American Notes Drugs

"This is pretty hot stuff," declared Thomas Locke, an FBI agent specializing in narcotics. "It's so hot, it's killing people." He was referring to the growing tendency of heroin addicts to use "black tar," a smelly, dark- colored, often sticky version of the drug that is cheap, at about 20 cents per mg, and extremely potent: often 60% or 70% pure heroin. Conventional heroin, on the other hand, sells on the street at about $2.32 per mg and is rarely more than 6% pure. The Federal Drug Enforcement Administration has prepared a report citing the Mexican states of Sonora, Durango, Sinaloa and Guerrero as the main source of the new drug form. So far, black tar (also known as tootsie roll and Mexican mud) is most prevalent in the Western U.S., where it has produced an alarming increase in lethal overdoses. In Phoenix, authorities say, black tar has led to a fivefold increase in overdoses since 1981.