WEST VIRGINIANS PAY MORE FOR ILLEGAL DRUGS

West Virginia residents are paying more for illegal drugs than people
in other states, a study says.

Statistics complied by the National Drug Intelligence Center and
announced by U.S. Attorney Kasey Warner, said state residents pay more
for powder cocaine than any other area of the country, except for
parts of Vermont, Virginia, South Carolina, North Dakota and Montana.

While prices vary based on purity, potency, and buyer-seller
relationships, the study said West Virginia drug dealers pay about
$24,000 wholesale for a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of powder cocaine. The
dealers usually sell the drug back for $100 a gram. One kilogram of
cocaine could generate as much as $75,000 in profit.

Crack cocaine goes for $80 to $200 for a gram and generates anywhere
from 100 to 200 percent profit. The state's residents pay $300 a gram
for heroin, $2 for a marijuana joint and $150 a gram for
methamphetamine - also above average prices, according to the study.

Warner said the study underscores how much money goes into the drug
business, with the profits generated from a kilogram of cocaine being
able to pay two or three schoolteachers.

He said one reason West Virginians pay more could be because of the
state's remoteness and low population compared to other eastern
states. But he also thinks drug dealers are trying to dupe the state's
residents.

"Maybe people have the ideas that us poor hillbillies in the backwoods
will pay more for our drugs," Warner said.