HEROIN: IT'S THE PRINCIPAL OF THE THING

     Certainly, we can all name some fine folks from Hannibal.

     But you have to admit, strange stuff happens over there.  A grade school principal goes all D.B. Cooper after being charged with moving weight....in heroin.  You just don't see that everyday.

     But I have to admit, I was amused by the comment on television by a local "Well, he didn't fit the profile of a drug user."  That so perfectly sets out the insidious thing about heroin.  It is the ultimate denial drug.

     DEA and local law enforcement, throughout the 80's and 90's were fond of saying: "Oh,yes, we have coke and we have some amphetamines but we don't have any heroin.

     The funny thing is they probably really believed it.

      First of all, Quincy had, for years, lots of prostitution.  Anytime you have organized prostitution, you have heroin.  I knew one operator a lot of years ago who used to refer to heroin for his stable as "herd management."  Sorry, Ladies, I didn't say it.  I'm just reporting it.

      Second, the price of heroin, though high in the last two decades of the previous century, was never a barrier to certain, privileged people and it only took a few privileged people to keep a skilled dealer alive.  In fact, the biggest dealer in Quincy was killed in a car crash, where there no drugs at all found in the car and the dealer was not at fault in the accident.  He was good at his job, just unlucky.

      Third, now, the general inflation since the crash of 08 hasn't caught up to the price of heroin so it is relatively less expensive.  Contributing to that is the fact that the "coalition" forces didn't destroy the Poppy crop in Afghanistan so a robust supply drives down the price.

      Fourth, so may people now prefer to abuse oxycontin that Heroin also has to sell itself cheaper.

      In other words. H is always in play and probably always will be.

      Which gets me back to the "profile" for a heroin user, a Morphine Sulfate fan.  That would be:

      "Anybody"