Metro sees dramatic rise in heroin seizures

By Abigail Goldman

Monday, Aug. 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Metro Police have seized 75 percent more heroin this year than they did in the same period of last year.

In fact, eight months into 2009, and the department is less than 150 grams shy of seizing more heroin than it did throughout 2008, echoing reports from law enforcement agencies across the country about the resurgence of the drug.

Locally, authorities and drug treatment providers suspect heroin is being sold to a younger clientele, teens and young adults who abuse prescription pain pills and are switching to heroin for a cheaper opioid high. Where an oxycodone pain pill might sell for $40 and yield only enough drug for a few highs, a gram of heroin costs as much, if not less, and can be used for two or three times as long, Metro Lt. Rick Vonfeldt said.

As of Thursday, his detectives had seized 3,397 grams of heroin, mainly from dealers and people transporting the drug into Nevada, compared with 1,936 grams the same time last year. The percentage gain was not thrown off by one or two big seizures, Vonfeldt said. It’s just more people being caught moving or selling heroin.

While the seizure rate is up, the arrest rate is up as well — detectives have made 32 percent more arrests for heroin this year than the same time last year.

“This is definitely way out of the ballpark,” Vonfeldt said.

The growth between this year and last is particularly alarming to police, who saw an 8 percent decrease in annual heroin seizures in 2008.

Most of Nevada’s heroin comes from Mexico through California, said Mike Flanagan, who runs the local Drug Enforcement Administration office. Traffickers have been caught operating cells across Nevada, transporting powdery brown heroin and sticky black heroin. The purity ranges from 50 percent to 70 percent, he said.

Although DEA agents occasionally encounter large amounts of the drug, more often than not, it’s Metro narcotics detectives who stop people carrying small quantities, prepackaged for easy sale in multicolored balloons.

Most people balk at the idea of injecting drugs, but heroin can also be smoked, perhaps making it appear less extreme to new users, particularly those already addicted to prescription pills, said Flanagan, who wouldn’t elaborate on any of the local DEA’s ongoing investigations into heroin traffickers.

Still, the stigma attached to heroin is not lost on those who sell it — in one case Vonfeldt recalls, local high school students were told they were purchasing opium, which was supposed to sound friendlier than what it really was: black tar heroin.

California drug enforcement officials told the Christian Science Monitor the Mexican government’s crackdown on the drug trade may have created a backlog of heroin that traffickers are pressuring stateside distributors to buy with other drugs, flooding the U.S. market and driving down prices.

At WestCare, a private facility that contracts with local governments to provide drug treatment, there has been only a minimal growth in the number of patients who present themselves for help with heroin abuse. Workers at WestCare’s detox facility are starting to notice an increase in people ages 18-23 who come to the facility for treatment, employee Heather Shoop said.

Since 2004 the Clark County Coroner’s office has determined that heroin has played a direct role in 173 deaths — people who die because of multi-drug overdoses that include heroin, or because of medical conditions associated with long-term use. But while police are finding more of the drug on the streets, the trend has yet to equal more bodies at the morgue.