IN THE CITY, HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE DRUG MILLS

In New York City, heroin is being packaged in covert locations and
distributed at levels not seen since the heroin crisis of the 1970s.
The evidence, according to the city's special narcotics prosecutor,
Bridget G. Brennan, is the enormous number of tiny glassine bags,
containing single doses of heroin, seized during recent drug raids,
which suggest heavy local distribution and use.

In recent months, drug agents have discovered unusually productive
heroin mills, Ms. Brennan said, where the drug is often cut with
lactose, baby laxatives or vitamin B in coffee bean grinders that are
bought in bulk because their motors burn out from overuse. The mills
are operated around the clock by as many as eight workers at a time in
quasi-assembly lines.

In the 1970s, Ms. Brennan said, the purity level of heroin was less
than 5 percent; these days, it can be as high as 20 percent, making
overdoses more likely. Also, younger, more educated people are getting
hooked, she said.

"One of the key things is to educate people, and that's where we've
fallen a little short," she said. "We've let our guard down."

This summer, she started reaching out to treatment experts,
Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the State Assembly to raise
the alarm.

"So often young people in particular think law enforcement's out there
to ruin their party," Ms. Brennan said. "That's why I'm reaching out
to these other organizations. I think the message might be more
effective if it comes from someone else."