Heroin
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman speaks during a press conference regarding a major drug bust, at the office of the New York Attorney General, September 23, 2016 in New York City. Scheiderman's office announced Friday that authorities in New York state have made a record drug bust, seizing 33 kilograms of heroin and 2 kilograms of fentanyl. According to the attorney general's office, it is the largest seizure in the 46 year history of New York's Organized Crime Task Force. Twenty-five people living in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Arizona and New Jersey have been indicted in connection with the case. Drew Angerer/Getty

According to Animal Político, the arrest of seven gang members, and the assurance of $3.37 million in cash, 35 weapons, 68 pounds of methamphetamines, 50 pounds of cocaine, 3 pounds of black heroin, and the confiscation of 28 pounds of white heroin by the Ventura Sheriff's Department opened the gates of a new investigation dedicated to a drug that threatens the United States.

It’s called "China Blanca" (White China), a name it got because it's similar in color to the heroin imported from the Asian market and here are 10 things to know about it.

  1. Over the past 10 years, US counternarcotic agencies have witnessed an epidemic of heroin use, which has not only tripled the number of drug addicts and caused more than 40,000 deaths from overdoses at the national level, it has also boosted drug profits of Mexican drug cartels.
  2. Even though it doesn’t come from China, they call it White China. A drug from Mexico that has been supplied by the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the main narcotics providers.
  3. The epidemic is the result of alliances between prison gangs that control the national distribution of narcotics.
  4. The color change of heroin produced in Mexico from dark brown to white made the consumers more curious about the drug.
  5. According to Gary Pentis, sheriff of Ventura County, California, the quality of the drug is so high that it is 98 percent pure, so it was estimated that its market value exceeded US$5 million.
  6. According to the United States Drug Enforcement Agency's (DEA) National Heroin Risk Assessment (ENRH), the drug criminal network coming from Mexico is transported to other states such as Texas, Mississippi and New York by gang members and leaders of the Mexican Mafia and Mara Salvatrucha gang.
  7. The DEA's intelligence report on heroin consumption also points out that Mexican organizations are moving their centers of operation from large urban centers to suburban or rural areas.
  8. The report says that today the most common use of heroin is inhaled.
  9. Being a very compact drug can be transported in private vehicles or hidden in luggage, while smaller packages can be attached to the body or introduced into the body cavities.
  10. Currently neither Colombian nor Asian heroin can compete with Mexican in terms of cost and purity.

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