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motaman
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Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more'
#5691571 - 05/30/06 05:31 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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http://www.oakridger.com/stories/053006/new_20060530015.shtml
Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more'
Black tar, as in black tar opium, a form of heroin, has become increasingly available in the western United States. And, recently, a small amount was found in a routine traffic stop in Oak Ridge.
On May 16, Oak Ridge Police Officer David Harris sent what he described in a report as a "blackish-green tar-like substance he believed to be black tar heroin" to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's crime lab for analysis.
Lt. Detective Mike Uher, supervisor of the Police Department's narcotics division, said the substance was probably opium. He said it is called black tar heroin but it is an opium base. Heroin is made from morphine, a constituent of opium.
"We don't see a whole lot of opium in this area," Uher said. "It smells like a pungent perfume when burned."
Uher said most addicts smoke black tar heroin.
"It's (heroin) supposed to be on the rise across the country," he said. "It always comes from west to east.
"We get a little of it coming in and we hear about it."
Uher said black tar (heroin) is being seen in Knox County, so "we'll be seeing more."
"Crack and Oak Ridge are synonymous, (although) I hate to say that," he said. "What's also strong here is prescription drugs."
OxyContin and heroin are both opiate-based, he said. "That's why OxyContin is called 'hillbilly heroin.' Both are highly addictive."
Uher said heroin in its purest form would kill most users.
According to information from the Department of Justice, heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian poppy plant. Black tar heroin results from the crude processing methods used to illicitly manufacture the substance in Mexico. Black tar heroin may be sticky, like roofing tar, or hard, like coal, and its color may vary from dark brown to black. It is often sold on the street in its tar-like state at purities ranging from 20 to 80 percent.
Street names for heroin include smack, H, skag and junk. Other names may refer to types of heroin produced in a specific geographical area, such as Mexican black tar.
Uher said heroin comes to this area the same way that most illegal drugs get here - by smuggling through the coastal states, Mexico, Texas, Florida and California. Heroin is smuggled into the states by land, sea and air.
"It's only natural that other drugs follow the same pipeline as cocaine," he said. "We're already seeing methamphetamine coming from Texas, the same trade route (as cocaine)."
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center's December issue of "Illicit Drug Prices," heroin is selling for $150 a gram in Memphis and Nashville, and 178 kilos were smuggled into the Memphis airport resulting in 68 seizures.
Nashville was one of the cities in the distribution network in 2000 when the Drug Enforcement Administration broke up a heroin-trafficking network responsible for distributing Mexican black tar heroin to 22 U.S. cities.
Uher is also the board member of the Regional Organized Crime Information Center, a national law enforcement organization that allows member agencies to communicate with other members across the nation, and have access to crime-specific databases which is part of RISSNet, a National Criminal Intelligence database.
"It hits the bigger cities first," Uher said. It is then able to make its way into smaller towns like Oak Ridge, but not in large quantities. Most heroin in this area is for "personal use."
"The old junkie was the intravenous user, but the new heroin addict is generally a young male smoking the tar," he said.
He said the OxyContin and morphine user, the prescription drug addict, is more likely to later use heroin because of the opium connection.
"They'll use what's available," Uher said. "They usually don't cross the line to crack. An opiate user uses opiates and a crack user uses crack."
Uher also said that both the opiate addict and the crack addict use alcohol and smoke marijuana.
"It's not surprising that it's here," Uher said. "I've seen it off and on for years. It's like blotter acid (LSD). We see it for a while, then it fades off and disappears for a while.
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CUBErt
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: motaman]
#5691775 - 05/30/06 06:07 PM (17 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center's December issue of "Illicit Drug Prices," heroin is selling for $150 a gram in Memphis and Nashville
Wow what a ripoff. Glad I don't live there
-------------------- -CUBErt
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usg543
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: CUBErt]
#6623512 - 03/01/07 08:08 AM (17 years, 22 days ago) |
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Quote:
CUBErt said:
Quote:
According to the National Drug Intelligence Center's December issue of "Illicit Drug Prices," heroin is selling for $150 a gram in Memphis and Nashville
Wow what a ripoff. Glad I don't live there
Haha, I live in/near this area. I don't do herion, but black-tar opium goes for $20 a gram (standard prices, i can get it cheaper). However, it's pretty hard to find. It comes and goes.
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dedjam
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: usg543]
#6623660 - 03/01/07 08:45 AM (17 years, 22 days ago) |
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Ive yet to see heroin as a real problem in the nashville area, and when I ever do see it around (very very very rarely, but maybe I know the wrong people) its no where near those prices.
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DadeMurphy
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: motaman]
#6624048 - 03/01/07 11:04 AM (17 years, 22 days ago) |
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WTF is this "black tar opium" talk. And that lieutenant saying the sample was probably opium... "Black tar heroin" is a much more correct term. It's opium that has been reacted with acetic anhydride, that has a high concentration of diamorphine (also some 6-MAM, 3-MAM, and unreacted opium constituents) and as such can no longer be appropriately called opium.
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demiu5
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: motaman]
#6624153 - 03/01/07 11:36 AM (17 years, 22 days ago) |
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it's been around in the metro areas for a good while. I had a friend who used to do it more than 10 years ago and also used to knew some crazy college guys that had a good source of powder and tar
they're just trying to inflate the issue like normal
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dedjam
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: demiu5]
#6624327 - 03/01/07 12:27 PM (17 years, 22 days ago) |
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Quote:
demius said: it's been around in the metro areas for a good while. I had a friend who used to do it more than 10 years ago and also used to knew some crazy college guys that had a good source of powder and tar
they're just trying to inflate the issue like normal
if i could find powder in the area id be all over it. I'm sure i just dont know the right people...and maybe its best that way.
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usg543
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: DadeMurphy]
#6624424 - 03/01/07 01:11 PM (17 years, 22 days ago) |
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Quote:
DadeMurphy said: WTF is this "black tar opium" talk. And that lieutenant saying the sample was probably opium... "Black tar heroin" is a much more correct term. It's opium that has been reacted with acetic anhydride, that has a high concentration of diamorphine (also some 6-MAM, 3-MAM, and unreacted opium constituents) and as such can no longer be appropriately called opium.
I agree when you react opium with acetic anhydride (the main chemical in converting opium to heroin), it is heroin, but that is not how they make black tar opium. I don't why you think black tar opium has been reacted with acetic anhydride. Explain yourself?
Either way, if you say black tar opium is heroin, I guess you disagree with erowid:
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Maverick
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: usg543]
#6624450 - 03/01/07 01:19 PM (17 years, 22 days ago) |
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Nah I think he was saying black tar opium is just opium. They writers of the article and the police are confusing everything. There is no such thing as black tar opium, just black tar heroin. Opium in its raw form is always a black tar-like substance.
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usg543
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: Maverick]
#6624494 - 03/01/07 01:38 PM (17 years, 22 days ago) |
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Quote:
DRTMaverick said: Nah I think he was saying black tar opium is just opium. They writers of the article and the police are confusing everything. There is no such thing as black tar opium, just black tar heroin. Opium in its raw form is always a black tar-like substance.
I agree with you that the name is repetitive, however it doesn't change the fact that people still call opium, "black tar opium". Just because it's called that, does not make it heroin. And all I was arguing was that black tar opium does exist.
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Koala Koolio
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: usg543]
#6624538 - 03/01/07 01:54 PM (17 years, 22 days ago) |
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Could it just mean opium that has been cooked? My understanding is that it's a lighter, slightly more fluid substance (and less ideal for smoking) when it is straight from the pod. I'm no opium expert though.
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DadeMurphy
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: usg543]
#6625851 - 03/01/07 08:01 PM (17 years, 22 days ago) |
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Sure opium exists, no one ever said it doesn't exist, and no one ever said that opium was heroin. You can call it "black tar opium"if you want, but ya its redundant. I see no reason to propagate the usage of this term.
Black tar heroin also exists, and is the product of reacting AA with opium. This substance is much more common than opium (in North America) and is probably the actual material being encountered in the cases mentioned by the article. That is why I was surprised that anyone was bringing in this "black tar opium" talk.
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usg543
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Re: Black tar heroin: 'We'll be seeing more' [Re: DadeMurphy]
#6627968 - 03/02/07 12:47 PM (17 years, 21 days ago) |
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Quote:
DadeMurphy said: Sure opium exists, no one ever said it doesn't exist, and no one ever said that opium was heroin. You can call it "black tar opium"if you want, but ya its redundant. I see no reason to propagate the usage of this term.
Black tar heroin also exists, and is the product of reacting AA with opium. This substance is much more common than opium (in North America) and is probably the actual material being encountered in the cases mentioned by the article. That is why I was surprised that anyone was bringing in this "black tar opium" talk.
For your information, opium is much more common than heroin in knox county. I would know I live there.
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