Heroin Use In Suburbs On The Rise

Heroin Use In Suburbs On The Rise

abcnews.go.com

The explosion of heroin in suburban America isn't by accident. Rather, it is the plan of drug lords from Mexico and Columbia, who strategically market the drug to middle America with new, sophisticated techniques.

Packets of heroin are now stamped with popular brand names like Chevrolet or Prada, or marketed using blockbuster movies aimed at young people, like the Twilight series.

"Those drug traffickers were marketing that Heroin directly towards teenagers," says John Gilbride of the DEA in New York.

Dealers even give it away for free in the suburbs at first. Once the kids are hoo

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.liveleak.com
www.presstv.ir

Ok, now I have to wonder about this. Didn't we hear about Karzai's brother and Karzai himself being involved with actually protecting the poppy fields in Afghanistan? Haven't we heard about U.S. troops actually protecting those fields?

They argued that it was the sole source of income for the country and to take it away would be to devastate the farmers. I know I've heard it. I've also heard that the CIA has a big hand in the drug trade there.

Now the poison is being peddled to children. It is being packaged with pictures of recent films and shows. It is even being given away for free, the first time. I watched this special on the news and the users were saying that the reason everyone is using it is because it is now so cheap.

Now couple this with the current economic disasters and what do we have? The elites beating us down even further? Or is it the inability of our DEA and the ruthlessness of the Mexican drug cartels? Are we again being fed a line of crap?

I believe Russia was the first ones to complain about this.

abcnews.go.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

U.S. Turns a Blind Eye to Opium in Afghan Town

From Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal on down, the military’s position is clear: “U.S. forces no longer eradicate,” as one NATO official put it. Opium is the main livelihood of 60 to 70 percent of the farmers in Marja, which was seized from Taliban rebels in a major offensive last month. American Marines occupying the area are under orders to leave the farmers’ fields alone. “Marja is a special case right now,” said Cmdr. Jeffrey Eggers, a member of the general’s Strategic Advisory Group, his top advisory body. “We don’t trample the livelihood of those we’re trying to win over.”

www.nytimes.com...

Well here is proof positive of what's going on. Proof of how this stuff is making it to the suburbs. Proof of why it is so cheap. I can get more sources and information if anyone has a problem with what I'm implying.

[edit on 29-3-2010 by jackflap]

Updated - American troops patrolling poppy fields in Afghanistan

Update : Are America's Mercenary Armies Really Drug Cartels? Gordon Duff Salem-News.com Did Bush/Cheney rebuild Reagan's "Iran Contra" drug gang? (CINCINNATI, Ohio) - News out of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India reports massive corruption at the highest levels of government, corruption that could only be financed with drug money. In Afghanistan, the president's brother is known to be one of the biggest drug runners in the world. In Pakistan, President Zardani is found with 60 million in a Swiss Bank and his Interior Minister is suspected of ties to American groups involved in paramilitary operations, totally illegal that could involve nothing but drugs, there is no other possibility. more: (Dec 2009)

www.flickr.com...

I'll throw one more out there as I believe this is absolutely outrageous. What in the world is going on?

A person doesn't turn to heroin because of a brand label, or a reference to a recent movie. Believe it or not, some of these kids can think for themselves, rather than reacting blindly to marketing.

The ones that fail to resist turning to these hard drugs aren't doing it because of some bizarre, nonexistent devotion to things that say "Chevrolet" or "Twilight" on them.

They're doing it because their lives suck.

Suburban culture offers two alternatives to today's kids-- the saccharine, church-family-and-school-centered lifestyle pushed by the establishment, and the dark side. There's no middle ground for kids that don't flourish under authority, for creative, advanced, free-thinking kids.

Anti-drug education tells these kids that every drug, from pot to heroin, leads to the destruction of one's life. They smoke weed, and they see their friends smoking weed, and-- viola-- they don't die or magically start flunking all their exams. So what's to stop them extrapolating from this experiential evidence that adults are liars, and maybe those other drugs aren't so bad either?

Our culture expects kids to be perfect. They're not. And they've stopped understanding that there's a grey area between perfection, as defined by their parents, and the depths of addiction and life-threatening rebellion. We need to provide outlets for teenagers that can think. We need to respect them. We need to grant them a greater degree of freedom to make their own decisions, because when we tell them over and over that all vices are equally dire, they do not learn that some truly are more dangerous than others.

You want to help your kids? Stop telling them about the dangers in their world, and listen to them. Work within your community to provide for their real needs, not the ones you think they have, not the ones you want them to have-- the ones they tell you about.

Until we start taking them seriously and educating them realistically, teenagers will continue to do things like the ones described in the OP's article, and America will remain just as bewildered and clueless about the behavior of its young people as it is today, and has always been.

The source of heroin here in the Americas comes from South America and Mexico; not from Afghanistan.

Mexico arrests 'King of Heroin,' with ties to US

The White House National Drug Threat Assessment says that while heroin use is stable or decreasing in the U.S., the source of the drug has shifted in recent years from Colombia — where production and purity are declining — to Mexico, where powerful drug cartels are gaining a foothold in the lucrative market.

Heroin production in Mexico rose from 17 pure metric tons in 2007 to 38 tons in 2008, with the increase translating to lower heroin prices and more heroin-related overdoses and more overdose deaths, according to U.S. government estimates in a report by the National Drug Intelligence Center.

I live in a suburb north of dallas and it has often been called the heroin user capital amongst teenagers.

I've known probably ten people that have died off of "cheese" which is heroin mixed with tylenol p.m. or something of that nature. Those are just people I've actually known there are news stories all around collin county when this happen just too many to follow.

you can google "heroin" and "teenager" in the same search in the cities of Frisco, Plano, or McKinney Texas.

Almost everyone I've know who has died off of cheese has been mentioned by the news but I don't want to mentioned them out of respect.

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II

according to U.S. government estimates in a report by the National Drug Intelligence Center

Do you really think they are going to say it is because we are protecting the drug trade in Afghanistan? Of course they are going to boast how well they are doing in the drug war and just look at who we arrested. Come on man.

reply to post by jackflap


OK. Seeing as you feel so confident about this, then please post a legitimate source that says heroin in the Americas originates in Afghanistan.

reply to post by The Parallelogram

The ones that fail to resist turning to these hard drugs aren't doing it because of some bizarre, nonexistent devotion to things that say "Chevrolet" or "Twilight" on them. They're doing it because their lives suck.

I seriously appreciate your post my friend and I do agree with you to an extent. The special that I saw actually included interviews with survivors and current users. They all said the same thing about its availability and price. True, not one of them mentioned the packaging.

The thing is, I believe that our reluctance to just stomp the drug trade out of Afghanistan is the reason for this. I know there are elements in the Afghanistan government who have a vested interest in it. As our own here might as well. It's another beat down for the U.S. Russia had warned about this happening.

The stuff is retarded. As a previous poster already wrote, it's basically due to the fact that kids aren't being properly taught, listened to, or given an outlet for their creativity. Most of the highly intelligent and/or creative people I've come into contact with were professional drug users of some sort. Its a shame that they waste so much of their potential there. I've personally witnessed people go from being good, real people, to being utterly mindless and without a moral compass, whatsoever. Some of these people come out of their daze thinking they're just fine and dandy, but don't realize that they cheat, lie, and emotionally rape people constantly. This is the reason I went from having so many "friends" to being basically a loner. People who fit in the box are boring, and the rest are morally insane geniuses of some sort. I just can't stand the moral insanity is all.


reply to post by elfulanozutan0


Currently in Frisco, and was living in Plano for over a decade. I knew a few who passed from heroine as well. We probably had some of the same circles of friends.

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II

OK. Seeing as you feel so confident about this, then please post a legitimate source that says heroin in the Americas originates in Afghanistan.

Afghan heroin is flooding the United States

WASHINGTON: According to a government report, Afghan heroin's share of the market in this country doubled from 7 percent in 2001 to 14 percent in 2004, the latest year studied. Meanwhile, heroin-related deaths are also on the rise, along with more seizures and more overdoses. The amount of high-quality heroin throughout America is surging because of an increasing supply from Afghanistan -- and with it the fear that record-breaking poppy harvests after the U.S. invasion are fueling more addictions and overdose deaths back home.

www.paktribune.com...

Obama changes tactics in ‘disastrous’ war against Afghanistan's heroin producers March 23, 2009

According to US government figures, last month Afghanistan supplied 90 per cent of the heroin in the world. “By forced eradication we are often pushing farmers into the Taleban hands,” Mr Holbrooke said. “We are going to try to reprogramme that money. About $160 million is for alternate livelihoods and we would like to increase that.” Senior British officials will welcome a shift in US policy in Afghanistan, saying that they have argued for an approach that puts more emphasis on providing alternative sources of income for farmers. “Our response is that this is about bloody time,” a British diplomat said.

www.timesonline.co.uk...

Heroin Addicts Pressure President To Stay Course In Afghanistan November 19, 2009

LOS ANGELES—As the White House considers sweeping strategic shifts in the war in Afghanistan, heroin addicts across the nation called on President Obama Monday to stick with the current U.S. policy, which has flooded the world market with low-price narcotics. "There's no need to change nothing, Joe Biden," said addict Reginald "Bones" Dillow, who, when conscious, is an outspoken proponent of the U.S. military strategy that has resulted in a nearly 40-fold increase in Afghan opium production since the end of Taliban rule in 2001. "Everything is so cheap—it's all totally fine like it is, right? Over there, I mean. Why would you want to…do the…[garbled]." Obama is reportedly looking into economic incentives that would both persuade poor Afghans to cease opium cultivation and benefit chemically dependent Americans, the most promising of which involves constructing facilities in the war-torn country for the manufacture of methadone.

www.theonion.com...

Russia blasts US over Afghan drug scheme

Russia accuses the United States of conspiring with Afghanistan's drug producers by refusing to eradicate opium plantations in the country. US marines, stationed in the opium-growing Helmand province since February, told the villagers that they do not intend to cut the production, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Sunday. "We believe such statements are contrary to the decisions taken on Afghan narco-problems within the UN and other international forums," the ministry added in a statement released by the Russian Embassy in Kabul. If NATO troops would not carry out eradication themselves, they should provide force protection for Afghans to do it, it said. Not eradicating poppy plantations "ignores the fact that thousands of people die from heroin ... including in Afghanistan," the statement added. This is the second time in a week that Moscow slams the West over its drug policy. Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's opium. Moscow says narcotics from neighboring Afghanistan kill 30,000 Russians every year.

www.presstv.ir...

I could keep going but what's the point? I'm saying that Russia has been yelling about this for a while. They believed it was a plot to destroy their youth. So now with Afghanistan supplying ninety percent of the worlds heroin, we are seeing it too.

reply to post by jackflap

According to a Drug Enforcement Administration report obtained by the Los Angeles Times, Afghanistan's poppy fields have become the fastest-growing source of heroin in the United States.

So you believe the same sources here you don't believe in my source?

Originally posted by jackflap
reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II

 

according to U.S. government estimates in a report by the National Drug Intelligence Center

Do you really think they are going to say it is because we are protecting the drug trade in Afghanistan? Of course they are going to boast how well they are doing in the drug war and just look at who we arrested. Come on man.

And you actually quoted 'The Onion'?

Come on man.

[edit on 3/30/10 by Ferris.Bueller.II]

reply to post by Ferris.Bueller.II

So you believe the same sources here you don't believe in my source?

Man, I knew someone would comment about the onion! Look, what I am saying is that it is highly suspect that we have heard all about the Karzai/U.S. leadership turning a blind eye to the drug trade and now we have a crisis in the suburbs of the U.S.

I do believe your source, don't get me wrong. What I am at odds with is what we are being told is the source. They are saying Mexico and things along these lines. I believe the source is Afghanistan.

I would like nothing better than to know the actual truth of the matter. Could it be Russia helping to get it into the U.S. as they feel they are being targeted? I don't know. My belief is that our problem stems from our complacency and or unwillingness to eradicate the drugs in Afghanistan.

Mexico has been right on our border forever, and suddenly we see them drug lords getting cheap heroin into the U.S. The official story stinks in my opinion. I respect your opinion though and I will look into it more. I prefer your opinion to be honest but I cannot accept it.

I live in Texas. The mecca of drug imports from Mexico.

Trust me, from growing up in inner Dallas I've learned quite a few about the drug trade across the border.

I can't provide sources since the Cartels don't post stuff on the internet about where their supply comes from but...

an easier way for Afghanistan to import Heroin here is through Mexico and the Cartels because they're already doing so with low quality marijuana and coc aine. Plus they can make some alot of extra money doing so.

edit to add: the vast majority of drugs grown and produced in the world comes to the black market of the U.S. Our capitalistic society has a nack for this type of stuff man.

[edit on 30-3-2010 by elfulanozutan0]

reply to post by elfulanozutan0

an easier way for Afghanistan to import Heroin here is through Mexico and the Cartels because they're already doing so with low quality marijuana and coc aine. Plus they can make some alot of extra money doing so.

Now that makes a lot of sense to me. Since Afghanistan is producing ninety percent of the stuff, why not get it to the Mexican drug cartels who can get it here easily?

Okay heroin comes from afganistan and mexico. On the east coast the heroin comes in from over seas hitting most of the coastal cities and it makes its way north and west.That is the stuff you see in movies large ammounts of white powder.
It also is grown in mexico (small ammounts) and some of the stuff from the middle east does make it into mexico. The stuff in mexico is refined and cut differently, this is the stuff parents find and throw out because they think it is something that went rotten. It is black and just by looking at it if you had no idea you would think it was tar or black caulk or something like that. It also comes in a strange brown rocky powder, kind of looks like some moisture got in some chocolate coco. Hence the names mexican tar and mexican dirt.
The stuff from both areas is transported to each other spots where dealers can charge well over regular street values because of novelty value. So you would see 20 dollars worth of mexican tar being sold in virgina for 100 dollars.
So both sides are right Heroin comes in from the middle east and mexico.
The idea of it being "on the rise" is laughable the media just tries to run with drug scare stories whenever they can. Drugs have always been in the suburbs. I mean anyone my age (and probably older) remember all the stories about "drug dealers" running around putting '___' on those temporary tattoos that the ice cream man would sell.
Teens that use drugs use drugs... In all my days of being a lower class brat and latter working in the drug rehab field, I never once heard of anyone trying a drug because the packaging was appealing or the dealer did the best cookie monster impression. People use drugs out of a need self medicating, emotional need or boredom. Not because of packaging.

I've been waiting to hear sad news like this.

Drug use trends seem to follow the economy very predictably. In boom times (late 60s, late 80s, late 90s, 2000s...) uppers like coc aine, speed, and psychedelics become popular. In economic down times (early 70s, early 90s, now...), downers like sedative pills and heroin become epidemic. Looks like that train is arriving again just like clockwork...