A potent form of heroin is taking hold in the St. Louis area, making addiction more accessible than ever and raising the risk of increased violence among traffickers, authorities say.
So-called white heroin is displacing black tar heroin here as it has in some larger cities, according to surveys by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Officials say the switch to white heroin comes as heroin use here is growing and appears to be spreading to younger addicts.
White heroin is of particular concern because it does not need to be injected. That provides appeal to people who are squeamish about giving themselves shots of black tar, either because they don't like needles or they fear the spread of AIDS or hepatitis through shared hypodermics.
"Traffickers are able to market this heroin better by saying you can snort it or smoke it," said William Renton Jr., special agent in charge of the DEA office in St. Louis.
Until now, black tar heroin from Mexico has dominated the St. Louis market, authorities say. White heroin comes from Afghanistan and southwest Asia.
White heroin also is considerably more potent, raising the risk of overdoses. The white heroin found in the St. Louis area this year is as high as 28 percent pure morphine, nearly twice the purity commonly found in the black tar variety, Renton explained.
Heroin traditionally has been associated with older junkies in urban areas, but it now appears to be making inroads with young people of diverse backgrounds.
"A lot of times the stereotype is that a typical heroin user is an older person ... but that's not what you see," said Dr. Heidi Israel, an assistant professor at St. Louis University School of Medicine who studies heroin abuse.
Statistics from drug treatment now reflect users from all racial groups, and include more young people than in the past, she explained. "There is a younger population that is being represented in the treatment data, more 18- to 24-year-olds."
Federal prosecutors in St. Louis brought heroin trafficking charges against 53 people in the year that ended Sept. 30. That was up from 45 the prior year, which itself represented an increase from 21 the year before that.
In Southern Illinois, federal prosecutors say their caseload of heroin trafficking prosecutions has been steady since 2000, with no more than 10 defendants a year.
Renton said increased heroin use is more than an illusion from stepped-up enforcement. "We're getting informant information and source reporting that there is an increase in heroin," he emphasized.
A new drug in town
The DEA says it became aware of the growing presence of white heroin through a program intended to track trends.
Under its Domestic Monitoring Program, the agency uses informers to make 10 purchases of heroin on the streets of each of an array of major cities four times a year. Lab testing determines the samples' purity and origin.
For years, black tar predominated here, with white heroin showing up about once a year, Renton said.
But in the first quarter of this year, five of the 10 purchases in the St. Louis area were white heroin, he reported, which is more typically found in New York, Chicago and other larger cities.
In the third quarter, the agency focused its purchases in the Metro East area and came up with the white variety six times out of 10. There were no samples taken in the second quarter for lack of funding, he said.
Israel cautioned that it is "premature" to conclude that white heroin is widely available, noting that what undercover informers are able to buy may not represent a true proportion of what's for sale on the streets.
However, she acknowledged that it is understood among drug users that some groups with Nigerian connections are selling white heroin in St. Louis. Renton confirmed that at least one such group is under investigation.
This article is fairly long, the remaining text can be found at this link.
1-4-04
By Peter Shinkle
Of the Post-Dispatch
So-called white heroin is displacing black tar heroin here as it has in some larger cities, according to surveys by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Officials say the switch to white heroin comes as heroin use here is growing and appears to be spreading to younger addicts.
White heroin is of particular concern because it does not need to be injected. That provides appeal to people who are squeamish about giving themselves shots of black tar, either because they don't like needles or they fear the spread of AIDS or hepatitis through shared hypodermics.
"Traffickers are able to market this heroin better by saying you can snort it or smoke it," said William Renton Jr., special agent in charge of the DEA office in St. Louis.
Until now, black tar heroin from Mexico has dominated the St. Louis market, authorities say. White heroin comes from Afghanistan and southwest Asia.
White heroin also is considerably more potent, raising the risk of overdoses. The white heroin found in the St. Louis area this year is as high as 28 percent pure morphine, nearly twice the purity commonly found in the black tar variety, Renton explained.
Heroin traditionally has been associated with older junkies in urban areas, but it now appears to be making inroads with young people of diverse backgrounds.
"A lot of times the stereotype is that a typical heroin user is an older person ... but that's not what you see," said Dr. Heidi Israel, an assistant professor at St. Louis University School of Medicine who studies heroin abuse.
Statistics from drug treatment now reflect users from all racial groups, and include more young people than in the past, she explained. "There is a younger population that is being represented in the treatment data, more 18- to 24-year-olds."
Federal prosecutors in St. Louis brought heroin trafficking charges against 53 people in the year that ended Sept. 30. That was up from 45 the prior year, which itself represented an increase from 21 the year before that.
In Southern Illinois, federal prosecutors say their caseload of heroin trafficking prosecutions has been steady since 2000, with no more than 10 defendants a year.
Renton said increased heroin use is more than an illusion from stepped-up enforcement. "We're getting informant information and source reporting that there is an increase in heroin," he emphasized.
A new drug in town
The DEA says it became aware of the growing presence of white heroin through a program intended to track trends.
Under its Domestic Monitoring Program, the agency uses informers to make 10 purchases of heroin on the streets of each of an array of major cities four times a year. Lab testing determines the samples' purity and origin.
For years, black tar predominated here, with white heroin showing up about once a year, Renton said.
But in the first quarter of this year, five of the 10 purchases in the St. Louis area were white heroin, he reported, which is more typically found in New York, Chicago and other larger cities.
In the third quarter, the agency focused its purchases in the Metro East area and came up with the white variety six times out of 10. There were no samples taken in the second quarter for lack of funding, he said.
Israel cautioned that it is "premature" to conclude that white heroin is widely available, noting that what undercover informers are able to buy may not represent a true proportion of what's for sale on the streets.
However, she acknowledged that it is understood among drug users that some groups with Nigerian connections are selling white heroin in St. Louis. Renton confirmed that at least one such group is under investigation.
This article is fairly long, the remaining text can be found at this link.
1-4-04
By Peter Shinkle
Of the Post-Dispatch
