America’s Heroin Epidemic Starts in Mexico
A heroin user prepares to inject himself on March 23, 2016 in New London, Conn.
Photographer: John Moore/Getty ImagesAmerica faces its worst drug crisis in decades, with heroin and opioid use tripling since 2010.
As various federal agencies roll out their annual strategy reports, the government declared that—as was the case in previous drug frenzies—all of the heroin used in the U.S. comes from abroad. Only now, instead of Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle or remote South America, the primary source is just next door, in a country with already delicate U.S. relations.
This week, the State Department delivered some 600 pages to Congress detailing the transnational drug trade, putting together data from the UN, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a variety of other entities. “The opioid epidemic demands urgent action as a top priority of U.S. and international drug control efforts,” the report stated.