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 News from Around the Americas | December 2006 
Surge in Overdoses Blamed on Powerful Afghan Heroin
 AFP
| | Stacks of seized heroin. A steep rise in drug overdose deaths in Los Angeles is being blamed on an influx of highly potent heroin from Afghanistan. (AFP/Saeed Khan) |
A steep rise in drug overdose deaths in Los Angeles is being blamed on an influx of highly potent heroin from Afghanistan.
The Los Angeles Times cited figures from experts saying that heroin-related fatalities in the city and surrounding areas soared by around 75 percent in three years from 137 in 2002 to 239 in 2005.
Drug users over 40 who lack the resilience to deal with an unexpectedly strong dose were the most vulnerable, according to the Los Angeles County Office of Health Assessment and Epidemiology.
Afghan heroin, which is notable for its purity, is rapidly overtaking lower-grade Mexian heroin, the Times reported.
"The rise of heroin from Afghanistan is our biggest rising threat in the fight against narcotics," Orange County sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino told the daily. "We are seeing more seizures and more overdoses."
A Drug Enforcement Administration report said Afghanistan's poppy fields were the fastest-growing source of heroin in the United States, accounting for 14 percent of the market in 2004 from 7 percent in 2001.
A separate DEA report cautioned that the 14 percent figure could be higher, the paper added. |
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