Highlights of the assessment include: 1) the Gulf Coast High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) region is the primary transportation corridor used by Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) to transport large amounts of powder cocaine, ice methamphetamine, commercial-grade marijuana, and smaller amounts of Mexican brown powder or black tar heroin from the Southwest Border area and Mexico to Atlanta, GA; 2) shortages in wholesale quantities of powder cocaine continued to be reported by some law enforcement agencies in the Gulf Coast HIDTA region through 2008; 3) the diversion, distribution, and abuse of controlled prescription drugs (CPDs) pose a serious threat to the region; 4) illicit drug production in the region consists of small-scale methamphetamine production, outdoor and indoor cannabis cultivation, and crack cocaine conversion; and 5) cocaine, both powder and crack, is the primary illicit substance most often identified in treatment admissions. Mexican DTOs will continue to use Gulf Coast highways as the primary transportation corridor for illicit drugs that they want transported from the Southwest Border area to Atlanta. This assessment provides a strategic overview of the illicit drug problem in the Gulf Coast HIDTA, highlighting significant trends and law enforcement concerns related to the trafficking and abuse of illicit drugs. Figures, tables, appendix, and list of sources