New York is home to the biggest city in America: New York City. It is a World famous city that sets many standards in fashion and pop culture. New York City also has a dark side, however. New York City is one of the most significant drug destinations and distribution centers in the United States. Heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and ecstasy have the most significant impact on New York. Other club drugs and marijuana are also widely available. In the last six months, methamphetamine-related incidents have increased, however, methamphetamine trafficking and abuse has a lesser impact on New York than the previously mentioned illegal drugs. New York based traffickers supply the northeastern United States, usually as far west as Chicago, as far south as Baltimore, and as far north as the Canadian border. A growing number of drug traffickers are increasing their sophistication, using the Internet and advanced communication devices, and engaging in electronic counter surveillance.

New York City has always been known as a city of great wealth and power. Wherever there is an opportunity to make money the honest way, there are opportunities to try and cheat the system. New York City’s status as an international financial center provides the means and opportunity for extensive money laundering operations. Laundering money in and through New York ranges from storefront businesses engaging in frequent, small, multi-hundred dollar wire transfers overseas, to large, international organizations that pick up hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time to be laundered. Recent legislation forcing financial institutions to adhere to the Know Your Customer policies, and holding them accountable for the illicit activities of their clients, have caused banks to be vigilant in screening potential clients. This vigilance and reluctance by the banks to accept funds from questionable clients has forced many drug trafficking and money laundering organizations to resort to the physical smuggling of cash out of the New York area.

New York City is not the only part of the state that is facing a drug problem, however. Motorcycle gangs are particularly active in meth abuse in upstate areas. As with trafficking and abuse, meth laboratory activity is minimal but increasing in New York. Although large-scale local labs are seldom encountered, there is an increase in tabletop labs producing an ounce or more per cook. Most meth labs are found along the New York/Pennsylvania border where anhydrous ammonia is stolen in order to produce small quantities via the Nazi method. Drugs are imported for diversion as well as exported. Middle Eastern violators have figured prominently in the illegal diversion of pseudoephedrine for meth manufacture. Middle Eastern pseudoephedrine traffickers based in New York import pseudoephedrine from Canada and transship it to California for use in meth labs. There are not enough effective drug rehab centers in the New York area to handle the problem alone. Keep searching for help even if it is outside the area.