Customs has arrested twentytwo major traffickers since 1987. All either have pleaded guilty or await trial. On the rise also is violence related to ice. particularly among immigrant Filipino youth gangs. which have served as the major sales force since the drug was first marketed in quantity in the midEighties. Weapons seizures are up 150 percent: Police and federal agents have confiscated submachine guns. fully automatic assault rifles. hand grenades. rocket grenades and booby traps. Now. according to the NIDA study. "the stage may be set for ... [smoking] to become a trend elsewhere on the continental U.S." An epidemic of ice in America promises to strain further the lawenforcement.
Identified stereotypes
Immigrant Filipino youth gangs are the major sales force for the drug ice.