All About Heroin

NEWS

How Fentanyl, More than Heroin, Drives US Opioid Market

FEATURED / 28 APR 2021

The deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl has displaced heroin as the leading driver of the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States and is contributing to a deadly scramble for market-control…

Mexico’s Poppy Farmers in Increasingly Dire Straits

DRUG POLICY / 2 NOV 2020

Facing increased economic hardship, poppy-growing communities in southwest Mexico want to join a state program offering alternative projects, but this would only be a first step that cannot tackle all…

US Chemicals Help Fuel Mexico Drug Production: Report

FENTANYL / 11 SEP 2020

Authorities in Mexico said they will look into the mass-scale diversion of chemicals from US companies to produce drugs that are trafficked over the border to feed consumers in the…

Mexico Opium Network Shines Light on Marginalized Poppy-Growing Communities

DRUG POLICY / 31 JUL 2020

The fall in heroin prices in the United States and the devastating economic effect this has had on poppy-growing communities in Mexico has been widely discussed and often attributed to…

Continued Street Drug Sales in Tijuana Puts Users at Risk of Coronavirus

COVID AND CRIME / 2 JUN 2020

A coronavirus outbreak in the Mexico border city of Tijuana has not stymied street-level heroin and methamphetamine sales, and its large population of drug users is at high risk of…

Fentanyl Enters Heroin Supply in Tijuana, Mexico

FENTANYL / 30 JAN 2020

Drug users in Tijuana are being unwittingly exposed to the deadly opioid fentanyl in a corridor where the drug is frequently smuggled, but where the effects of the opioid crisis…

Small Farmers Hurting in Mexico’s Poppy Growing Heartland

HEROIN / 24 JUN 2019

Tension is brewing among small farmers in a notorious poppy-growing region in Mexico over delivery delays of a government subsidized fertilizer, in just the latest issue facing farmers amid a…

Argentina Dismantles Pill Ring That Sold Opioids To US Customers

ARGENTINA / 19 MAR 2019

Authorities in Argentina have dismantled an intricate organization illegally selling opioids and counterfeit medicines online to US customers, revealing a number of legal loopholes exploited by these criminal groups…

Illegal Clinics and Addicts Fuel ‘H’ Boom in Guayaquil, Ecuador

ECUADOR / 5 MAR 2019

In the south Ecuador city of Guayaquil, organized crime has created a vicious circle of drug consumption: violent microtrafficking networks peddle drugs on the city streets creating the addicts that…

GameChangers 2018: As Opioids and Cocaine Boom, the Americas Wilt

COCA / 9 JAN 2019

While traditional criminal organizations have widened their portfolios dramatically in recent years, drug trafficking remains the most important earner in the region. And with opioid consumption surging and cocaine production…

LatAm Crime Groups Adapting to Meet Growing US Drug Demand

COLOMBIA / 6 NOV 2018

As the opioid crisis continues to ravage the United States, with a record number of overdose deaths, crime groups in Latin America have taken advantage of the growing market for…

US Fentanyl Seizure Suggests Evolving Mexican-Dominican Links

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC / 24 OCT 2018

US authorities arrested two Dominican citizens in connection to a multimillion-dollar fentanyl shipment delivered from Mexico, suggesting that relations between these two groups may be evolving in the context of…

Who Controls Colombia’s Enduring Heroin Trade

COLOMBIA / 24 AUG 2018

Reports have emerged that guerrilla group the ELN has taken control of the heroin business in the south of Colombia, which, if confirmed, would represent a huge shift in trafficking…

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About InSight Crime

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THE ORGANIZATION

We Have Updated Our Website

4 FEB 2021

Welcome to our new home page. We have revamped the site to create a better display and reader experience.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area

ARGENTINA / 25 JAN 2021

Through several rounds of extensive field investigations, our researchers have analyzed and mapped out the main illicit economies and criminal groups present in 39 border departments spread across the six countries of study – the Northern Triangle trio of Guatemala, Honduras, and El…

BRIEF

InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize

COLOMBIA / 20 NOV 2020

The staff at InSight Crime was awarded the prestigious Simón Bolívar national journalism prize in Colombia for its two-year investigation into the drug trafficker known as “Memo Fantasma,” which was…

ANALYSIS

InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works

COLOMBIA / 12 NOV 2020

This project began 10 years ago as an effort to address a problem: the lack of daily coverage, investigative stories and analysis of organized crime in the Americas. …

ANALYSIS

InSight Crime – Ten Years of Investigating Organized Crime in the Americas

FEATURED / 2 NOV 2020

In early 2009, Steven Dudley was in Medellín, Colombia. His assignment: speak to a jailed paramilitary leader in the Itagui prison, just south of the city. Following his interview inside…

ABOUT US