A Few Interesting Facts about Drugs and Gangs

Initiating a google search on gangs or gang activity or gang violence renders all kinds of interesting articles and websites on the subject. A few of the more recent articles, those dated 2007, indicate either a resurgence or an increase in gang activity. One article entitled, “ Officials See a Spread in Gang Activity” seems particularly alarming. This article discusses the growth of street gangs with ties to El Salvador and other Central American nations that have been growing in size and violence, with two gangs based in Los Angeles counting thousands of members there and in El Salvador. Why should we be concerned about gangs, thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, California? Because law enforcement officials, meeting earlier this year for the International Chiefs of Police Summit on Transnational Gangs, said that gangs with roots or ties to Los Angeles had spread to 40 states and seven countries.
Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that these gangs are active in Rochester. Many times gangs in smaller urban areas, such as Rochester, are home grown gangs that show very little resemblance to those out east or out west. But it does indicate that gangs seem to be moving to different parts of the United States either through active gang members or through those that have had close ties to gangs. A cause for concern might be the fact that Rochester is located in close proximity to several large metropolitan areas that have gang problems. It is interesting to note the following facts that I found in a 2008 National Drug Threat Assessment publication put out by the National Drug Intelligence Center, a division of the Department of Justice. It stated that for the region that Rochester is included in, the Great Lakes Region:
· Chicago and Detroit are the largest metropolitan areas in the region; they are also principal wholesale illicit drug distribution centers, supplying drug markets in the Great Lakes Region as well as those in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and West Central Regions.
· The distribution and abuse of cocaine (particularly crack) and, to a lesser extent, heroin pose the greatest threats to most urban areas within the region, while the abuse of methamphetamine and marijuana are typically the greatest drug threats in rural areas and smaller cities. Crack cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine pose greater threats to public safety because these drugs are more addictive and are often associated with violent and property crime. Crack cocaine typically is reported as the greatest drug threat in metropolitan areas because of its widespread abuse and the violence attendant to its distribution. Marijuana is the most widely available and abused illicit drug in the region; however, it is generally reported by law enforcement as a lower threat because its distribution and abuse are less often associated with violent crime.
· Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO’s), the dominant transporters and wholesale distributors of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and ice methamphetamine in the Great Lakes Region, are extending their wholesale distribution operations from larger cities such as Chicago and Detroit to secondary markets, including Columbus, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis.
· Heroin abuse outside major metropolitan areas in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, including suburban and rural areas of greater Chicago, Detroit, Gary, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis, is increasing, particularly among young Caucasian abusers. Many of these new, younger abusers transitioned from the abuse of prescription narcotics to the abuse of heroin.
· Asian DTOs are increasingly smuggling Canadian MDMA into the Great Lakes Region, primarily through Michigan. The rising availability of MDMA within the region has increased the abuse of the drug among high school and college students.
· Caucasian criminal groups and independent dealers are the primary distributors of MDMA in the Great Lakes Region; however, African American criminal groups and Hispanic gangs are becoming increasingly involved in MDMA distribution in Wisconsin, a factor that may lead to increased abuse of the drug in that state.
· Street gangs are the primary retail distributors of illicit drugs in the region and are expanding their cocaine distribution activities from larger cities to suburban communities, primarily in the Chicago area. This expansion is leading to increased violence--particularly violence associated with crack distribution and abuse--and is straining limited law enforcement and public health resources in suburban communities.

This information on gangs and drugs is certainly food for thought and could serve as a source to draw questions from for our keynote speaker, Steve Thompson at our next neighborhood meeting. Don’t forget, Eastside Pioneers Neighborhood Association meeting, Thursday, December 13, 7:00 PM at the City of Life Outreach Center, 804 East Center Street. Our topic will be a community discussion on gangs and Steve Thompson from the Southeast Minnesota Narcotics and Gang Task Force will be our keynote speaker. I will be placing more articles on my blog in the near future regarding this issue. If you have any questions please contact Mike LaPlante at mlaplante@aol.com or at (507) 282-2667.