INDEX
» Struggle to fight heroin a reality in Lodi, county
» Heroin trail: From Mexico’s mountains to veins of Lodi addicts
» Lodians talk about their dangerous dance with the needle
» Methadone treatment more than heroin replacement
» Acupuncture helps heroin-hooked moms, babies
» Lodi police officer journeys into nether world of heroin
» The ancient origins, different forms of heroin
» From the beginning: The chronology of heroin use
Heroin trail: From Mexico’s mountains to veins of Lodi addicts
By Richard Hanner
News-Sentinel editor
Right now, a small farmer, or campesino, is growing a garden of poppies in the mountains of Mexico for a heroin user in Lodi.
It is likely that the garden is in the foothills of the Sierra Madre, where conditions are ideal for growing the poppies and the rugged terrain makes it difficult for federal agents to spot and seize the harvest.
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The journey of tar heroin from the interior of Mexico to the veins of men and women in Lodi and other California cities is long and complex. It begins with small farmers who grow opium poppies in order to feed their families, traffickers who are often related by blood, and small-time street peddlers who may sell the dirty-brown drug merely to help pay for their own addiction.
Those who grow and smuggle heroin, though, seldom use it themselves. For them, it is a business. Nearly all of are Mexican nationals. And it can be a lucrative business, with a pound of heroin produced in Mexico fetching up to $60,000 on the streets of California cities.
Here is the story of the new heroin trail from Mexico into California, as told by state and federal drug enforcement agents:
Before there is heroin, there is the opium poppy, a flower with gossamer petals growing around a thick bulb, the source of the precious opium gum that eventually becomes heroin.
There are two main poppy-growing centers in Mexico, one traditional, one new. The traditional hub is Durango and the newcomer is Apatzingan.
When the need for morphine exploded during World War II, military procurement leaders in the U.S. turned to Mexico, where new opium fields were created, said Frank Thompson, who teaches narcotics enforcement for the state Department of Justice in Sacramento. Thompson is a retired agent and supervisor who has worked dozens of heroin-related cases from San Diego to Sacramento.
Just as Lodi’s soil and climate is suited to the cultivation of wine grapes, areas around Durango and Apatzingan are ideal for growing opium poppies, and most growers can get three harvests per year. Mexico produces an estimated 2 percent of the world’s opium poppy crop.
Poppy gardens in the region are scattered and loosely organized, according to Drug Enforcement Agency sources. The campesinos know their plants may be discovered and taken by the government, so they take pains to grow the poppies in isolation, sometimes combined with other crops. The Mexican Army has an aggressive poppy eradication campaign and U.S. officials estimate the military actually seizes and destroys up to 75 percent of opium grown in the country each year.
When the poppy reaches maturity, the opium gum is manually collected. The bulb is sliced in the morning, the gum oozes out during the day, and the hardened gum is harvested in the evening. The gum is processed into heroin, often in portable labs that consist of little more than a charcoal fire and a few pots and pans.
“Somebody with very little expertise can make tar heroin in as little as 12 hours,” said Thompson. “That’s opposed to China White (a previously popular form of heroin) that would take 72 hours and somebody who knew something about chemistry.”
Next, the heroin is packaged and its journey north begins. Typically, the drug is secreted into a car or truck. Compared to shipments of cocaine, the packages are fairly modest, usually no more than 15 pounds. They may be hidden in luggage or slipped behind body panels of vehicles. Packages of heroin have even been found in oil pans, in hopes of thwarting drug-sniffing dogs.
The heroin is moved to California, most often across the border at Tijuana, and usually to one of three major heroin distribution hubs in California: Orange County, Fresno or the South Bay Area.
“The courier is a low-level guy who may have a phone number to call and not much else,” Ferris said. “He calls the number, makes the drop, and gets back to Mexico.” Payment may be given to the courier to bring back to Mexico or it will be wired back to Mexico.
Meanwhile, the heroin is held in a so-called stash house. The distributor will typically dilute, or cut, the heroin with brown sugar or coffee grounds. Knowing a shipment has been en route, the distributor will have lined up several large buyers. The deals are made, and the drug moves to the street.
Final sales to users are made by a mixture of pushers. Heroin users may buy a larger quantity than they personally need and sell the excess to support their habit. Street gang members have also been active in selling heroin, Thompson said.
Though the heroin, at least initially, is processed and moved by families, individual smugglers and sellers seldom know the entire scope of the organization. Communications are scant and fragmented, with a network of cell phones and beepers constantly being used.
Eventually, the heroin trail leads to a street corner or park in Lodi, where a buyer and seller make a quick and furtive transaction.
The user spends perhaps $20 for a fix that can be smoked, snorted or injected.
So the heroin that began as part of a flower in the sunlight of the Mexican highlands finally reaches its final destination: The brain of an addicted man or woman in Lodi.