Heroin use has been very common here in South Jersey for years now. Heroin is cheap, readily available, and widely used.
Heroin use here isn't so much for people with real medical conditions (pain) as it is for people who were using oxycontin to get high. They'd crush the oxycontin to get the full impact in a rush. The authorities have cracked down enough on the oxycontin trade that heroin is now the far more affordable option for those looking for a quick high. From local reports you can get heroin for under ten dollars while the street cost of oxycontin is now around twenty dollars a pill or higher.
If you sit in the parking lot at a local shopping center you'll likely see multiple drug deals going down. Dealers have learned how to avoid getting busted with large quantities of drugs so they deliver small quantities to their customers and parking lots are the preferred meeting place. (Typically by a landmark like the clothing drop-off boxes.) You'll see a car pull in and sit there for a few minutes, then a second car will pull in and the windows will roll down and a transaction will take place with money going from one car to another and then the drugs going to the other. The windows go back up and the two cars will drive away. If the police were to arrest the person selling the drug they'd likely only be able to get them on a minor charge since the quantity of drugs exchanged was small. The laws in this country tolerate small scale drug dealing, so dealers have adapted and create smallish stashes of drugs that they can then draw from and deliver to customers with little risk of prosecution, or serious criminal charges being lodged.
Unless we get serious about cracking down on illegal drugs and create a zero tolerance policy where any drug dealing is dealt with harshly, this situation will continue. There's little to no real risk for the dealers or buyers of prosecution since small quantities are all that's involved. I'm afraid we're getting more and more to the point where any chance to crack down hard on the dealers is lost. There's more of a move to legalize everything (in the foolish belief that buyers will only buy the taxed/legal drugs) and that's just going to lead more people into addiction.
I would be willing to bet that the people who profit the most from legalizing marijuana use in Colorado will be the illegal drug dealers. They can undercut the state's prices (by a lot) and with the use now being legal, there's next to no risk for the buyer. Now I'm sure the state will work hard to track down the illegal dealers, but the profit margin is so high for the illegal dealers that any the state arrests will be quickly replaced. Those with money to spare will likely use the state stores and pay the higher price, but most users will opt for the street versions which are cheaper. There's a fallacy that legalizing drugs will put drug dealers out of business. It does just the opposite though. Instead it legitimizes their 'business' and makes them a lower cost option than the state backed stores which sends them even more business.
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