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AP - Recent large heroin seizures show a resurgence of the drug in California unseen since the early 1970s, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

The flood of black tar heroin into the San Francisco area has driven down prices from as much as $500 an ounce to about $140 an ounce, Acting U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown said in Sacramento while announcing the latest drug ring takedown.

"Heroin is making a comeback in the Bay Area," San Francisco Police Capt. Denis O'Leary said at the news conference.

A federal grand jury in Sacramento has indicted 21 Mexican and American citizens on charges of smuggling at least 440 pounds of heroin grown in the state of Michoacan, Mexico, through Tijuana to Modesto, in California's Central Valley.

From there, it was shipped to wholesalers throughout the San Francisco area. Prosecutors said one East Palo Alto-based wholesaler supplied hundreds of customers, using runners equipped with cars and cell phones to make deliveries. Prosecutors put the street value of the heroin at $17.5 million.

The drug was brought into the United States and cash was smuggled back to Mexico in at least three vehicles with secret compartments in their engines and transmissions, investigators said.

The federal indictment followed last week's arrest by state drug agents of a Mexican national accused of concealing 70 pounds of heroin in a secret compartment in the dashboard of his Lincoln Town Car. The seizure of heroin valued at $7 million was the largest ever in San Mateo County, south of San Francisco, state Attorney General Jerry Brown said.


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It's just a drop in the bucket. But I am sure some local attorneys will pick up a nice retainer. Maybe one of them will take advantage of the latest rebates and buy a new car??? Drugs may actually stimulate economy?

Just trying to find some silver lining...