It’s an “epidemic”. The game's the same. The addicts are mostly white.

Mexican cartels run their business like Walmart, from farm to delivery. 

The FBI put U.S. mafias out of the drug business several years ago. 

"The largest, most lucrative heroin markets in the United States are the big whitepowder markets in major eastern cities: Baltimore, Boston and its surrounding cities, Chicago, Detroit, New York City and the surrounding metropolitan areas, Philadelphia, and Washington DC."

FROM: 

 2016 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary

"This Sunday, May 21, 2017, photo provided by the Chester County District Attorney's Office in West Chester, Pa., shows opioid drug packets, a syringe and other belongings found by law enforcement personnel in an addiction counselor's bedroom at the Freedom Ridge Recovery Lodge, a suburban Philadelphia halfway house in West Brandywine Township, Pa. 

Two addiction counselors at a suburban Philadelphia halfway house died of opioid overdoses inside the facility on the same day, authorities said Wednesday.

 "If anybody is wondering how bad the opioid epidemic has become, this case is a frightening example," said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan. "Opioids are a monster that is slowly consuming our population." 

Emergency responders were called to Freedom Ridge Recovery Lodge on Sunday afternoon after residents found the counselors unresponsive in separate bedrooms. "

MORE AT: 

2 addiction counselors at halfway house die of drug overdose 

ABC News

Mexican heroin cartels are more scientific, employing pharmaceutical and horticultural scientists imported from Columbia. Using state of the art logistics Mexican cartels control production and distribution from farm to, or nearly to,your doorstep. "Everyday low prices" like Walmart. 

Mexican Cartels control nearly all of heroin production and distribution but the game is the same. The people have changed, to mostly white.

The game has not changed, just the people from North Jersey on Vimeo.

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The only cure for our heroin epidemic is decriminalizing possession of heroin as Portugal did:

"Goulão, who had worked as a family physician in his 20s, at the height of the crisis, says there was very little opposition to the policy change.

"Every family had its own drug addict. It was so, so present in everyday life, that it turned public opinion," Goulão says. "We are dealing with a chronic relapsing disease, and this is a disease like any other. I do not put a diabetic in jail, for instance."

Under the 2001 decriminalization law, authored by Goulão, drug dealers are still sent to prison. But anyone caught with less than a 10-day supply of any drug — including heroin — gets mandatory medical treatment. No judge, no courtroom, no jail."

MORE AT: 

npr

In Portugal, Drug Use Is Treated As A Medical Issue, Not A Crime

Lauren FrayerApril 18, 2017 4:55 AM ET

Before we decriminalize all drugs we need a healthcare system. 

Portugal like all of Europe except for Great Britain has an Obamacare type system of government required health care for everyone with a choice of who manages your healthcare. Great Britain has government managed health care. 

Portuguese healthcare at a glance 

"A mix of public and private health service providers delivers Portuguese primary healthcare. 

These include primary care centres integrated in the NHS, private sector primary care providers and professionals or groups of professionals with which the NHS contracts or develops cooperation agreements. Most primary healthcare is delivered by GPs/family doctors and primary care nurses in a primary care centre setting. Other providers include local family units and long-term care units. Secondary and tertiary care is mainly provided in hospitals. Some primary care centres also provide a limited range of specialist ambulatory care... 

If you are working in Portugal and you are contributing to the social security system, you are automatically entitled to free treatments across Portugal’s medical spectrum. However, you should remember that non-essential medicines are not given for free. You will be paying anywhere between 40% and 100% of the cost. Since most of the pharmacies in Portugal are managed by qualified chemists, a lot of medicines are easily obtained without a prescription." 

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"What would happen if you took everyone who is addicted to heroin in New Jersey and sent them to live in one place? 

It would be the state's fourth largest city, boasting a population of at least 128,000. 

Its residents are diverse enough that the town would be self-sufficient -- with lawyers, politicians, construction workers, teachers and scientists walking the streets. 

And you will know one of them. 

In fact, social network analysis suggests you likely will know several city residents, whether they toil at a desk behind you or sleep in a bed down the hall. 

This city exists all across New Jersey, where heroin and opioid addiction have exploded in the past 10 years, killing more than 5,000 people and enslaving hundreds of thousands more. It's not a new story, but one whose tendrils reach far deeper into the Garden State than most know."

MORE AT: 

nj.com 

Welcome to Herointown, New Jersey's 4th-largest city 

By Stephen Stirling