Heroin

Heroin poses a serious drug threat to Virginia. According to TEDS data, there were 1,635 heroin-related admissions to publicly funded treatment facilities in Virginia in 2002, an increase from 1,314 in 2001. Heroin also is a factor in a significant number of deaths in the state. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for Virginia reported that 250 of the 1,137 drug deaths in the state in 2002 involved heroin, a slight increase from 243 in 2001.

Heroin from all major source areas (South America, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, and Mexico) is available to varying degrees in Virginia. South American heroin is most prevalent, while Southwest Asian heroin is available to a lesser extent. Southeast Asian heroin, Mexican black tar heroin, and Mexican brown powdered heroin are available only occasionally in the state.

Heroin is readily available in urban areas such as Alexandria, Norfolk, Richmond, and Roanoke and is sporadically available in the rural areas of the state. Twenty-two of the 47 law enforcement respondents to the NDTS 2002 in Virginia reported that the availability of heroin was high or medium in their jurisdictions. According to FDSS data, federal law enforcement officials in Virginia seized 5.3 kilograms of heroin in 2002. The Virginia State Police made 663 heroin-related arrests in 2001, an increase from 635 in 2000. USSC data indicate that the percentage of drug-related federal sentences that were related to heroin in Virginia (8%) was comparable to the national percentage (7%) in FY2001.

Heroin prices vary widely depending on the location. A bag of heroin sold for $10 in Norfolk and $20 to $30 in Roanoke in the fourth quarter of FY2002. Data regarding kilogram prices for heroin were not available.

New York City-based Dominican and Colombian DTOs and criminal groups are the primary transporters of South American heroin into Virginia. These DTOs and criminal groups typically transport heroin from New York City into Virginia via private and rental vehicles. African American criminal groups and various local independent dealers also transport heroin into the state using similar conveyances, often traveling to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, and Los Angeles, among other cities, to purchase heroin for local distribution in Virginia. South American heroin sometimes is smuggled into the state from domestic and foreign locations via commercial aircraft.

West African and Middle Eastern criminal groups are the primary transporters of Southwest Asian heroin into Virginia. These groups usually transport heroin from domestic locations such as Baltimore into Virginia using couriers aboard buses, passenger railcars, and commercial aircraft or via package delivery services. West African criminal groups also transport Southeast Asian heroin into Virginia via couriers on commercial aircraft and package delivery services. Mexican brown powdered heroin and Mexican black tar heroin available in Virginia typically are transported into the state from southwestern states and North Carolina by Mexican criminal groups.

Dominican and African American criminal groups are the dominant wholesale and midlevel distributors of South American heroin in Virginia. West African and Middle Eastern criminal groups are the dominant wholesale-level distributors of Southwest Asian heroin. Wholesale distribution of Southeast Asian and Mexican brown powdered and black tar heroin is extremely limited in Virginia.

African American, Caucasian, and Hispanic criminal groups, as well as local independent dealers of various ethnic backgrounds, distribute retail quantities of South American, Southwest Asian, and Southeast Asian heroin in Virginia. Mexican criminal groups distribute retail quantities of brown powdered heroin and black tar heroin in the state. Retail quantities of heroin generally are packaged in vials in Norfolk, in stamped bags in Northern Virginia, and in envelopes made of waxed paper or aluminum foil in other areas of the state. Heroin primarily is sold at open-air drug markets or in low-income housing areas as well as from private residences, nightclubs, and bars.

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