DEA Announces Release of 2013 National Drug Threat Assessment

 WASHINGTON – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) today released the 2013 National Drug Threat Assessment, which provides an up-to-date look at the many challenges local communities face related to drug abuse and drug trafficking.  Highlights in the report include drug abuse and trafficking trends for drugs such as heroin, prescription drugs, and the many ever-changing synthetic drugs manufactured overseas and imported to the United States.

As a result of the closure of the National Drug Intelligence Center in June 2012, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) assumed responsibility for producing the National Drug Threat Assessment and other high-priority strategic drug intelligence reports. In the preparation of this report, DEA intelligence analysts considered quantitative data from various sources (seizures, investigations, arrests, drug purity or potency, and drug prices; law enforcement surveys; laboratory analyses; and interagency production and cultivation estimates) and qualitative information (subjective views of individual agencies on drug availability, information on smuggling and transportation trends, and indicators of changes in smuggling and transportation methods).

The 2013 NDTA factors information provided by 1,307 state and local law enforcement agencies through the 2013 National Drug Threat Survey (NDTS).

This assessment also considers data and information beyond 2012, when appropriate, to provide the most accurate assessment possible to policymakers, law enforcement authorities, and intelligence officials.

The 2013 National Drug Threat Assessment can be found here: http://www.justice.gov/dea/resource-center/DIR-017-13%20NDTA%20Summary%20final.pdf