Recently, The Herald quoted law enforcement officials as pointing out that they are seeing an increase of heroin use in Snohomish County. The officials attribute the increase to the recent surge in abuse of prescription drugs, especially Oxycontin. Oxycontin is a powerful synthetic opiate. Oxycontin abusers often turn to heroin which is easier and cheaper to obtain. Also, the manufacturer of Oxycontin is changing the formula to make it harder to grind up to smoke or snort.
Detectives have been recovering “gunpowder heroin” in recent drug busts. Gunpowder heroin is made up of Mexican black or brown tar heroin that is ground up with a common (and unspecified) kitchen ingredient. This form of heroin is easy to make and is smoked rather than injected. Snohomish County law enforcement agencies have not seen a smoked form of heroin in the county in decades. It returned about 10 months ago.
The article also points out the toll that heroin can make on young lives. If you have high school aged children, read this article:
The Herald article (August 26, 2010): http://bit.ly/bUgPnI
The Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force has more information about heroin:
http://www.srdtf.org/heroin
Here is a slide presentation about a similar form of heroin called “Cheese”:
http://www.srdtf.org/pageview.aspx?id=25624
More resources:
Office of National Drug Control Policy- Heroin:
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/heroin/index.html
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