N.J. has distinction of having street heroin that is among purest in nation

By The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk

September 26, 2009, 9:35AM

Government agencies are trying to address New Jersey's unfortunate distinction of having street heroin that is among the purest in the nation, largely because the state, which is home to large ports and a major airport, has become a direct entry point for drugs smuggled from South America, a report in the New York Times said.

At rehabilitation centers, about 40 percent of people cited heroin as their main addiction in the past two years, said Raquel Jeffers, the state’s director of addiction services, in the report. In 2008, the D.E.A. also found that heroin use among N.J.’s 18- to 25-year-olds was more than twice the national average, according to the report.

Federal agents seized 300 pounds of heroin in the state in 2007, the report said.

Special Agent Douglas S. Collier, a spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, told the New York Times heroin in the state has purity levels reaching as high as 72 percent.