Marijuana is very easy to get and the biggest part of the marijuana that comes into New York City gets there by airfreight or by vehicles like trucks and automobiles coming from Canada, Florida or from the southwestern U.S. Marijuana also gets snuck into New York City by commercial airline and overnight package services.

Around 1,500 people in New York are killed every year from alcohol. Thousands of other people end up in the hospital for alcohol related reasons. Their Health Department reported that excessive alcohol consumption was responsible for over 70,000 ER visits among New York City adults just last year. To get the serious message out to people last year a subway campaign was devised and signs were put up throughout the Holiday Season in English and Spanish reminding people just how serious alcohol consumption can be. Pictures on the ads reflected the words written on signs which included; Two Drinks Ago You Would Have Walked Away, Two Drinks Ago You Could Still Get Yourself Home.

The Health Department released a health bulletin at the same time to help people measure their own use of alcohol in order to prevent overuse of their own alcohol consumption. The health bulletin said "Excessive Drinking Is Dangerous. Stop drinking while you're still thinking". New York City's Health Bulletin not only offered measurable guidelines as far as, how much is too much, but also offered resources for anyone in need of help.

In New York's major cities Crack Cocaine is easy to come by. These areas are the ones that have been economically affected. There are some suburban and semi-rural areas of New York where crack is readily available also. Some violence is associated with crack cocaine in New York but this is between new cocaine dealers coming in and attempting to take over areas that are already established by cocaine dealers.

In upstate New York heroin drug trafficking and heroin abuse is rising. In the metropolitan area of New York Colombian and Dominican drug organizations are responsible for the heroin that's available.

Meth is not as big of a problem in New York State compared to other drugs that are abused. Crystal meth is produced in Mexico and can be found in the New York City area. Mexican meth also comes from California's DTO's. In upstate New York meth can be found in powder form mostly and local clandestine labs supply the upstate meth market.

Ecstasy is also referred to as MDMA and can be found everywhere in New York. The ecstasy that's available in New York comes from the Netherlands and Canada mainly, they're responsible for the manufacturing and exporting of ecstasy.

In New York OxyContin and hydrocodone products are the main prescription drugs that are abused. As far as diverted pharmaceutical in New York, fentanyl, benzodiazepines and Methadone are the most abused. Steroids are also a problem in New York. Illegal steroid traffickers use the internet for their illicit activities.