For the last two or three rounds of the Pulse Check, ethnographers and law enforcement
officials have reported an increase in dealers at all levels who sell both heroin and cocaine. This
is a significant development because joint marketing has not been the norm in the drug trade.
In high trafficking areas where both drugs are available, they are dealt on different corners, by
different dealers. Occasionally, a heroin seller may have a small amount of cocaine to sell to
customers who speedball, but it is not likely to be a regular part of his trade. In most areas,
the demographics of heroin sellers at the street level match those of the areas where they sell.
In addition, street level sellers are often addicts who are paid in drugs; that is, they take 10-20
bags of heroin from a distributor and can either keep a specified number of bags for their own
use or are "paid" in a few bags of heroin when they return with the money. Sellers market to
other users, who are often friends or acquaintances.
Similarly, a cocaine or crack dealer is not likely to deal heroin routinely. Unlike heroin
sellers, successful cocaine and crack sellers are typically not usersthemselves. They are more
likely to be mIbers of informal groups or more organized crews who coordinate packaging and
sales. These groups avoid recruiting crack users because of their unreliability and their
notorious inability to control their own drug use. For example, the New Jersey source describes
a crack house operator who distributed crack and HCl extensively through his familyþs network,
but was immediately removed from the family business when he became a user. In general,
cocaine/crack sales at the street level are business-like, and sellers are more often paid with
money than drugs. In addition, unlike marijuana and heroin sellers, cocaine and crack sellers
tend to associate with non-users, and their cocaine sales are usually to strangers.
However, sources in several areas (Connecticut, New York, Delaware) report that street
sales are becoming increasingly managed by young non-users who sell both heroin and cocaine.
As described earlier, this practice is known as "double breasting" or "one on one" sales.
One consequence of this new marketing structure is that cocaine/crack sellers who have no
experience in "cutting" or diluting heroin may be using poor cuts or combining heroin with
unusual adulterants. Powerful mixtures (heroin "cocktails") of heroin with substances like
cocaine, dextramorphin and scopolamine (a motion sickness drug) are appearing in street
markets; in February, 43 users in Philadelphia were hospitalized when they suffered a loss of
consciousness followed by violent delirium after ingesting a combination of high purity heroin
and scopolamine. In addition, heroin cocktails sent over 100 users in Philadelphia and another
20 users in Baltimore into Iergency rooms in May.
DEA sources report that "double breasted" dealing of heroin and cocaine started about two
years ago in New York, parts of Florida, and Chicago, where it was noticed in seizures and in
raids on stash houses. In some areas, middle-level dealers of South American cocaine are now
offering or even pressuring lower level distributors to sell South American heroin. Dealers may
even "front" heroin for their distributors, that is, not require payment in advance for the
supplies they take to sell. This was seen in the very competitive markets of the Northeast.
DEA sources describe this tactic to break into the heroin market as unusually aggressive, and
the increased competition has brought higher quality and lower prices. Double breasted dealers
are described as the "boldest group out there." For example, when a recent New York police
action pushed more established heroin dealers indoors, these new sellers remained in open air
locations. DEA accounts concur with ethnographic sources in New York, who report that
dealers describe pressure from Colombian cocaine distributors to take heroin.
Though the Iergence of double breasting implies that more South American heroin is on
the street, seizures of South American heroin are small (averaging 800 grams). Routes of entry
into the country, which include body cavity packing, commercial airlines (80-90% of seizures),
and the mails, suggest that there are a number of small independent operators. Traffickers vary
the routes of entry and run continuous couriers to bring in enough quantities to stay competitive.
While the DEA finds far less heroin than cocaine under cultivation in South America, sources
say that it is an important market to watch.
