Heroin

Heroin abuse also poses a problem in Indiana. Drug-related treatment admissions indicate that heroin is increasingly abused in the state. According to TEDS, heroin-related treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities more than doubled, from 1,020 in 1998 to 2,137 in 1999, and then decreased to 1,151 in 2000. (See Table 1 in Cocaine section.) Additionally, ADAM data indicate that in 2000, over 3 percent of adult male arrestees in Indianapolis tested positive for heroin abuse.

Heroin is available primarily in the four most populated urban areas of the state--Gary, Evansville, Fort Wayne, and Indianapolis. Mexican black tar and brown powdered heroin are the most prevalent types. Southeast Asian and South American heroin reportedly also are available, but to a lesser extent. Heroin purity generally ranges from 30 percent to 70 percent. According to DEA, in the first quarter of FY2002, heroin in Indianapolis sold for $2,500 to $3,500 per ounce and $200 to $300 per gram. In northwestern Indiana (near Gary) it sold for $2,500 to $6,000 per ounce and $100 to $150 per gram.

Street gangs and local independent dealers typically travel to other cities including Chicago, Detroit and, in some cases, New York to purchase retail quantities of heroin to sell in Indiana. The heroin usually is packaged in 100-milligram quantities in small squares of aluminum foil. It is sold at open-air drug markets, public housing projects, private residences, and in gang-controlled communities.

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