Study May Have Tracked Cocaine Distribution Routes

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on June 20, 2014 under Addiction Trends | Comments are off for this article

In order to handle the drug trafficking problem in the United States you have to stay one step ahead of the drug dealers. Siddharth Chandra is an economist at Michigan State University and has been researching the drug trafficking patterns in the United States. He believes he has found connections and areas that are not being heavily policed that are responsible for supplying cocaine to addicts.

By using the information provided by the National Drug Intelligence Center and comparing prices of cocaine in different cities, Chandra started seeing some connections. He noticed that when the price for cocaine went up in one city, surrounding areas had an identical spike. Chandra realized that larger cities were connected to smaller cities and towns as the supplier city.

Chandra took the results a step further and noticed that some cities were “destination” cities – the cocaine was ultimately going to end up in these locations. Some cities were “source” cities – the cocaine originated in these cities and was then being trafficked to other places. Most cities in the north and northeast were destination cities, while cities in the south were source cities. Cities like Atlanta and Chicago proved to be both – a major hub for cocaine sales and abuse.

Chandra, who was working with other researchers on the project, published his study and hopes that it will help law enforcement. Ideally, his work would point out places that are not heavily policed and have the potential to put a dent in the amount of cocaine that is being consumed by addicts across the United States. Once Chandra had his results he sat down and mapped everything out. He then compared his map to that on the National Drug Intelligence Center’s website and found that his map had locations that were not noted on the government’s map. Chandra wonders if law enforcement agencies are really aware of the cocaine problem they have in some areas.

Unfortunately, the National Drug Intelligence Center has shut down since they published the data that Chandra used for his study. Updates to maps and trafficking patterns would need information supplied by an organization like the NDIC.