Pubdate: Wed, 19 Jul 2000
Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA)
Copyright: 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Contact:   (508) 793-9313
Mail: P.O. Box 15012, Worcester, MA 01615-0012
Website: http://www.telegram.com/
Author: Associated Press

DRUG CZAR, POLICE TO MAP PURE HEROIN FIGHT

BOSTON-- New England faces the threat of an influx of heroin so pure
that users can inhale, snort or eat it instead of injecting it with
needles, White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey warned yesterday.
McCaffrey will meet today with law enforcement leaders from the six
New England states to discuss how to combat the problem. McCaffrey
said the high-purity heroin comes to the area primarily from New York
City, but the Canadian border also remains vulnerable to drug
smugglers. "It's essentially unguarded," McCaffrey said. "The northern
border is a frontier. ... Cooperation between the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police has been superb.

But there's very little manpower up there.

It's a question mark that has to be closely considered in the
following years." Last year, McCaffrey established the New England
High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area with $1 million in federal money.

The money has allowed local law enforcement officials to link up with
FBI agents, federal drug enforcement agents, and other agencies that
could assist in the arrest of drug smugglers. The New England effort
only covers 12 counties in the six states. That means that the program
still hasn't arrived in some counties that have heroin problems, such
as Middlesex County, which has a substantial heroin trade based in
Lowell. McCaffrey said he would ask New England law enforcement
officials which counties should be added to the program and he thought
Middlesex would be among those suggested.

The program's budget this year has increased to over $1.85
million.

McCaffrey said more money would be needed to add new counties and he
promised to seek it. McCaffrey said it was too early to tell how well
the program was working. "I think the payoff will happen in the coming
years," McCaffrey said. Col. Edmund Culhane, head of the Rhode Island
State Police, said that in his state, more large drug seizures have
been made since the HIDTA program began.

He also said that working with other states would enable him to
dismantle much larger drug operations. The theory behind the HIDTA
program is that local police in drug-riddled areas need help to fight
criminal organizations that can easily spill over jurisdictional
boundaries. McCaffrey said that Connecticut's Bradley International
Airport, as well as airports in Manchester, N.H.; Burlington, Vt.; and
Warwick, R.I. were vulnerable to drug traffickers. John Gartland,
special agent in charge at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in
New England, agreed with McCaffrey. "(High-purity heroin) is
everywhere," Gartland said. "We're seeing it in Bangor, Maine; we're
seeing it in Cape Cod." But cracking down on high-purity heroin isn't
going to solve all the problems, Gartland cautioned.

Gartland said that reducing the amount of very pure heroin could
simply lead dealers to dilute their mixtures -- and could lead addicts
to return to injecting heroin. In another indication of the threat
posed by heroin, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said
yesterday that, in 1992, 15 percent of people admitted into state-run
rehabilitation programs listed heroin as their primary drug. By 1999,
the number of people claiming heroin addiction had more than doubled
to 32 percent, while the numbers claiming addiction to cocaine,
marijuana and alcohol declined.
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