NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE EPIDEMIOLOGIC ...

From 1992 to 2000, the DMP found average heroin
purities to be generally above 60 percent. Findings for
2003, however, show an average purity of 53.5 percent,
down from 61.4 percent in 2002. The associated price
is $0.48 per milligram pure, an increase from $0.36 per
milligram pure in 2002. According to the DEA, kilogram
prices for January to June 2004 were $60,000–
$70,000 for South American heroin and $60,000–
$90,000 for Southwest Asian heroin.
According to the SSU field staff, heroin in New York
City continues to be highly available and accessible.
However, street observers indicate that during the year,
there were brief periods of sporadic shortages of heroin.
Street sources reported some dealers from New York
City were traveling to Newark, New Jersey, for their
heroin. The DEA Drug Monitoring Program lists Newark
as having the highest purity levels in their recent
sampling.
In general, heroin sellers tend to be less overt and less
aggressive than their crack-selling counterparts. The
selling of heroin in half-grams or larger amounts continues
to be an indoor activity. Heroin for personal use,
(i.e., the $10 bag) is primarily relegated to the street
seller, who is better able to tolerate the greater pedestrian
traffic. Street heroin is sold by independent sellers or
small crews (2–4 individuals). The areas of the city in
which heroin is most readily available are primarily lowincome
Hispanic and Black communities. Many heroin
users maintain that in Manhattan, the South Bronx, and
Brooklyn, they are never more than five or six blocks
away from a heroin connection. Although the use (i.e.,
injecting or sniffing) of heroin is not a common public
spectacle, field observers have reported a slight increase
in the number of people seen nodding in public. This
symptom is typically the result of a drug abuser combining
heroin and pharmaceuticals, such as Xanax.
The source of most of the heroin sold and used in New
York City is South America. According to the DEA,
Colombians are the principal importers and smugglers.
Street sources indicate that the high and middle level
distribution of heroin in New York City is done by Dominican
drug gangs. The majority of the low-level
distributors and street sellers in some sections of New
York continue to be Hispanics and in other sections,
Blacks.
Several street sources indicate that Dominicans are
starting to pull out of the low-level heroin dealing and
street sales. In many instances, they are being replaced
by Blacks or Mexicans. Recently, Mexican immigrants
have been attempting to get a foothold in the street distribution
of heroin. This phenomenon began in Queens
and has spread to other parts of the city, as the Mexican
population has grown and spread across the city. Ac-
EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRENDS IN DRUG ABUSE—New York City
cording to some informants, the Mexican heroin street
sellers are working directly or indirectly for Dominican
mid-level distributors, and, as time goes on, Mexican
sellers may seek to establish their own direct importation
connection.
According to various street contacts, the most common
form of heroin in the city appears to be associated with
Colombian drug gangs. In general, quality throughout
the city is reported to be good to very good for snorting.
One exception is midtown Manhattan, where poor
quality heroin, brownish in color and often sold under
the brand name “the Cure” (the packet is stamped with
a decal of a hypodermic), has appeared.
Individuals from out-of-town continue to come into the
city to take advantage of the better quality heroin. Once
in their hometown, they often sell part of their drug
supply at a higher price in order to defer the cost of
their own habit. Recently, the DEA reported that Newark,
New Jersey, has the highest heroin purity in the
metropolitan area and that some New Yorker heroin
users are traveling to Newark to purchase heroin.
Heroin demonstrates far less price variation than other
drugs sold on the streets of New York, and over the last
6 months, heroin prices have been described as stable.
The street seller usually sells one-sized packets. The
predominant price for street-bought heroin is $10 per
packet, and each packet contains approximately 0.10
milligrams of powder. Recently, the $5 (0.5-milligram)
bag appeared to be undergoing a limited resurgence.
Last year, $5 bags were only found in North Manhattan,
but now $5 bags are also being reported in other
parts of the city as well. This appears to be an attempt
to make the price of heroin more affordable, and it may
be a consequence of increased competition among
street sellers. There are some local sellers who are selling
their product at slightly higher prices. For example,
a street seller operating in Downtown Brooklyn sold his
product for $13, claiming that his higher price reflected
the better quality of his product. Out-of-town users/sellers
usually resell part of their supply of $10
packets for $15 in their home-town.
The glassine bag is by far the most popular heroin
packaging method. Observers report a continued decline
in the use of the thumbnail-size bags and aluminum
foil as packaging methods for heroin.
At one point, the use of brand names was losing favor.
Although most sellers do not use brand names, the use
of brand names has recently experienced a resurgence.
This new trend is probably a consequence of competition
and a need to differentiate one’s product from a
host of others selling essentially the same product. The
following brand names are popular—Cross Over,
Proceedings of the Community Epidemiology Work Group, Vol. II, January 2005 169