HEROIN, "METH" THREAT GROWING IN US - OFFICIALS

EL PASO, Texas, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Drug enforcement officials are
bracing for an increase in the volume of heroin and methamphetamines
coming into the United States from Mexico this year, authorities say.

Mexican cartels are cornering markets on the two narcotics and
smuggling them across the border at big profits, according to current
and former anti-drug officials interviewed by Reuters.

U.S. officials, including Vice President Al Gore, acknowledge the
proliferation of drugs like methamphetamines, especially in rural
areas, and say society must become more aware of their presence and
their dangers.

"We have a crisis on our hands," Gore told a town meeting in Des
Moines, Iowa on Friday on the methamphetamine threat "to the social
fabric" of that state.

Officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration agree, and say
methamphetamine and heroin use is a problem throughout the country
among all types of people.

In interviews over the weekend, sources said there was no way to
determine the size of the influx of methamphetamines and heroin for
1999, but they agree it will be significant.

"The writing is on the wall," Phil Jordan, a former DEA administrator,
told Reuters.

Jordan said anti-narcotics intelligence shows the availability and
cheapness of both drugs have made them popular and a growing a
problem. A night's high on heroin or methamphetamines can cost
between $10 and $25, officials said.

Methamphetamines, stimulants known as "meth" on the street, used to be
popular among bikers. But they have evolved as a "social" narcotic,
and DEA officials say they have surpassed cocaine as the drug of the
90s.

Methamphetamines are taken in pill form and they provide a high like
cocaine.

Heroin, a depressant, was popular in the 1970s, then dropped off
almost completely in the 1980s. Usage went back up in the Northeast
during the early 1990s, and has now spread throughout the country,
Jordan said.

"Today's heroin mortality figures are the highest ever recorded,
exceeding even those of the mid-70s, when deaths reached a high of
just over 2,000," a DEA report says. "Close to 4,000 people have died
in each of the last three years from heroin-related overdoes."

According to DEA reports, the price of heroin has dropped from $3,000
to $7,000 an ounce four years ago to the current rate of $1,000 to
$2,000 an ounce.

The price of methamphetamines have dropped from $10,000 to $15,000 a
pound four years ago, depending on purity, to $5,000 to $9,000 a pound.

Jordan said law enforcement officials correlate price drops to more
availability. "The price (of heroin) is dropping, the purity is rising
and that's killing our kids," he said.

Heroin, which was once produced almost exclusively in Asia, is now
being produced in Mexico and "Mexicans are now the most significant
world supplier of meth," Jordan said.

Robert Castillo, special agent in charge of the El Paso DEA field
division office, said methamphetamines were being produced in large
quantities in Juarez and Tijuana, Mexico and numerous labs exist in
New Mexico.

Officials said Mexican cartels are dominating meth and heroin markets
because they are lucrative and they do not have to share the profits
with Colombians, who experts say produce most of the cocaine found in
the United States.

"They can keep all the profit for themselves, and you can make a
million dollars on a $200,000 investment," Jordan said.

Primary entrance points for heroin and methamphetamines are through
Texas and California, officials say, although smugglers also cross
into Arizona and New Mexico.