Heroin near epidemic status in S. Lake Tahoe
SLEDNET agents confiscated this gun and at the same bust found a syringe in warm water to keep the heroin from solidifying.
By Kathryn Reed
Heroin is the No. 1 drug problem in South Lake Tahoe.
“It’s the biggest issue of law enforcement,” Russell Liles, a detective with South Lake El Dorado Narcotics Enforcement Team, said. “Once you do it, your biggest goal is to get more.”
It’s that initial rush that people want to keep reliving. The side effects and coming off the high are physically wrenching. It’s why people keep reaching for the next needle. Even if the user started by snorting, eventually they seem to go for an injection because reaching the state of euphoria is faster that way.
Liles on Nov. 3 spoke to the local drug coalition about the growing epidemic.
Black tar heroin is mostly what is found locally. Users are predominantly men between the ages of 18 and 25 who started the habit by first becoming addicted to prescription medication. They are doing five to 10 points a day at a cost of more $100/day.
Seldom do they have jobs because it’s near impossible to function at a coherent level being that high. Committing crime is how they pay for their heroin habit, Liles said.
But this issue isn’t new to the South Shore. Lake Tahoe News ran a two-part series about heroin in February 2012. It was the same story then – prescription opiate leads to addiction that leads to heroin. Heroin is an opiate coming from the poppy plant.
“Nearly 50 percent of young people who are injecting heroin reported abusing prescription opiates before using it,” Liles said.
Prescriptions run out, heroin is easier to get and it can be cheaper.
Liles said the people using might surprise people. Some come from good families. They had other plans for their lives. The addiction, though, became too strong.
In the last four years what Liles has noticed is more users are people one year out of high school.
The National Institutes of Health says, “Our data show that the demographic composition of heroin users entering treatment has shifted over the last 50 years such that heroin use has changed from an inner-city, minority-centered problem to one that has a more widespread geographical distribution, involving primarily white men and women in their late 20s living outside of large urban areas.”
And more people are dying from overdosing on heroin. In 2013, 8,260 people died, which is four times the number in 2000.
The local drug coalition has been focused on getting unused and expired prescription drugs out of homes. A drop off location is at the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.
The annual Drug Store Project is an all-day reality based drug education workshop for sixth-graders on the South Shore. Prescription drug use is the main component of the event.
Liles said the best thing people can do is educate young people to the dangers.
President Obama is proposing spending $133 million to increase access to drug treatment and prevention programs.
New drug laws aren’t helping the guys with the badges. Proposition 47 was passed last year by California voters. It made possession of heroin, cocaine, illegal prescriptions, concentrated cannabis, and methamphetamine all misdemeanors. Officers have the choice to arrest the person or cite him, like a traffic infraction.
If the District Attorney’s Office chooses to prosecute the case, the defendant is often out on bail or on his own recognizance until a deal is reached or the trial starts. If convicted, the person faces at most a year in county jail and even then people are often let out for good behavior.
South Lake Tahoe Police Chief Brian Uhler was an opponent to Proposition 47 before it was passed and continues to be. He has written about how it puts more criminals on the streets, which has increased some criminal activity in town.
California is not alone in rejiggering penalty guidelines. Penalties for nonviolent drug crimes were reduced by the U.S. Sentencing Commission in April 2014. Because that change could be applied retroactively, last month it was announced that the Justice Department would be releasing about 6,000 federal prison inmates who were serving time for being nonviolent drug dealers.
Liles said the reason SLEDNET doesn’t want the names used in heroin arrests is because it negatively impacts ongoing investigations.
Heroin users are a close-knit group. They don’t readily welcome others into the circle. That is why it is hard for narcotics officers to penetrate the inner sanctums, and therefore difficult to arrest the dealers.
Local heroin dealers tend to be white men between 25 and 35 years old who are able move an ounce of heroin every few days. They get their supply from Stockton, Modesto or Reno. Mexican drug cartels are turning to heroin from pot because the profit is greater. Plus, now it’s so easy to get marijuana in the U.S. without importing it and a lot of users prefer the weed that is grown indoors to outdoor cultivation.
Local heroin dealers are also unemployed. And they are often armed.
A heroin ounce is considered 25 grams, which is about 250 doses. This costs about $1,800. Dealers can turn that into about $3,750 on the street. Why they aren’t rolling in money is that they are also users. It’s not like the heyday of cocaine where dealers were flush with cash because they didn’t use the product they were peddling.
Every major bust I have seen in recent years have been Hispanic males being the suppliers and dealers and usually connected to the drug cartels. Maybe someone is being PC and they are considering them as “white.” This poison, although it wasn’t always the cheap black death tar from Mexico as it is now, has been killing people for a long time instead of the dealers being the ones who should face the death penalty. Open borders bring many things that aren’t good, this being one of them. This is one of many reasons open border liberals are being voted out across the country.
Justanass, get a life
all you do is point your crooked f:÷#€&g fingers at everyone else. All you have to say is the same thing you always say which is pretty much ugly and hateful b s. Im sure there are wonderbread white heroine addicts in town who sell and steal and do whatever they can to get their drug of choice. Its a horrible drug and the consequences of addiction are grave. At least these people can get help if its not too late, you, well there is no help for stoopid and mean…
This story doesn’t give us enough information to explain the headline “Heroin near epidemic status in S. Lake Tahoe” seems like a line that is suppose to scare us. Like oh no am I going to catch it. Please us number or estimates on how many heroin users there are in town, like a percentage of the population.
ILL-Natured Bat is the poster child of liberal empty-headed ignorance. Keeps Displaying a lack of anything to add to anything in every post of ignorance name calling and accusation. If you don’t know the drug trade and who is involved you would be smart to shut the pie-hole, but you have to keep it full of the pies and the lies. Ignorance and Liberalism go hand in hand.
Heroin….Not even once. The profile 30ish white male is accurate. I hope SLEDNET and the police clean up the town. Good luck! We are rooting for you!
Do addicts have a methadone program here in SLT?
Methadone works for some people. I know.
I personally attribute a petty crime surge to heroine use her locally.
I have seen the upsurge in the last 10 years, it is real.
Total pc article. Most heroin users in this town are not white.
It only took fifteen years to admit to the problem. Hope they can fix it in less time.
Yeah…we don’t need a methadone clinic in our town. What we could do and already are doing is cleaning up our town. Stop giving money to panhandlers, buy them a sandwich, banana, or an apple instead. You are only fueling their habit by giving them money. The cheap, scummy, dirty motels along Lake Tahoe Blvd are what draws people to our town. Along with the high paying disability checks. That is where heroin users and dealers are residing. The word is out in CA, that Eldorado County is the place to reside unfortunately…Our county is the highest paying for CA state disability recipients. Ask any officer or paramedic in town where they spend their time responding to OD’s and domestic dispute/violence calls.
Come on BIG WINTER!
Suboxan is the new methadone their is only 1 Dr. in town who prescribes the stuff.
it is not working the Junkies know the scam.
I believe the folks who have overcome there addiction
really wanted to, the rest like being loaded.
epidemic is the correct term for our Town and the Country.
So, it seems that wasting resources on pot growing houses allowed another, much more dangerous, problem to become much worse. The police should have been spending their time on heroin rather than pot. Now, we have an epidemic. When will they ever learn?
I think you’re totally off target Liberule. The only junkies I know in this town are white.
Lib….how do you know this?
Liberude how about some facts to back up your statement.
This past Sunday on 60 Minutes a police chief in ANYWHEREVILLE, HEARTLAND, U.S.A (Ohio, I believe) said, ‘it’s an epidemic everywhere and there is no face of heroin addiction’. It is any face. Housewife, doctor, student or homeless person… it doesn’t discriminate. This is not a local problem. Alcohol, pills, pot or heroin- we’ve become a population that is hooked on changing how we feel.
This is nothing but a cut and paste effort to fill the news paper content. I read the same article in TIME magazine.
Snoplease + 100
The flop house motels need to GO!!!!!!!!!!!
There are no numbers in this article to support the claim that this is an epidemic.
I think we should decriminalize heroin use and treat this as a health issue and provide treatment. We’re wasting resources and creating criminals by keeping it illegal. If we had a treatment center where addicts could go to get methadone, then they wouldn’t need to steal to maintain their habits and money wouldn’t be funneled into the drug cartels and we wouldn’t be creating criminals. Fighting the drug wars is a huge industry. It even involves our military and we’re fighting wars funded by drug money. What a waste of resources! Just make the stuff legal, provide drug treatment for those with problems, and quit funding all these drug cartels and armies that are our enemies.
Justn@ss. Here are some of the latest Heroin busts in SLT from this News Source in August.
Rick Martin
Josh Martin
Marty Beaman
Shawn McGrath
Gabrielle Cooley
Rachel Neill
Angela Zimmerman
Funny, where are the Hispanic names?
Facts about Heroin use since 2002:
Use by Women is up 100%
Use by Non-Hispanic Caucasians up 114%
And we are still waiting for the Ebola Zombies coming across the borders you said were coming last year.
I agree Rock, where are the non white names that some one stated are most of the Heroin users in this town?
I am talking about dealers and their sources, not the low level users which are the ones who are the addicts and the ones who usually OD, this cheap death poison pours in from south of the border and the distribution is from cartels using open borders, it is all coming in from Mexico. They are tied to the cartels who control most of the Meth and Tar Heroin. Ask anyone in DEA where it is coming from. Another reason to shut down the illegals and the open sections of the border.
yo Justice it’s your buddy W that started the problem when we took over the World Opium Trade with the Afgan war.
that’s when Hillbilly herion was prescribed to the whole country.
if you do your homework or open your eyes you will know what I am talking about.
Agreed Chief…Dumbya, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Bolton and Rummy…war criminals and drug kingpins each and every one. Learned it from Ollie North.
For people with a brain the source of the product is from S. America, NOT the Middle East which did supply some in the 1970’s well before any US Wars against Bin Laden. Ignorance is not an excuse but being brain dead and inventing fantasy seems to be. Try CBSnews.com/Mexican-tar-heroin for starters. The black death tar is going from COLUMBIA TO MEXICO TO THE US.
As of May 2015 Afghanistan supply’s 90% of the world’s supply of heroin. It has increased 40 times since NATO entered Afghanistan in 2001.
Now what were you saying Justice?
It may move through Columbia, but it comes from Afghanistan.
Heroin is a huge problem here. I’ve watched a few folks dump their lives right down the drain. Prop 47 has created a revolving door, so these guys just keep getting back out. So many bikes stolen….
Maybe we could lobby the CHP to do more check on the highway 50 corridor from Placerville on up? It’s got to be coming from there. I mean what decent business person wouldn’t take the misdemeanor fine for transporting H.
So we really are kinda screwed on fixing this, huh?! Way to go California…..
So funny. Just because none of you KNOW a Mexican doesn’t mean they don’t do heroin. How many of you have spent any time in the bijou ghetto? Didn’t think so.
Lemme guess… All the gang slime and drive by shootings are white people too right? Is your head warm buried in that sand?
Step 1: deport all illegal mexicants. Step 2: watch California’s crime rate DROP.
Liberude I know and have contact with Hispanics every day so your statement that “none of you know a Mexican” is wrong. I haven’t had a bad experience with a Hispanic person since living here for over 40 years. We are all human beings no matter what nationality we are and should be treated as one. I am sure that not all Hispanics are good law abiding people but not all whites and other nationalities in this town are either. I personally don’t have a problem being in the Bijou neighborhood. If you have a problem with the Bijou neighborhood and are afraid to go there stay away. Again I ask show what facts you base your statement on that “most Heroin users in this town are not white”. I’m sure there are Hispanics that use Heroin here and other nationalities also. You seem to blame the crime rate on Hispanics by your statement “Step 1: deport all illegal mexicants. Step 2: watch California’s crime rate drop.” Can you show some facts that back up that statement? I doubt that. Less people in the state no matter what nationality will cause the crime rate to drop. Why do you have such a hatred for Hispanic people anyway? By the way I am not Hispanic I am of French Canadian descent born in California.
My thoughts: I live in the bijou neighborhood you dumb dumb. Next. You got NOTHING girl.
Liberude I feel sorry for your neighbors. I am still waiting for you to back up your claims with statistics about the Heroin use in this town and the crime rate going down if we deport Hispanics. With out facts it seems you are just giving your opinion based on a dislike for a certain nationality. In my “opinion”, no facts to prove it, you seem prejudiced against the Hispanic population or is it that you just don’t like people in general?
Liberule would you infer that no other neighborhood in town, meaning those with less of a working class Latino population, has a population of heroine addicts? Couldn’t your viewpoint be seen as a bit myopic just like those you criticize as being? Drug addiction isn’t nearly as racially discriminating as you seem to be.
Liberude ,Is at again,Why people waste there time with him, I will never know.
Linda…I would’ve thought that Lib’s timeout for being so insulting would’ve taught him to be slightly more appropriate. I guess some people don’t ‘play well with others’.
It is not even disputable, but simple ignorance, as to where this poison tar and the majority of Meth are coming from and who it is coming from, it is from Hispanics in S. America using gangs in the US and criminal illegals to distribute it. It is pouring in across open borders, tunnels, and vehicles from across the border where the tar heroin is produced both in Columbia and Mexico where they grow the opium poppies and then cheaply transform it to deadly tar heroin which is the cheapest process and why the cartels produce it. For those unaware of this spend a little time educating yourselves and you might be demanding secure borders and deportation of illegals.
Justn@ss. Where have you been for the past 30 years, with Ben Carson in West Point doin’ junk? LOL!
Ok. In 1986, 42% of American Heroin came from Mexico, 22% came from Asia and 36% came from Afghanistan.
In 2012, 45% of American Heroin came from Mexico, 50% came from South America and 5% came from Afghanistan.
The top three markets for Heroin are: Europe-25%, Russia-20% and China-15%; North America is 6%.
Interesting, Afghan production has tripled since the American lead invasion in 2001.
This is about an epidemic of cheap poison tar heroin and Meth and who makes it and where it comes from. It is another open borders disaster and the lunatic liberals are part of the disaster for doing little for seven years and defunding the Border Security Act of 2006 and allowing all of these sanctuary states to defy the law not to mention letting criminal illegals out on the streets. There is a huge drug cartel criminal problem in this country that is out of control and endangers all. This is why liberals are so dishonest about the reality of their massive failures.
Justn@ss. Again, get help for your addiction or talk to your buddy Lawrence about borders and how to “import” your stuff.
Top Meth Lab producing States.
1. Indiana
2. Tennessee
3. Missouri
4. Ohio
5. Illinois
6. Michigan
7. North Carolina
8. Kentucky
9. Oklahoma
10. South Carolina
Well, seems like the Republicans have their Meth supply figured out.
The massive failure is in the collective “pants” of the Crankster loving Reich Wing in America.
Mission Accomplished.
My thoughts: im a Latino male. The difference is I’m LEGAL and law abiding.
The above states produce only a small fraction of the meth consumed in America. And is produce only by “smurfing” the OTC cold medication and processing in small (ounces) batches. The meth consumed in California and the West for that matter is from Mexico, it is mass produced and brought here by Mexican drug cartels.