Subj: Canada: Market Forces Cut Heroin Price



Pubdate: Thursday, September 17, 1998



Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)



Author: Salem Alaton



MARKET FORCES CUT HEROIN PRICE



Canadian police forces are unhappy to observe a buyer's market in the past

five or six years for a particularly ugly consumer product: heroin.



Not only has the street cost of the narcotic plummeted, but since 1992-93

the purity of the substance on offer has gone up considerably, says

Detective Ed Roseto of the heroin section in the Toronto Police special

investigations unit.



While a gram of heroin might have sold for about $700 in Toronto a decade

ago, it's now readily available for $200. And Det. Roseto adds: "We've had

grams which we've bought [during undercover operations] for $100."



Hard numbers for the heroin-addicted population in Canada don't exist, but

Richard Garlick, spokesman for the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse in

Ottawa, puts the figure at about 25,000 to 30,000, and says that the number

has probably been fairly stable for the past 20 years.



That suggests the current market reflects increased supply, with dealers not

yet succeeding in widening demand.



"Once people are addicted after three or four weeks, the theory goes that

the traffickers can up the price, but that in fact doesn't seem to have

happened," said Mr. Garlick. "The price has been fairly low and the purity

has been very high for a number of years now."