'DRUG DROUGHT'

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed 25,000 soldiers
across the country to battle drug gangs, which have responded with
bold attacks on the military and police. More than 4,000 people have
been killed in turf wars, assassinations and shootouts since
Calderon took office in December 2006.

That number is on par with the number of troops killed in the Iraq
War over the last five years.

Grocery shoppers these days are paying the same amount of money for
a smaller amount of cereal.

Strangely enough, the same can be said for crack cocaine users.

Because of an ongoing drug war in Mexico, Beaver County District
Attorney Anthony Berosh and county Detective Capt. Anthony Q.
McClure say, the supply of cocaine from Colombia to the United
States has been disrupted within the last couple of months.

Dealers are trying to stretch their cocaine supplies further, Berosh
and McClure said. That's means there's probably about half the usual
amount of the drug in a rock of crack cocaine.

"Our confidential informants are telling us it's dry for the
moment," McClure said.

Make no mistake, however: Cocaine hasn't vanished from the streets
of Beaver County. The county law officials say other drugs,
including marijuana, heroin and OxyContin are still available, as well.

But with the cocaine supply, McClure said, it's being disrupted on
the way to cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, Youngstown,
Ohio, and other areas from which the drug eventually makes its way
into Beaver County.

McClure said local buyers once were able to get three or four ounces
of cocaine at one time, according to the confidential sources, only
an ounce or so is available now.

Not only are border patrols between Mexico and the United States
helping to slow the trafficking, Berosh and McClure said, but the
Mexican government is actively engaged in a war against illegal drugs.

Drug dealers are trying to get their product out by more creative
means. Last week, according to published reports, Mexican forces
seized a small makeshift submarine off the nation's Pacific coast.
They found 5.8 tons of cocaine packed inside, which would have a
street value of millions of dollars.

Four Colombian crew members claimed they were fishermen ordered by
drug cartels to move the cargo.

With a limited supply, there are likely drug rip-offs going on,
McClure said - in other words, dealers ripping off their buyers.

Berosh said that for drug dealers, rip-offs have always been a part
of doing business, and losses were built into their profit margins.
However, with supply tight, dealers "can't tolerate rip-offs at all."

One concern is that drug violence will escalate, McClure and Berosh
said, though that hasn't happened yet in Beaver County. McClure said
there likely have been rip-offs occurring, but drug dealers aren't
inclined to report such incidents to police.

In Pittsburgh, the city has been wracked by drug violence in recent
months, with several murders attributed directly to the drug trade.
However, it wasn't clear if those slayings were linked to any
disruptions in the cocaine supply.

Pittsburgh police did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Also, McClure said, dealers are likely trying to stretch out the
supplies they have on hand. That means a dealer might dilute an
ounce of cocaine into two or three ounces to make the same number of
rocks of crack, thus increasing their profit.

Of course, the less cocaine in a rock, the less potent it is for the
user. But the price stays the same: $15 to $20 a rock.

"It's still enough for street people to at least continue the
indulgence," Berosh said.

McClure said the situation can also slow police investigations.
Police use confidential informants to set up drug buys, and less
product means fewer undercover buys.

Allegheny County Police Lt. Harold Cline said Friday that his
department hasn't seen a decrease in the cocaine supply, or higher
prices in recent weeks. However, he said, it's not a rare phenomenon.

At least a couple of times a year, Cline said, county police might
find what they call a "drug drought," in which cocaine and other
drugs supplies are pinched. He said if there is a major bust, the
price of the drug can rise as the availability of the drug drops.

Also, Cline said, disruptions can be caused by a dealer's arrest or
the dealer simply leaving the area for a time.

Cline said that when a disruption hits, it can be in a limited area,
as well. For example, he said, at a time when cocaine is in short
supply in McKees Rocks, it's plentiful in Duquesne.

Kevin Harley, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania state attorney
general's office, said Friday that with several "large-scale" drug
investigations going on, the supply of cocaine still exists
throughout the state.

However, he said that since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
it has become harder for smugglers to bring their product into the
area. He said most of the cocaine that comes into Pennsylvania is
funneled through New York City.

"When there is a major drug bust, you will see prices spike as the
supply is disrupted, but unfortunately, there's usually someone
willing to take their place," Harley said.

Harley said the problem statewide doesn't stop with cocaine. He said
prescription drug abuse has risen to the point where it's second
only to marijuana in the state.

Drug busts and seizures, however, do make a difference, Harley said.

In March, the attorney general's office announced they had broken up
two major cocaine rings in a sting dubbed Operation Dry Spell.

The bust was so named because cocaine was in short supply on
Philadelphia streets after a massive U.S. Coast Guard seizure of the
drug off the coast of Panama in March 2007.

Harley also pointed to a drug bust last year in which more than a
dozen people were arrested in Beaver and Allegheny counties and
charged with distributing black tar heroin throughout the region.

"I don't think you can say it's made a comeback," Harley said.

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Less Supply, Higher Cost

Previous cost of an ounce of cocaine: $1,000.

Cost in recent weeks, with the cocaine supply disruption: $1,200 to $1,300.

Source: Beaver County district attorney's office