban areas of Texas.

Club Drugs
Club drugs are available in all of Texas’ major metropolitan areas. The most frequently abused club drugs are Ecstasy (MDMA), LSD, Ketamin, and GHB. Raves are a primary venue for MDMA distribution, as are clubs and gyms. Other dangerous drugs readily available include Rohypnol and PCP.

Marijuana
Marijuana remains readily available and is the most widely used illegal drug throughout the state of Texas. Transportation of marijuana from Mexico continues to occur in large quantities. At the Ports of Entry, ton quantity seizures of marijuana are made from commercial trucks entering the U.S. Maritime smugglers exploit the coastline along the Gulf of Mexico. Increased enforcement activity has led to the seizure of several indoor grow operations.

Prescription Drugs
The most common methods of diversion of pharmaceutical controlled substances continue to be illegal and indiscriminate prescribing and “doctor shopping.” OxyContin abuse is on the increase.

DEA Mobile Enforcement Teams
This cooperative program with state and local law enforcement counterparts was conceived in 1995 in response to the overwhelming problem of drug-related violent crime in towns and cities across the nation.

   There are three DEA Divisions in Texas: Dallas, El Paso, and Houston. Combined, they have completed 32 Mobile Enforcement Team deployments throughout the state since the inception of the program, resulting in 1,261 arrests and the seizure of 286.6 pounds of cocaine, 29.3 pounds of crack cocaine, 9.3 pounds of heroin, 941 pounds of marijuana, 33.3 pounds of methamphetamine, and one clandestine methamphetamine laboratory. Also seized were 42 vehicles, 122 weapons, and over $1 million in U.S. currency and property.

• Most Americans are aware of the risks associated with substance abuse, but the perception of risk rises with age. Each successive age group from age 12–17 to 35 and older reports increasingly greater risk associated with substance abuse.¹
  
  
• Although the non-medical use of Oxycontin was rare in 2000, data shows evidence of an emerging problem. The estimated number of lifetime non-medical Oxycontin users increased from 221,000 in 1999 to 399,000 in 2000.²
  
  
• By the 8th grade, 52% of adolescents have consumed alcohol, 41% have smoked cigarettes, and 20% have used marijuana.¹
  
  
• Males are almost four times as likely as females to be heavy drinkers, nearly one and a half times as likely to smoke a pack or more of cigarettes a day, and twice as likely to smoke marijuana weekly. These gender differences are closing among youth.¹
  
  
• Substance abuse is a chronic, relapsing health condition. Substance abusers may be in treatment multiple times — or make repeated attempts to quit on their own — before they are successful.¹
  
  
• 40% of those who started drinking at age 14 or younger later developed alcohol dependence, compared with 10% of those who began drinking at age 20 or older.¹
  
  
• Most people begin smoking as adolescents, and among youths who smoke, the average age of initiation is 12½.¹
  
  
• Among 12th graders, ecstasy use rose from 5.6% in 1999 to 8.2% in 2000, and for the first time, 8th graders showed increased rates in their use of ecstasy as well.³
  
• In 2000, approximately 6.4 million people had tried ecstasy at least once in their lifetime. This is more than the the estimated 5.1 million lifetime users in 1999.²
  
  
  ¹ Substance Abuse: The Nations Number One Health Problem
  ² US Dept. of Health & Human Services
  ³ Monitoring the Future Study