The DEA considers heroin a serious threat due to its expanded availability, cheap price, and increasing abuse, as well as the devastating social and health consequences of heroin addiction.
Pure heroin is a white powder with a bitter taste.
Most illicit heroin is distributed in powder form and may vary in color from white to dark brown because of impurities left from the manufacturing process or the presence of additives. Black tar heroin, which is produced only in Mexico, may be sticky like roofing tar or hard like coal, and its color may vary from dark brown to black. The color and consistency of black tar heroin result from the crude processing methods used to illicitly manufacture heroin in Mexico. Black tar heroin is often sold on the street in its tarlike state at purities ranging from 20 to 80 percent. It is most frequently dissolved, diluted, and injected.