onwide, which was much higher than the average of 7 percent reported a decade ago. The retail purity of South American heroin was the highest of any source, averaging 56.4 percent nationwide and 76 percent in New York City, a major importation and distribution center. Heroin purity was generally highest in the Northeast where a large percentage of the nation’s users live. Marijuana Availability. Marijuana is the most readily available illicit drug in the United States. While no comprehensive survey of domestic cannabis cultivation has been conducted, the DEA estimates that much of the marijuana consumed in the United States is grown domestically. Cannabis is frequently cultivated in remote locations and on public lands. Major outdoor cultivation areas are found in Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii, California, and New York. Significant quantities of marijuana are also grown indoors. The controlled environments of indoor operations enable growers to use sophisticated agronomic techniques to enhance the drug’s potency. The majority of the marijuana in the United States comes from Mexico, much of it being smuggled across the southwest border. However, marijuana shipments from Colombia and Jamaica are increasing. Marijuana production and distribution in the United States are highly decentralized. Trafficking organizations range from complex operations that import the drug, grow it domestically, and trade within the U.S., to individuals cultivating and selling at the retail level. High quality marijuana is widely available in all parts of the United States. Prices vary with quality and range from forty to nine hundred dollars per ounce.57 Over the past decade, marijuana prices have dropped even as the drug’s potency has increased. Methamphetamine Availability. Domestic methamphetamine production and trafficking are concentrated in the western and southwestern regions of the United States. Clandestine methamphetamine laboratories ...
