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The big debate in Washington this summer is the surge of children from Central America crossing illegally into the United States. President Obama and Congress still seem far apart on a solution for this immigration crisis. But they may find it easier to agree on another surge across the US-Mexican border, one that is far more costly.
Since 2008, the quantity of heroin seized along the border has jumped nearly fourfold. That is because the number of heroin users in the US has almost doubled during the same period. Most new users are teens and young adults who started out on prescription opioids, such as Oxycodone. But as those controlled drugs have become more expensive and less accessible on the street under a government crackdown, users have switched to heroin.
Most of the heroin comes from Mexico. US officials estimate the country produces about 26 metric tons of pure heroin a year for a US market that is estimated at 15 to 40 metric tons.
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In March, US Attorney General Eric Holder called an increase in heroin-related deaths an urgent health crisis. The number of total drug overdose deaths, most of them from prescription opioids and heroin, is close to surpassing the number of people killed in homicides and traffic crashes.
In a report Wednesday from the White House on the federal strategy toward drugs, the Obama administration set a goal of reducing regular drug use among teens by 15 percent by next year. That is an ambitious but necessary target, one that will entail more effort on a range of antidrug areas, especially in supporting Mexico in its battle with drug gangs.
Read the full story: www.news.yahoo.com
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