Heroin Prices Rise, Purity Down, Drug Czar Says September 2, 2005
News Summary
Touting the success of the Bush administration's Plan Colombia, federal drug czar John Walters said that U.S. street prices for heroin have risen and purity has dropped, the Miami Herald reported Sept. 1.However, Walters acknowledged that street prices for cocaine -- the major drug export from Colombia -- have remained unchanged.
The Drug Enforcement Administration's Domestic Monitor Program reported that South American heroin on U.S. streets was 32.5 percent pure in 2004, down from 41.8 percent in 2003. The average price per milligram of heroin was $1, up from 77 cents in 2003.
Walters credited the trend to the $4-billion Colombian interdiction program. This is the first time that federal data has shown prices rising and purity dropping since Plan Colombia went into effect.
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