Thread: MEXICAN HEROIN POPULAR WITH LOCAL TEENS

Pain pills, heroin popular with local teens
By JENNIFER KABBANY - For The Californian

Sunday, January 4, 2009 5:07 PM PST

Southwest County may be nicknamed the "Bible Belt" of Southern California, but it's got its share of skeletons in the closet.

Rocky Hill of the Hill Alcohol and Drug Treatment program said that over the last five years a steady stream of teens has come to his Temecula-based program addicted to heroin and pain pills.

Most of the teens are addicted to what's referred to on the streets as "black tar," a sticky, dark brown substance with heroin in it that comes from Mexico.

While most people think of heroin as something injected with needles, nowadays many teens smoke it on tinfoil or snort it.

As for pain pills, Vicodin, Oxycontin and Xanax are in demand locally, Hill said.

The idea of Southwest County teens ---- many of whom are surrounded by supportive parents and teachers, church groups, peers on sports teams and other positive role models ---- strung out on heroin or pain pills may seem surprising.

But Hill said it's a real and pressing problem, and parents need to be on the lookout, especially if they have noticed changes in their children.

Have they started hanging out with new and questionable friends? Have they become moody and withdrawn? Have you caught them in lies? Are you missing cash or valuables?

Most teens don't go from zero to heroin and pain pills, Hill points out. They start off drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana with friends on the weekends.

Then they try some pain pills, and teens who are prone to addiction quickly become enamored with the strong highs opiates provide.

Pain pills are not hard to find around town, Hill said, citing conversations he's had with teens who have come to his program. They're brought in from Mexico, or purchased over the Internet, or stolen from relatives prescribed drugs for chronic pain.

After a while, the pain pills may not cut it because addicts need more and more to feel the high, Hill said. The leap to heroin isn't a hard one, as all the other drugs they have done have desensitized them to the idea of using heroin.

Plus, heroin is surprisingly cheap and easy to obtain, Hill said.

"The image we have of the biker gang member, of the guy in the black trench coat, waiting outside of school ---- that's not it," Hill said, saying older dealers are selling to their younger siblings, who sell to their friends, and so on.

He said the first thing parents should do if they suspect their child is on drugs is get them tested. Parents should not deny their worst fears.

"Most parents don't have any idea, and yet they know in their gut something is wrong, but they don't want to believe it could be drug addiction," Hill said.

If suspicions are confirmed, get help ---- immediately. Opiate addictions are very dangerous, and there are many promising treatment options available now, Hill said.

Jennifer Kabbany covered education for The Californian from 2004-07 and is now a freelance writer. E-mail her at Jennifer.kabbany@gmail.com.

MEXICAN HEROIN POPULAR WITH LOCAL TEENS

Smuggling into U.S. unhindered by drug-trade war

Online: To read the U.S. Department of Justice's National Drug Threat Assessment 2009, go to
http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs31/31379/31379p.pdf

By Jose Luis Jimenez (Contact) Union-Tribune Staff Writer
11:36 a.m. January 4, 2009

Northern Baja California is a primary staging area for packaging illegal drugs and smuggling them into the United States.

But while Mexican cartels fight for control of the lucrative routes, drug agents say the amount of trafficking has not diminished.

“I haven't seen a huge difference in the smuggling attempts,â€