DEA
Offices & Telephone Nos.
Fayetteville501-442-2618
Fort Smith501-783-6300
Little Rock501-312-8602 |
State
Facts
Population: 2,692,090
Law Enforcement Officers: 6,596
State Prison Population: 16,600
Probation Population: 28,119
Violent Crime Rate
National Ranking: 22 |
2003
Federal Drug Seizures
Cocaine: 219.5 kgs.
Heroin: 1.0 kgs.
Methamphetamine: 54.0 kgs.
Marijuana: 2,921.2 kgs.
Ecstasy: 729 tablets
Methamphetamine Laboratories: 714 (DEA, state,
and local) |
Drug
Situation: The availability and rate of drug abuse in Arkansas
remain high coinciding with the smuggling of methamphetamine, cocaine,
and marijuana, the drugs of choice, for local consumption and further
distribution. Though smuggling methods involve all forms of transportation,
the largest quantities of drugs are seized on the highways via interdiction
programs. Each year, tens of thousands of pounds of marijuana and hundreds
of kilograms of cocaine are seized on Arkansas’ interstates, particularly
Interstate 40. Most large seizures involve tractor-trailers, although
private vehicles account for a significant percentage of total seizures,
particularly methamphetamine seizures. Significant quantities of drugs
are also seized from other forms of transportation including commercial
air and bus service.
Cocaine:
Crack cocaine, as well as powder cocaine, has continued to be a significant
and long-term problem in the state, especially in the inner cities.
Although cocaine use has been surpassed by methamphetamine use, it
is the foremost concern of law enforcement authorities considering
its impact on communities in terms of violent crime, including homicides,
principally by street gangs. The ready availability of cocaine and
the movement of street gangs beyond traditional areas of operation
have led to the spread of crack to many suburban and rural areas.
Crack’s explosive growth and dominance can be attributed to
the drug’s wide availability, inexpensive price, simplicity
of conversion from powdered cocaine hydrochloride, and its addictive
properties. Rates of crack cocaine abuse are high and concentrated
in the black communities. Distribution points for crack include Little
Rock, Texarkana, El Dorado, Hot Springs and Dumas. Cocaine is transported
into Arkansas in both powder and crack form. Powder cocaine usually
arrives in multi-kilogram quantities, while crack arrives in multi-ounce
or kilogram quantities.
Heroin:
Drug law enforcement agencies in Arkansas do not identify heroin use
as a significant problem. Heroin trafficking patterns in central
Arkansas are difficult to discern, as there have been so few investigations
of this type. What little tar heroin is encountered in central Arkansas
appears to be imported into the state by the Mexican trafficking
organizations already in existence. Recently, a small amount (one-gram)
of tar heroin originating in the Los Angeles area was seized by the
DEA Little Rock District Office. This heroin had been shipped to
Little Rock through a parcel service. The city of Baltimore, Maryland
has been identified as a source city of gram quantities of Colombian
heroin encountered in Little Rock. The heroin in this instance was
also shipped to the recipient through the mail.
![Methamphetamine Lab Seizures: 1999=331, 2000=242, 2001=404, 2002=460, 2003=714](/peth04/20041017172024im_/http://www.dea.gov/pubs/states/arkansas_meth2004.gif) Methamphetamine:
In less than ten years,
methamphetamine has grown from a problem limited to the Southwest and
Pacific regions of the United States to
one of concern in Arkansas. Arkansas’ primary drug of concern is
methamphetamine. The state is encountering locally produced methamphetamine
as well as the importation of methamphetamine produced in Mexico. Not
only does the state’s rural landscape provide an ideal setting
for illicit manufacturing, but the wide availability of precursor chemicals
also contributes to the ease of manufacturing methamphetamine. Criminal
groups are acquiring thousands of cases of pseudoephedrine via wholesalers
and use sophisticated schemes to illegally ship, at a considerable profit,
pseudoephedrine to methamphetamine producers.
Club
Drugs: MDMA is the most prevalent and popular club drug
in Arkansas. Other dangerous drugs increasing in popularity and demand
throughout Arkansas include LSD, OxyContin and GHB. These dangerous drugs
are commonly found and continue to be the drugs of choice at “rave” functions
and college hangouts throughout the state, especially in the highly populated
areas of Arkansas.
Sources in California transport LSD to the Little Rock and Fayetteville
areas for redistribution. LSD is sold in several different forms including
blotter paper and small vials of liquid. Shipments are also mailed through
the U.S. Postal Service and commercial shipping companies. Marijuana:
Marijuana is in high demand and readily available throughout Arkansas.
Marijuana grown in Mexico and domestically produced marijuana are
both popular in the state. The rural nature of the land, the warm
climate, and long growing season afford cultivators the opportunity
to produce domestic marijuana. The traditional growing areas for
domestically produced marijuana are in the eastern and northwestern
regions of Arkansas. Domestically produced marijuana is cultivated
indoors as well as outdoors. Indoor cultivation is primarily found
in cities and occasionally in rural areas, comprised of fifty to
two hundred plants per site. The outdoor growing sites more commonly
range from small patches of twenty to several hundred plants scattered
throughout an area located near a water source. Plots are usually
within a mile or two radius of each other. As air surveillance by
law enforcement personnel has intensified, the outdoor sites have
become smaller and more scattered. Asset forfeiture laws have prompted
cultivators to utilize leased hunting land, timberland, or national
forest land as grow sites. The DEA Fayetteville Resident Office maintains
a close working relationship with the U.S. Forestry Service in view
of the unique marijuana situation in northwest Arkansas.
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 have been
409 deployments completed resulting in 16,763 arrests of violent drug
criminals as of February 2004. There have been two MET deployments in
the State of Arkansas since the inception of the program, both in Pine
Bluff.
DEA
Regional Enforcement Teams:
This program was designed to augment existing DEA division resources
by targeting drug organizations operating in the United States where
there is a lack of sufficient local drug law enforcement. This Program
was conceived in 1999 in response to the threat posed by drug trafficking
organizations that have established networks of cells to conduct drug
trafficking operations in smaller, non-traditional trafficking locations
in the United States. Nationwide, there have been 22 deployments completed
resulting in 608 arrests of drug trafficking criminals as of February
2004. There have been no RET deployments in the State of Arkansas.
Special
Topics HIDTA: The Little Rock District Office is in the process
of organizing two HIDTA initiatives in an effort to join the Gulf Coast
HIDTA. The two initiatives will each consist of two task force groups,
one Major Investigations Team and one Highway Interdiction Team. One
initiative will be located in Little Rock and the other will be located
in Fort Smith.
More information
about the New Orleans Division Office.
Sources
Factsheet
last updated: 2/2004
Click
here for last year's 2003 factsheet>> |