Pubdate: Sat, 04 Aug 2012
Source: Door County Advocate (WI)
Copyright: 2012 Door County Advocate
Contact: http://216.127.216.103/advocate/letters.html#writexx
Website: http://www.doorcountyadvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1572
Author: Ramelle Bintz

WHY HEROIN? A FEDERAL AGENT OFFERS AN OVERVIEW OF THE OPIATE TRADE

The use of prescription opiate narcotics is on the rise by both the
younger and older generation, said Will Taylor, who works as a special
agent with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration out of Chicago.

Taylor's job is to nab traffickers bringing heroin and other narcotics
into Wisconsin and nearby states including Illinois and Indiana.

As a drug, heroin is made from poppies and is similar to synthetic
opiates such as oxycontin and oxycodone. Traffickers move drugs based
on supply and demand, and as a prescription drug habit costs more to
get high as tolerance levels increase, a hit of heroin is relatively
inexpensive.

"It's all about money. A hit of heroin in Chicago is $10 to $20,"
Taylor said. "A pill could be $15 to $30 per pill, but an addict is
using many pills per day and using more to get the desired effect.
Theoretically even if they are shopping insurance and going through a
doctor, they are getting high substantially less. Heroin is much
stronger - it takes hold very quickly."

Prescription drugs have overtaken other drugs such as methamphetamine
in popularity. The danger with heroin compared to prescription drugs
is a user with a 30 mg pill knows how much is in there.

"When they buy a bag of heroin, they have no idea if it is two or
three times stepped or what it's cut with," he said. "The user never
knows what they're getting. That's how we get clusters of overdoses.
There is no consistency. There is no science to this. It goes from one
town to another, and when it gets to northeastern Wisconsin you don't
know how many times it's been cut, by whom, or how pure it is."

The purity of heroin is analyzed every time a bust is seized, and it's
never consistent, he said. A chemical analysis shows most heroin
arriving in northeastern Wisconsin comes from poppies grown in South
America - the Colombian and Bolivian heroin is produced for drug
cartels that have partnerships with Mexican cartels, which then
transport it across the border frequently with 18 wheelers.

Most heroin from Afghanistan goes to Europe, rarely the U.S., he said.
Europe is also seeing the same increase in heroin use and overdoses.
Once in awhile there will be some from Laos or Burma, but virtually
all of the heroin sold in Wisconsin is from South America.

"It's pure logistics. Cartels have a stronghold on transportation, and
their business plan for many years hasn't changed dramatically,"
Taylor said. "At the wholesale level they have distribution routes and
safe houses just like any legitimate transportation company."

The vehicles have hidden compartments and there are tractor-trailer
trucks on the payroll of drug traffickers who have it concealed with
legitimate loads - some is hidden in crates with avocados, for
example, he said. It is virtually impossible to keep it from crossing
the border into this country.

When it arrives in Milwaukee or Chicago from Mexico, it is 80 to 90
percent pure, he said, and as it goes from dealer to dealer each steps
it down, mixing it with a dietary supplement powder or other substance.

A few years ago to cut costs, the cartel hired a chemist who was
making Fentenyl, an opioid about 100 times more potent than morphine,
and mixing it with heroin. That combination proved fatal and a lot of
drug business was lost because so many addicts ended up dying. The end
product is now several times stronger than it was 30 years ago, so
that also accounts for an increase in deaths compared to previous
generations.

The stigma of being a heroin addict is also gone, Taylor said. Instead
of being cooked or injected, most times it is being smoked or snorted.
It could be a 40-year-old mother or the teenager next door who is
using heroin, he said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt