Sunday, Nov. 04, 2007

The State’s yearlong look at illegal drugs finds S.C. at a crossroads

South Carolina for years has been a “consumer state” when it comes to illegal drugs, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

This year, things are different. South Carolina is now classified as a “transshipment state,” a “staging area” with sophisticated ties to major distribution hubs — New York City, Florida, California and the Texas-Mexico border.

South Carolina’s new status as a trafficking crossroads is one of the trends uncovered during The State’s yearlong look at illegal drug abuse and distribution.

Other findings in this watershed year include:

• The bulk of the state’s methamphetamine, which S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster calls our “single largest and fastest-growing drug threat,” is coming in from Mexico rather than being made locally.

• Mexico is now the state’s top source of all illegal drugs, smuggled in mostly by the illegal immigrants contributing to South Carolina’s fifth-fastest-growing Hispanic population in the nation.

• Most cocaine smuggled into the state is sold by local gangs and at least one gang, in Columbia, with national ties. These aren’t kids wearing matching shirts. They are organized, gun-toting thugs with a corporate-like structure featuring executives, sales associates and third-party vendors.

• South Carolina is preparing to take a big swing at abuse of legal drugs by tracking prescriptions via a central state computer.

So what hasn’t changed?

• The state’s drug of choice, judging by seizures and arrests, is still marijuana. But authorities spend more money on and arrest more people in connection with crack cocaine.

• Millions of tax dollars are spent annually to arrest several thousand dealers and users, pay for addicts’ recoveries, and finance education programs.

So what can you do?

We have some suggestions.

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