Heroin's Beginning in the United States

          The beginning of heroin use in the United States is almost as old as New York City itself. It was in 1914 that the Harrison Narcotics act was passed and heroin became a controlled substance which could only be prescribed by doctors, but in 1924 the importation of heroin was made illegal. Richard Nixon was the first in a long line of presidents to declare a war on drugs.[1] What is significant about the city of New York is that in the midst of what was called an epidemic, and to certain degrees was an epidemic. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimated that from 1969-1974 the number of heroin addicts in the United states was estimated to be about 500,000, out of that figure 200,000 were estimated to live in New York City.[2] From 1968-1974 were the primal years of heroin, heroin's youth and strength in the United States and New York were at their height during these years.[3] The significance of New York in this era of use and abuse is that the city housed almost half of the user population. The culture of drugs and use during this time can be attributed to a few figures who have remained cultural icons even today. Frank Lucas is a cultural figure and was in large part responsible for the supply and distribution of heroin from the beginning of the late 1968 to the mid 1970's.[4] What is unique about the period in which Lucas operated is that during this era in drug use in New York had become the epicenter of heroin use.

          One of the things that characterized the heroin market in the late 60's and early 70's was interestingly enough brand recognition. This was something that was unique to New York in particular, in the 1970's "dope stamps" were created by distributors to distinguish their product from the competition.[1] Lucas's brand was "blue magic", the name and the level of purity were both things that distinguished his brand over other dealers and suppliers. This product was what U.S. military personnel had experimented with if they had used heroin in Thailand or Vietnam. In a study done on returning veterans from Vietnam, 54% of those who had used heroin in Vietnam became addicted to it and 73% of those who had used it at least 5 times had become addicted.[2] In the same study the interviewed 85% of veterans out of the 617 man sample claimed to have been offered heroin while they were serving in Vietnam, often quite soon after arrival. Of this sample 35% of the men claimed to have tried heroin and of that percentage 19% became addicted to heroin.[3] This is an astounding number considering that this is only from a small sample of troops. Considering the amount of troops returning to the United States having been exposed to or tried heroin, the market for heroin was at an all time high. 

Unknown U.S. Soldier Snorting Heroin 

          One of the things that only worsened the scenario was the failure in the ability to enforce and arrest those involved in the trade. In the wake of the Knapp Commission, the New York Police Department was in 1970 under the microscope and under more scrutiny than ever.[1] This investigation was prompted by a well to do "hippie cop" by the name of Frank Serpico. What Serpico had discovered when working for the Seventh Division in the Bronx was that officers in his unit didn't interfere with gambling, but had an active role in the collection of payoff's. Unit commanders received a larger portion of the money collected and it was evenly distributed amongst his entire unit. When Serpico attempted to report these activities to his higher ups, his concerns were reportedly dismissed despite the number of high level officers involved. Serpico reportedly took his concerns up to the mayor's aide, which were dismissed as well by the mayor's office. When there was a lack of action taken Serpico went to the New York Times with the story which produced public outcry.[2] The result of the story landed the former prosecutor Whitman Knapp as the head of the commission appointed by the mayor. 

Heroin Dealer displaying his product and tool of his trade

          The results of the commission lead to sweeping arrests of officers involved in extortion, narcotics, and protection schemes. What is significant about the aftermath of the commission is not just in the number of police officers involved, but the way the exposure changed the way narcotics enforcement was approached. To avoid the temptation of the vast profits earned in street level dealing, police were instructed to avoid contact with street drug dealing as it was a "corruption prone opportunity."[3] In accounts by users in the wake of the corruption scandal and the Knapp Commission began the largest open air bazaar for narcotics the world had ever seen. The only area that surpassed Harlem as a retail drug market was the Lower East Side of Manhattan, which had an area of approximately fifty square blocks that was branded by the police as "the retail drug capital of the world."[4] A regular heroin user recalls this phenomenon "on Eldridge Street, there used to be a store front in about 1972 and they had a pool table between you and the dealers and you would tell them what you wanted and they'd throw the amount of bags on the pool table and you'd put the amount of money and that was the typical place with the guy with the baseball bat keeping everyone in line and you would see them out front in the morning, lined up outside the place. The cops would pass by. It was just fucking incredible, fifty guys in the morning, and I mean like all walks of life, guys with suits and ties on, on their way to work, guys on their way to the methadone clinic."[5]

New York Gang members of "Savage Skulls" tussle it out with knives drawn

          The fact that there was an epidemic is more than clear, the role that the Vietnam war played on exposing heroin to troops is a clear factor in the return of heroin to popularity. The corruption it caused and the ways it physically shaped the city of New York have been highlighted. What has yet to be determined is where does the transition from heroin to cocaine occur? 1978 is the year that heroin's popularity began to wean. Though cocaine was present in New York during the 1970's the explosion of use begins in the late 1970's with the progressively falling rates of heroin use. The political response to the heroin epidemic can be seen as well intentioned, but in the matter of policing and dealing with the actual problem the response was underwhelming at best. Though in 1978 the issues of narcotics had become a national issue with President Carter attempting to implement programs to stem the flow of drugs the drug of choice had shifted from heroin to cocaine. Heroin purity in 1977 fell to its lowest at 4.9% which the previous year had been at 6.6%.[6] Heroin overdose deaths also fell the same year by 27% which had 1,000 fewer people dying in 1977 than 1976, though a seemingly small number this was significant.[7]

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[1] Schneider, Eric C. Smack: Heroin and the American City. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. 

[2] Kerr, Peter. "GROWTH IN HEROIN USE ENDING AS CITY USERS TURN TO CRACK." The New York Times. 

[3] Blumstein, Alfred, and Joel Wallman. The Crime Drop in America. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. 

[4] Lucas, Frank, and Aliya S. King. Original Gangster: The Real Life Story of One of America's Most Notorious Drug Lords. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2010.

[5] Wendel, Travis, and Ric Curtis. "The Heraldry of Heroin: “Dope Stamps” and the Dynamics of Drug Markets in New York City." Journal of Drug Issues 30, no. 2 (2000): 225-59. ProQuest.

[6] Robins, Lee N., John E. Helzer, Michie Hesselbrock, and Eric Wish. 2010. "Vietnam Veterans Three Years after Vietnam: How Our Study Changed Our View of Heroin." American Journal On Addictions 19, no. 3: 203-211. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, EBSCOhost(accessed April 15, 2016).

[7] Robins, 2010

[8] Armstrong, Michael F. They Wished They Were Honest: The Knapp Commission and New York City Police Corruption. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.

[9] Armstrong, 2012

[10] Wendel, 2000

[11] Schneider, 2011

[12] Wendel, 2000

[13] Musto, David F., and Pamela Korsmeyer. The Quest for Drug Control: Politics and Federal   Policy in a Period of Increasing Substance Abuse, 1963-1981. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002.

[14] Musto, 2002