LAT AM SURPASSES ASIA AS TOP HEROIN PROVIDER

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Latin America has surpassed Asia as the
top heroin exporting region to the United States due to a boom in the
illegal trade within the Western Hemisphere in recent years, experts said
Wednesday.

Authorities said they were concerned about the higher level of purity of
heroin from Latin America, making it more dangerous and addicting than the
Asian variety.

Heroin is also more profitable to drug traffickers than cocaine, commanding
prices 10 times that of cocaine, officials said.

More than 150 anti-drugs officials from 30 countries are gathering in Costa
Rica for a three-day conference, due to end Thursday, that aims to exchange
information and promote cooperation in the battle against drugs.

Some 57 percent of all heroin seized in the United States comes from South
America, and the top two heroin exporters in the hemisphere are Colombia in
South America and Mexico on the United States' southern border, officials
said.

``In less than five years Mexico has begun to control the East Coast of the
United States, replacing the traditional sending countries from Asia,''
said Allan Solano, Costa Rica's top anti-drugs officer and president of the
conference.

Much of the Mexican production of heroin comes from poppy-growing areas
near Mexico's southern border with Guatemala. Poppies are the raw material
for heroin.