Highlights

The Pulse Check is a report issued by the Office of National Drug Control Policy that describes current trends in illicit drug use and drug markets. The report is based on interviews conducted with ethnographers and epidemiologists, law enforcement officials, and drug treatment providers all over the country. Following are the highlights of this Pulse Check:

Heroin

• Most ethnographic sources report heroin use as either stable or rising. The majority of heroin users are still older, chronic users who inject the drug. At the same time, the number of new, young users who snort or smoke the drug, continues to rise.

• Ethnographic and police sources concur that heroin prices have remained stable at $10 to $20 per bag, though purity varies greatly both between and within regions. In Miami and Seattle, it is relatively low (below 20%) while in Newark, it fluctuates widely (20-90%). Across the board, however, these levels purity at the street level are extremely high.

• Law enforcement sources in Denver report that heroin users are injecting black tar heroin, which is appearing at unusually high purity levels of 40 to 50 percent. This suggests that distributors of Mexican black tar heroin, still the only type of heroin available in the Southwest Border area, are using less adulterants to produce a higher purity product.

• "Speedballing" -- combining heroin with cocaine either through injection or inhaling -- is a common behavior in all areas. Treatment providers reported that 75 percent of clients in treatment for heroin abuse report problems with cocaine as well.

• "Double-breasted" dealing, or dealing both heroin and cocaine, is still common in many areas (i.e., San Diego, San Francisco, Denver, Atlanta, Chicago, and New York). The Miami source reports that Colombian cocaine occasionally comes with five kilograms of heroin (known as a "rider") at no extra cost. Heroin dealers are avoiding open air markets, that is, becoming more discreet by using beepers, cell phones, and indoor sales.

Cocaine

• Overall, the level of cocaine use varies between cities. Crack is still failing to attract new users although established users persist. In a few areas (i.e., San Diego, Bridgeport, Miami, Boston), use of cocaine powder is rising among affluent users, a trend consistent with the last Pulse Check. Cocaine prices remain stable but purity levels vary.

• Ethnographic sources and treatment providers in the West report high levels of methamphetamine use among cocaine users. In San Diego, sources report a decrease incocaine use with a concomitant rise in methamphetamine use. In this region, thirty-eight percent of clients receiving treatment for cocaine abuse also abuse methamphetamine.

• Approximately one third of treatment clients in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic/South regions report cocaine as the primary drug of abuse. Nationwide, reports are that 71 percent of clients receiving treatment for cocaine abuse have been in treatment before, indicating that they are an older, experienced group of users rather than novices.

Marijuana

• All sources for this Pulse Check report that marijuana use is widespread. The Bridgeport ethnographic source characterizes its use as "crossing all economic and social groups."

• The majority of sources consulted for this issue of Pulse Check report an increase in young users of marijuana. This suggests an overall decline in age of first use, which is borne out by treatment providers reports that over one third of all clients receiving treatment for marijuana abuse in all regions of the country are under the age of twenty.

• Methods employed in domestic cultivation of marijuana are shifting; growers are switching from outdoor to indoor growing, allowing them to manipulate the THC content and produce higher quality marijuana. This higher quality marijuana is reported to be more expensive, but continues to attract users.

Emerging Drugs

• Methamphetamine use continues to be problematic. In California, meth is so widespread that it is no longer considered emergent. Ethnographers in Denver, Atlanta, and Baltimore report that methamphetamine is emerging. Police sources in Los Angeles, Denver, Boston, and Columbia (Maryland) also report a meth problem, suggesting that its presence on the East Coast, first reported in the last Pulse Check, may be growing.

• Ketamine ("Special K"), GHB (gamma hydroxy butyrate), and Rohypnol ("Roofies") are all mentioned by ethnographic and law enforcement sources as emerging drugs. Ketamine is cited by sources in Newark, Atlanta, San Francisco, Columbia, and New York. GHB is noted by Newark, Chicago, and Miami sources. Rohypnol is reported in Washington D.C., Miami, New York, Austin and San Antonio.

• Use of MDMA ("ecstasy") and other hallucinogens is reported in Boston, Columbia, New York, Seattle, Newark, and San Diego.

• Reports of illegal prescription drug use (Dilaudid, Percocet, Percodan, and Valium) come from law enforcement sources in Birmingham, Washington D.C., and Baltimore.