Heroin use, particularly among younger users, is growing. The heroin of choice in Southern California is Mexican black tar, but Mexican brown powder and South American heroin are available in the region. Prices are relatively stable and purity levels remain high. Mexican drug trafficking organizations continue to control the heroin market in the region and are the primary sources of supply at the wholesale level. Independent dealers, organized groups, and street gangs distribute heroin at the retail level.
Cocaine is readily available, prices are relatively stable, and purity levels are high.
Cocaine use increased overall in 1999, but preliminary figures for 2000 indicate that use may be stabilizing. Crack cocaine is more often encountered at the street level in San Diego than powdered cocaine. Cocaine seizures increased in the final quarter of 1999 and continued to increase through the first 6 months of 2000. Most of the cocaine smuggled across the California-Mexico border is transshipped to other locations, usually Los Angeles. Mexican drug trafficking organizations are the primary cocaine suppliers at the wholesale level, and they use middlemen to move the drug to retail dealers.