Police said the highly addictive drug heroin is making a strong comeback here in the Southern Tier.
Lieutenant Patrick Garey heads up the undercover State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team.
”Right now we are seeing heroin on the rise. That tends to ebb and flow every couple of years. We see a spike in it, it seems to go away after we make a few arrests. But, it's always there.” said Garey.
CNET covers 10 counties here in the Southern Tier from Steuben all the way to Delaware.
All CENT officials could tell WETM 18 NEWS is they've seen a large spike over the last year and their cases have "approximately" doubled. We tried to get ball park figures, but they would not speculate on them.
The reason why heroin is up, according to Lt. Garey, is because the drug no longer has the stigma of being an IV drug. It can now be snorted or even smoked.
Heroin also has a greater profit margin than cocaine. According to the U.S. Justice Departments Drug Enforcement Administration 60 cents of every dollar sold for cocaine goes back to the cocaine cartels in South America.
When it comes to heroin, 60 cents of every dollar stays in the local dealer’s hands.
Lt. Garey said the drug is coming to the Southern Tier via New York City and New Jersey. That heroin is ending up in communities like Steuben.
Back in September police said four people from Hornell were arrested on State Route 21 after an extensive investigation of the sale of heroin in the Maple City.
“Am I concerned? Yeah! It seems to be getting to the younger kids.” said Hornell resident Gean Boccia.”I think it’s alarming! Drug use in general seems to be Upstate-wide. What we hear about what's going in Hornell is just frightening to think, especially heroin. It's a drug you would not associate with Hornell.” said Ricky Kelly of Hornell.
Steuben County Chief Deputy Noel Terwilliger is also seeing an increase in heroin cases in the county’s city areas such as Corning and Hornell.
“Heroin is a drug our investigators are seeing on the streets on a daily basis.” said Terwilliger.
He said the one way to curb the increase is by educating at an early age and taking an active roll in your kid’s life.
"You need to know who your child is hanging out with. You need to know where your children are staying. If you suspect something, ask questions.” said Terwilliger.
CNET officials said even though heroin is on the rise throughout the Southern Tier, they’re not seeing as many cases of the drug in Chemung, Tioga or Schuyler counties.
