Addicts turning from pills to heroin

It’s like squeezing a balloon — clamp down on one end, and the other end expands.

As law enforcement cracks down on prescription drug abuse, opiate addicts appear to be adopting heroin as their drug of choice.

Quoted in a May 16 story in the Miami Herald, drug expert Jim Hall of Nova Southeastern University addressed the issue at a recent conference on drug abuse.

“The major drug headline of 2012 was the emergence of heroin both in urban centers and small cities and towns,” Hall said. “Young adults, 18 to 30, white, prescription opioid addicts are making the transition to heroin.”

According to the National Drug Intelligence Center, the supply is coming out of Mexico to regional distribution hubs. Trafficking increased from 6.8 metric tons in 2002 to 50 metric tons in 2011.

“I’d say in the last four years, we have seen a steady increase of heroin,” said Sgt. Chad Rouse of the Kinston Department of Public Safety. “Started out where it used to be something that individually was — we wouldn’t find a whole lot of, and then in the last four years, it has steadily increased in the amount that officers are locating.”

While the Drug Enforcement Administration considers Atlanta a major distribution hub, authorities say the supply going into Eastern North Carolina is largely from New Jersey.

“We’ve noticed that a lot of our stuff appears to be coming from places like New Jersey and New York,” Rouse said. “Most of it’s coming from up north.”

Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office investigators have noticed the similar activity.

“For us, what I can tell you is we’ve been involved in, probably the past six months to eight months, we’ve been involved in two different heroin arrests,” LCSO Maj. Ryan Dawson said. “From the information we’re getting, its source area is coming from up north — the New Jersey area. And, it’s being trafficked down here.”

He added, “We’re starting to see the signs of heroin and we’re getting information that in some of the counties that surround us that it is becoming more prevalent.”

Like any other product, easy transportation to consumers is key, which is why New Jersey is a preferred off-loading spot.

“The state’s massive ports and highways are conduits for South American heroin,” Rebecca D. O’Brien writes in a May 5 article in The Record of Woodland Park, in New Jersey. “The drug flowing onto New Jersey streets is at least five times more pure than it was several decades ago, which makes ingestion easier — it can be snorted — and addiction more rapid.”

A study by the Reed Hruby Heroin Prevention Project and the Robert Crown Center for Health Education showed that the users tend to be young and affluent. In an April story by WBTV on heroin abuse growth in Charlotte, health officials came to a similar conclusion.

“We found that they were coming from the best neighborhoods in Charlotte, and that goes against the stereotypical addict, that they’re from the poor side of town," said Bob Martin of CMC-Mercy Hospital.

Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.