Narconon District of Columbia Drug Problem
District of
Columbia Drug Threat Assessment
Overview
District of
Columbia
Note: This map
displays features mentioned in the report.
The District of Columbia (D.C.) is an
ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse 68-square-mile federal
district with over 572,000 residents. If D.C. were a state, it would rank
fiftieth by population, ahead of only Wyoming. Washington, D.C.'s role as the
nation's capital and as a focal point for the world's political, diplomatic,
and financial activities enhances the District's diversity. Attracting
inhabitants from throughout the country and the world, D.C. provides an ideal
setting for criminal groups to blend in easily.
Fast
Facts
| District of Columbia |
| Population (2000) |
572,000 |
| U.S. population
ranking |
50th (Relative to states) |
| Median household income (2000) |
$40,000 |
| Unemployment rate
(2001) |
6.6% |
| Land area |
68 square
miles |
| Principal industries |
Government, service, tourism |
The District has a large population of drug abusers
and a high level of violence associated with the distribution of illegal drugs.
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) National Drug Threat
Survey 2001, the U.S. Park Police reported that 35 percent of its 1,583 D.C.
investigations were drug-related. Many were for polydrug distribution and
involved the use of firearms. The threat posed by drug distribution and abuse
to the safety and security of District residents is illustrated by the
District's high homicide rate. Although the number of homicides in D.C. has
decreased from an annual high of almost 500 a decade ago to 232 in 2000,
shooting incidents remain frequent, and many District residents live in fear of
becoming victims of random violence.
The District has a wide array of
transportation options available for both licit and illicit activities, making
D.C. an important node in the drug transportation network along the eastern
seaboard of the United States. Transporters use an extensive highway system,
three major airports near the District (Washington Dulles and
Baltimore-Washington International Airports and Ronald Reagan Washington
National Airport), and the railroads to ensure that drugs transported to and
from the area have an excellent chance of reaching their intended destination.
Thousands of travelers from all over the world pass through the three airports
daily. Arrest and seizure data indicate that the three airports are being used
to smuggle drugs from source and transit countries to the District. Interstates
295 and 395 provide direct access to I-495, which encircles the District, and
to I-95, the major north-south route on the East Coast. U.S. Highways 1, 29,
and 50 also provide access to I-495 and I-95. Drugs are frequently transported
in private vehicles and, to a lesser extent, by rail and bus services to and
from the District. Many transporters reportedly purchase false identification
with which they register private vehicles used to transport drugs.
Maritime smuggling directly into D.C. is unlikely
since the few commercial maritime shipments into the area originate in domestic
locations. The small port of Alexandria, Virginia, is the only commercial
maritime cargo facility in the D.C. metropolitan area. An average of 23 vessels
visit the port annually, and longshoremen at the port handled approximately
26,000 tons of cargo in 1999. The only international seaport near D.C. is the
Port of Baltimore, a port through which thousands of tons of containerized and
bulk cargo move daily; however, seizures of drugs are infrequent. Transporters
are more likely to smuggle drugs to ports that handle a large volume of
international cargo daily and provide more transportation options, such as the
consolidated New York/New Jersey seaport.
D.C. is a secondary drug distribution center, with
most drugs destined for distribution in D.C. first smuggled to New York,
Philadelphia, Miami, and Los Angeles, among other cities. Drug trafficking
organizations (DTOs) and criminal groups that work directly with DTOs in source
countries such as Colombia supply D.C.-based distribution groups. The
distribution groups range from wholesale-level criminal groups to local
neighborhood-based crews (a term frequently used to describe gangs in D.C.) and
independent dealers. Most investigations reveal that wholesale-level
distributors directly supply retail-level distributors.
The District has approximately 60 open-air drug
markets, some as large as two to three blocks, that are controlled by crews.
Open-air markets are typically located near low-income housing projects and on
main corridors into and out of the city. Most open-air markets operate 12 or
more hours a day, 7 days a week. Crews sell primarily crack at open-air
markets; however, powdered cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and
other dangerous drugs (ODDs) are also available. Law enforcement officials
report that marijuana is available with increasing frequency at these markets.
However, individual sales at open-air markets may involve no more than half a
pound of marijuana because of legislation that became effective in D.C. in June
2001, making penalties for distribution and possession of marijuana much more
severe than they had been previously.
|
Open-Air Drug Investigation in D.C.
On July 13, 2000, federal and local
law enforcement officials arrested 37 individuals and seized $30,000 worth of
crack, $70,000 in cash, and 13 guns, including an assault rifle and an
Uzi-style weapon. The arrests and seizures were the result of a yearlong
investigation that focused on open-air drug markets in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th
Police Districts.
Source:
Office of National Drug Control Policy, Drug Policy Information Clearinghouse,
Washington, D.C., August 2000. |
Local neighborhood-based crews that are unaffiliated
with nationally recognized gangs usually dominate retail drug distribution in
the District. Law enforcement officials usually assign the names by which crews
are known based on the streets and housing developments in which members of
crews live and distribute drugs. According to the Metropolitan Police
Department, crews form primarily for economic gain and change composition
regularly. Many crews distribute crack, and they frequently distribute other
drugs as well. They maintain control of their markets by preventing nationally
recognized street gangs from entering the area, and they will fight and kill to
defend their "turf." No single crew appears to control or dominate the
distribution of drugs throughout the District. Some reports indicate that as
many as 150 crews, each averaging 20 to 30 members, distribute drugs and engage
in additional criminal activities. The NDIC National Gang Survey 2000
identified 42 crews that distribute cocaine in D.C., and most of these crews
distribute heroin and marijuana as well. Forty-one of them are African
American, and one, La Mara R, is Hispanic.
|
Crews Known to Distribute Drugs in D.C. |
| 1-5 Mob |
1-7 Crew |
1st & O
Crew |
1st & Seaton
Place Crew |
| 1st & T Street Crew |
3rd World |
5th & O Street Crew |
6th & S Street Crew |
| 7th & I Street
Crew |
7th & O Street
Crew |
7th & S Street
Crew |
7th & Taylor
Crew |
| 12th & Hamlin Street Crew |
13th Street Crew |
14th & Clifton Street Crew |
20th Street Crew |
| 57th Street Mob |
58th Street Mob |
1512 Crew |
6200 Crew |
| Alabama Avenue Crew |
Barry Farms Crew |
The Circle/Simple City Crew |
Congress Park Crew |
| E Street Crew |
Hobart Stars |
Hucks Crew |
La Mara R |
| Langston Crew |
Levis Street Crew |
Lincoln Heights Crew |
Mellon Mob |
| Michigan Park
Crew |
Montana Avenue
Crew |
Naylor Road
Crew |
Park Morton
Crew |
| Queen Street Crew |
Rock Creek Church Crew |
Rosedale Crew |
Stanton Terrace Crew |
| Todd Place Crew |
Woodland Boys |
|
Source: National
Drug Intelligence Center, National Gang Survey 2000.
The percentage of drug-related federal sentences in
D.C. in 1999 was slightly lower than the national average, as were the
percentages by drug type--crack is the exception. Drug-related sentences
represented over 33 percent of all federal sentences in the District in 1999,
compared with the national average of 41 percent. Additionally, over 75 percent
of all drug-related sentences were crack-related, much higher than the national
average of 23 percent.
According to an official from the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration, approximately 60,000 drug
abusers--over 10 percent of the District's population--reside in the District.
D.C. had more drug treatment admissions in 1999 than it did during any other
year from 1994 through 1998. The number of annual drug admissions to publicly
funded facilities in D.C. increased approximately 510 percent from 1996 through
1999, according to Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) data. The District had 979
admissions in 1996, 2,885 in 1997, 3,618 in 1998, and 6,005 in 1999.
Conversely, the number of drug-related deaths in the D.C. metropolitan area
decreased from 281 episodes in 1998 to 239 in 1999 (15%), the second largest
decrease among the 40 metropolitan areas reporting medical examiner (ME) data
to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN). Minneapolis had the largest decrease
(17%).
A significant percentage of the District's budget is
used for drug treatment programs. The National Center on Addiction and
Substance Abuse at Columbia University reported that D.C. spent $777 per person
in 1998 on substance abuse-related services, more than any state in the nation.
The District government spent approximately 15 percent of its 1998 budget on
substance abuse-related programs that focused on justice, education, health,
child/family assistance, mental health/developmental disabilities, employment,
and public safety issues. D.C. was fifth in the nation in the percentage spent,
following New York, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and California.
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