Phoenix Police See Spike in Heroin Use

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​Just when we thought crystal meth reigned supreme as the drug of choice among hard dopers, here's this blast from the past.

Remember heroin? Well drug addicts sure do, and according to Phoenix police, "smack" is coming back in a big way.

"Between January 2006 and January 2008, we confiscated a little less than three kilos of heroin off the streets," says Detective James Holmes of the Phoenix Police Department. "Between January 2008 and August 2009 alone, we confiscated about 33 kilos of heroin."

The increase is part of a national trend. Police say users are going back to heroin because of increased efforts to combat other drugs, like crystal meth and prescription pain medication.

"We have seen a significant rise in heroin use here in the Valley,"  Holmes says. "If you look at black tar heroin or brown heroin, it gives you about the same high as you're going to get from oxycontin."

Police say most of the heroin found in the Valley is relatively cheap, and is channeled in through Mexico. This is in contrast to crystal meth, which is usually channeled in from some guys garage in a Valley neighborhood.

Looks like our drug addicts aren't necessarily buying domestic anymore.