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New Jersey Drug Threat Assessment Update
April 2004

Heroin

The illicit distribution and abuse of heroin, primarily South American heroin, pose a serious drug threat to New Jersey, particularly to Newark. The health consequences associated with heroin abuse are significantly greater than for any other drug in the state. For example, the number of heroin-related treatment admissions in New Jersey has increased annually since at least 2000 and is significantly higher than for any other substance, including alcohol. According to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, there were 25,316 primary treatment admissions for heroin abuse in New Jersey in 2000, 27,808 in 2001, and 28,274 in 2002. As shown in Table 1 in Cocaine section, there were more ED mentions for heroin in the Newark metropolitan area than for any other illicit drug in 2001 and 2002; however, the number of heroin ED mentions remained relatively stable during those years at 3,718 and 3,731, respectively. In 2001 Newark had the highest rate of heroin ED mentions (215 per 100,000 population) of the 21 metropolitan areas reporting to DAWN. Additionally, in 2001 heroin was a factor in more deaths in the Newark metropolitan area than any other illicit drug. According to DAWN 2001 mortality data, there were 177 heroin/morphine-related deaths in Essex, Morris, and Union Counties, of which 118 were in Essex County alone. Furthermore, DEA reports that in Ocean County (southeastern New Jersey) 59 individuals died of drug-induced overdoses in 2002, a 79 percent increase over the 33 deaths reported in 2001. Approximately one-half of the overdoses in 2002 were attributed to heroin.


Ocean County Heroin Deaths Lead to Prosecutions

In March 2003, a 59-year-old Ocean County man died of an apparent heroin overdose. The friend who had provided the heroin was arraigned in State Superior Court and charged with heroin distribution and hindering a criminal prosecution. In the spring of 2003, an Ocean County grand jury indicted two individuals for causing the overdose death of a man in July 2002. Authorities say the man provided the heroin and the woman injected it into the man, resulting in an overdose.

Source: DEA Newark Division.

Heroin Extraction Laboratory

In January 2003 a heroin extraction laboratory was discovered in Roselle. The chemist was using methylene chloride to extract heroin from the plastic lining inside luggage sent from Colombia. The heroin was converted into a semiliquid, passed through a strainer, then put into an oven and cooked into a solid. Afterwards it was ground into powder. According to DEA chemists, the laboratory was capable of processing 10 kilograms of heroin.

Source: DEA Newark Division.

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Heroin from all major source areas (South America, Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, and Mexico) is available in New Jersey; however, South American heroin is by far the most readily available. According to DEA, all the heroin purchased at the retail level under the auspices of the Domestic Monitor Program (DMP) in Newark in the third quarter of FY2003 was South American. According to the NDTS 2003, 73.4 percent of New Jersey law enforcement agencies reported that heroin was readily available, while 31.6 percent of agencies identified heroin as their greatest drug threat. According to FDSS data, federal law enforcement officials in New Jersey seized 91 kilograms of heroin in 2000, 169 in 2001, and 188 in 2002. USSC data indicate that in FY2001 heroin-related federal sentences accounted for a significantly higher percentage of all drug-related federal sentences in New Jersey (31.5%) than nationwide (7.2%).

Heroin prices in New Jersey are relatively stable, but price differences between northern and southern New Jersey reflect two distinct heroin markets in the state. In northern New Jersey heroin sold for $45,000 to $115,000 per kilogram, $600 to $3,160 per ounce, and $58 to $140 per gram in the third quarter of FY2003, according to the DEA Newark Division. In southern New Jersey heroin sold for $80,000 to $120,000 per kilogram, $2,500 to $3,000 per ounce, and $60 to $240 per gram during the same period. Purity levels also differ between northern and southern New Jersey. According to the DEA Newark Division, heroin seized in northern New Jersey had an average purity of 78 percent in the third quarter of FY2003, while heroin seized in southern New Jersey had an average purity of 61 percent.

Colombian DTOs and criminal groups and Dominican criminal groups dominate the transportation of South American heroin into New Jersey, particularly Newark. These DTOs and criminal groups usually employ couriers to smuggle heroin aboard commercial aircraft; occasionally they ship significant quantities of heroin, sometimes intermingled with large shipments of cocaine or marijuana, on container vessels as well. Significant quantities of South American heroin are smuggled into the state from southwestern states and from states such as New York and Pennsylvania in commercial and private vehicles. Nigerian and other West African criminal groups smuggle Southeast Asian heroin, and Lebanese, Pakistani, Nigerian, and other criminal groups smuggle Southwest Asian heroin from source countries through Newark Liberty International Airport using couriers who conceal the drug internally, in their clothing, or in hidden compartments within their luggage. During the second quarter of FY2003, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) inspectors seized more than 20 kilograms of heroin in 12 seizures and made 10 arrests at Newark Liberty International Airport. A significant portion was sewn into the collars and waistbands of clothing or secreted in suitcases. In February 2003 ICE inspectors reported a seizure in which a courier aboard a commercial maritime vessel from West Africa attempted to smuggle 1,120 grams of Southeast Asian heroin--hidden under his clothing--into Camden.

Colombian DTOs and criminal groups and Dominican criminal groups are the dominant wholesale-level distributors of South American heroin in New Jersey. Nigerian and other West African criminal groups are the dominant wholesale-level distributors of Southeast Asian heroin. Lebanese, Pakistani, Nigerian, and other criminal groups distribute wholesale quantities of Southwest Asian heroin in the state.

African American and Dominican criminal groups and street gangs such as Bloods, Crips, Five Percenters, Latin Kings, and Ņeta are significant retail-level distributors of South American heroin in New Jersey. However, a variety of local independent dealers also sell retail quantities of heroin in the state. Nigerian and other West African criminal groups distribute retail quantities of Southeast Asian heroin, and Lebanese, Pakistani, and other criminal groups distribute retail quantities of Southwest Asian heroin in New Jersey. Chinese, Colombian, Puerto Rican and other Caribbean criminal groups, local independent dealers, and numerous other street gangs also sell retail quantities of heroin in the state, although to a lesser extent. Heroin is sold primarily at open-air drug markets or in low-income housing developments in metropolitan centers including Camden, Elizabeth, Jersey City, Newark, and Paterson. It usually is packaged in glassine envelopes and sold in bags, bundles, or bricks. Typically bundles contain 8 to 10 bags wrapped in a rubber band, although a bundle of heroin in the Camden area usually contains 13 bags. Some of the more popular logos stamped on the bags are Anthrax, Painkiller, 911, Last Chance, and Trip.

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