Cocaine: North Carolina is a transshipment point to states to the North, including Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and others. The state continues to be a destination state for cocaine. It is readily available because major traffickers take advantage of the state's interstate highways, which are major transshipment routes for cocaine being transported from source areas to other states. These major source areas are California, Colorado, Arizona and Texas, with major sources of supply being traffickers based in Mexico. Cocaine is usually shipped in private or rental vehicles. Cocaine loads arriving in North Carolina by organized Mexican organizations are used to supply crack distribution networks that further present enormous social threat to North Carolina's inner city communities.

Heroin: Heroin use and availability is relatively low in North Carolina. Many areas of the state, such as Greensboro, Durham, Greenville, and Wilmington, report that heroin abuse has been limited to a small population and is consistently low. However, it appears that heroin use and availability is rising in other portions of the state. Charlotte and parts of the western region of North Carolina are reporting an upswing in heroin use and a correlating increase in heroin overdose deaths. In August 2002, the Charlotte DO initiated a heroin investigation after an inquiry from the Athens Country Office. In September 2002, the Wilmington RO responded to a Pipeline seizure of 4.319 kilograms of heroin destined for New York. Mexican supplied heroin is increasing throughout North Carolina.

Methamphetamine: : Methamphetamine cases have been on the rise in some parts of North Carolina, such as Raleigh, Charlotte, and Greensboro; however, rural communities in many counties of the western part of the state have experienced a surge in methamphetamine trafficking. The primary sources are located in West Coast states, principally California and Arizona, but a significant supply also derives from Mexican traffickers in northern Georgia, e.g. Gainsville and Dalton. Ethnic Mexican traffickers from these states have been identified as the clandestine manufacturers and sources of supply for methamphetamine in multi-pound quantities. Recent evidence suggests that North Carolina may be contributing to the national supply of the drug, as several methamphetamine laboratories seized in the West Coast of the United States were supplied with pseudoephedrine produced by a Hickory, N.C.-based company. During the fourth quarter FY 02, the Greensboro RO participated in a controlled delivery to the Philadelphia Field Division of 30 pounds of methamphetamine from Winston-Salem. In addition, small clandestine labs within the state are also producing methamphetamine. There is some indication that, because of enforcement efforts in Tennessee and Georgia, small lab chemists are setting up in North and South Carolina. In FY 02, total seizures in North Carolina (State and local plus DEA) were 20, a 62 percent increase over the previous year.

Club Drugs: The Club Drugs that are most popular in North Carolina are MDMA, GHB and LSD. The use of Dangerous Drugs has increased in popularity across the state and is especially popular with college and high-school aged people. With more than 50 four-year colleges and universities in North Carolina, there is a large potential market for club drugs.

Marijuana:Marijuana is one of the most prevalent drugs in North Carolina and its availability is increasing. One cause is the recent rise in the availability of Mexican marijuana due to an influx of Mexican trafficking organizations executing smuggling operations in to the state directly from Mexico via containerized cargo transported by tractor-trailer trucks, particularly in the central portion (Piedmont) of the state. In addition, marijuana is being smuggled in ever-larger amounts via campers, pickup trucks, and larger vehicles. Over the past three years, Domestic Cannibis Eradication Suppression Program authorities have seized domestically grown marijuana in increasing quantities, Specifically, 2000 seizures were 40,464 plants, 2001 seizures were 89,900 plants, and 2002 seizures were 112,017 plants.

Other Drugs: Ecstasy (MDMA) is also a problem, although not posing equivalent threat to most North Carolina communities as is cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. Domestic intelligence gleaned from local and state agencies in North Carolina indicate that Ecstasy use is on the rise, arriving from trafficking networks in New York, Florida and California. Most prominently distributed in larger cities and along the coastal communities, such as beach cities attracting tourist populations, authorities are targeting ecstasy distributors and their out-of-state sources of supply. Regarding illegal pharmaceuticals, in FY 2002 the Greensboro Diversion Group has noted continued criminal activity and investigated a prescription fraud ring. This investigation led to the arrest of 20 violators who had been trafficking hundreds of thousands of dosage units of OxyContin, Valium, and Xanax, purchasing them with Medicaid cards. Of the major abused prescription drugs, OxyContin is most prominent due to its highly addictive nature and use as a pain managing analgesic medication by the health care industry. In FY 2002 and 2003, authorities have observed several overdose deaths by OxyContin abuse in North Carolina and South Carolina. There has been an increase in the use of LSD in the Charlotte area. The majority of users of the drug are in the 15 to 25 year old category caught up in the "Rave" subculture. Law enforcement agencies have identified individuals with ties to the Pacific Northwest or West Coast regions of the country distributing bulk quantities of LSD.