POTENT HEROIN FROM MEXICO NOW SECOND IN U.S. TRADE

Mexican drug cartels, long regarded as peddlers of cheap, low-grade heroin
that accounted for only a tiny portion of the U.S. market, now are
producing some of the world's most potent heroin and are seizing control of
a rapidly growing share of the U.S. heroin business, according to Mexican
and U.S. law-enforcement officials.

Mexico has become the second-largest source of heroin used in the United
States, and the purity of the Mexican-produced drug has increased sixfold
in the past two years in what U.S. law-enforcement and health authorities
describe as alarming trends.

Colombian and U.S. officials said the changes are tied to an emerging
alliance between the Colombian heroin-trafficking organization of Ivan
Urdinola and Mexican drug-smuggling organizations that are learning how to
produce more potent heroin.

In a dramatic shift in global heroin-trafficking patterns, Colombian and
Mexican drug cartels largely have taken over heroin distribution in the
United States from Asian organizations, whose share of the American market
- - based on seizures by law-enforcement authorities - has plunged from 90
percent to 28 percent since 1992.

U.S. officials say the shift in the heroin supply coincides with a
disturbing trend in drug consumption in the United States.

While the number of cocaine users has dropped significantly in recent
years, the number of heroin users has risen from 500,000 to 600,000 over
the past two years.

Part of the surge in heroin use, experts say, is driven by the new purity
of the drug. Instead of having to be injected directly into the
bloodstream, as the low-purity heroin traditionally produced in Mexico
required, today's more potent drug can be smoked or inhaled like cocaine.

The ability to use heroin without injection and the corresponding fear of
HIV infection from dirty needles has made heroin more popular, narcotics
experts say.

The Colombians, who began trafficking in heroin six years ago, learned how
to refine opium "latex" into heroin from Thai and Cambodian experts.

Through the years, Colombians have refined the process to make their heroin
up to 90 percent pure, and some are passing on their skills to Mexican
heroin traffickers.

Until two years ago, U.S. authorities say, Mexican cartels produced only a
low grade of heroin called "black tar," which was about 7 percent to 20
percent pure.

But the purity of Mexican heroin has since climbed to an average of 50
percent to 60 percent, with some seizures recorded at 76 percent purity,
according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) figures.

Mexican drug mafias, which already have taken over many U.S.
cocaine-distribution routes once dominated by Colombian cartels, have
expanded their reach and now control virtually all heroin sales west of the
Mississippi River, according to the U.S. anti-drug officials.

Checked-by: Richard Lake