The Hollister area has experienced a dramatic spike in heroin use over the past year or two, and law enforcement officials are expressing particular concern about the age group driving the surge.
The local increase falls in line with a national trend toward a spike in use of the highly addictive narcotic. Police point to a sharp decrease in use of prescription pills – due to tighter regulations and the inability to break down certain pills for snorting purposes – as the primary reason for renewed interest in heroin. The drug and prescription painkillers such as Oxycontin, on varying levels, affect the same part of the brain’s pleasure center.
Hollister Police Chief David Westrick and two other key law enforcement leaders – the county’s district attorney and the head of a regional anti-drug task force – expressed concern about the increase in use driven by young adults looking for a relatively cheap alternative to prescription pills. None of the officials had immediate numbers reflecting the spike, but all agreed with the uptick trend.
Westrick in an interview with the Free Lance cited a warning from the region’s United Narcotic Enforcement Team – local agents help make up the specialty task force – about an increase in heroin cases in Hollister and neighboring communities as well.
“In the last 18 months or so, there’s been an influx of heroin use and seizures,” Westrick said, referencing a meeting earlier in the week with UNET officials.
The commander for the UNET task force – comprised of agents from local agencies in San Benito and southern Santa Clara counties – stressed that although heroin is nothing new in the region, its presence has increased considerably in the past 18 months or so. Task Force Commander Rich Westphal underscored his concern about the demographic of users, too.
“A lot of our cases have involved kids anywhere from 18 to their late 20s and they’re not – they’re everyday people.”
Westphal described the group as middle-class, young adults. He mentioned changes in prescription drug regulations, increased awareness among families with legitimate prescription medications around the home, and the steep increase in street values for those pills.
He cited one case involving a young adult from Hollister who admitted spending $150 for one Oxycontin pill.
“He needed it. He wanted it. He got the money,” the task force commander said.
Westphal said agents have witnessed the increased heroin presence in all of the UNET communities. He said other drugs such as methamphetamine and cocaine remain a problem as well, and he suggested parents should watch out for significant behavioral changes. As for the heroin itself, it is the more traditional variety of the drug as opposed to a synthetic-laced version found elsewhere. He said it often looks like brown powder or crushed cinnamon.
“We have a great group of people living here,” Westphal said. “Whether you go here or San Jose or Salinas, there’s going to be stuff available.”
With more use, there have been more court cases involving heroin and users ranging from teenagers to adults in their late 20s, said San Benito County District Attorney Candice Hooper.
Hooper said any statistics related to specific drugs would have to come from the state Department of Justice.
“The resurgence is unbelievable,” she said. “I’m really scared for our youth.”
HEROIN USE
DEA domestic heroin seizures
2012: 934 kgs
2011: 1,079 kgs
2010: 721 kgs
2009: 619 kgs
2008: 605 kgs
Source: DEA
