Foreign
sources of opium are responsible for the entire
supply of heroin consumed in the U.S. Efforts
to reduce domestic heroin availability face significant
problems. Unlike cocaine, which is concentrated
in South America, opium production occurs in three
source regions—Southeast Asia, Southwest
Asia, and Latin America- creating a worldwide
problem. While an undetermined amount of the opium
is consumed in the producing regions, a significant
amount of the drug is converted to heroin and
sent to Europe and North America.
Historically, most of the world's illicit opium
for heroin has been grown in the Golden Triangle
of Southeast Asia. However, Latin America has
emerged, in recent years, as the primary supplier
of heroin to the United States. Colombian and
Mexican heroin comprises 60 and 24 percent respectively
of the heroin seized today in the United States.
Low-level opium-poppy cultivation in Venezuela
and even more limited growing in Peru currently
produce only marginal amounts of heroin but could
become the foundation for an expanding opium and
heroin industry beyond Colombia. Opium-poppy cultivation
in Venezuela is limited to the mountains opposite
Colombia's growing area and appears to be a spillover
from cultivation on the Colombian side of the
border. Reports indicate that opium poppy cultivation
in Peru over the last several years is nearly
negligible.
With long-established trafficking and distribution
networks and exclusive markets for black tar and
brown powder heroin, Mexico's hold on the U.S.
heroin market in the West seems secure. Mexico
grows only about two percent of the world's illicit
opium, but virtually the entire crop is converted
into heroin for the U.S. market. Opium cultivation
and production in Mexico have been relatively
stable through most of the 1990s.
Source: ONDCP Fact Sheet:
"Breaking Heroin Sources of Supply,"
March 2002
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