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Synthetic Drugs: Availability and Trafficking in Maryland

NCJ Number
151482
Date Published
1992
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This report describes the history, effects, user, availability, and trafficking of hallucinogens, phencyclidine (PCP), diverted pharmaceutical drugs, and methamphetamine in Maryland.
Abstract
The use of D-Lysergic Acid Diethylamide 25 (LSD) has declined since the 1960's and 1970's, but its use in Maryland has increased in recent years. Its distribution involves a highly structured organization with five levels. The availability of PCP appears to have increased in 1991. Its distributors, like LSD traffickers, are mainly white. The most commonly diverted prescription drugs are diazepam (Valium), Oxycodone, hydromorphone hydrochloride, and Alprazolam. The traffickers of these drugs are mainly whites in their 30's to early 40's. Methamphetamine use is much higher among Maryland adolescents than among adolescents nationally and had been used in the past year by 5.1 percent of Maryland 12th graders surveyed in 1990. Its trafficking is commonly associated with outlaw biker gangs. It does not appear to be a widespread problem in Maryland. Tables, footnotes, and 21 references