Black Tar Heroin

Black Tar Heroin is a variety of heroin produced primarily in Mexico, but similar in appearance and texture to so called Home Bake Heroin from New Zealand. It is the most prevalent form of heroin in the western United States. In the eastern United States, South American-produced "white" (actually beige to off-white) powder heroin is most common. Black tar heroin is also occasionally found in western Canada, though Southeast Asian heroin is the most predominant form there. Almost all of the heroin produced in Mexico is destined for the western United States.

Mexican drug syndicates were producing heroin by the mid-1960s. Lacking the experience in chemistry that other syndicates had gained through years of illicit heroin production, Mexican organizations used less-refined morphine and also substituted primary chemicals in synthesis. The opium from which heroin is ultimately produced is a golden brown-to-black, gummy latex containing an average of 10% morphine, although morphine content can vary from 3 to 20 percent of content. Pure morphine and heroin are both fine white and odorless powders. In order to produce heroin, morphine is extracted from raw opium and reacted with non-glacial acetic acid, primarily acetic anhydride for its efficiency. The purity of the final product, and therefore its color and texture, depend on the purity of the source material. Early black tar heroin was notable for its low purity (usually under 30%, at a time when white powdered heroin from the east coast often tested at over 90%), but purity levels have increased dramatically as the producers have gained experience. It should also be noted that the percent of the remainder of black tar heroin is other psychoactive opiate substances, like 6-MAM & morphine, rather than cut or inactive substances. Accordingly, the price per kilogram of black tar heroin has increased from one-tenth that of South American powder heroin in the mid-1990s to between one-half and three-quarters in 2003. It has been steadily on the rise in the following years to nearly converge with the dropping purity of U.S. east coast powder varieties of heroin.

The effects of black tar heroin are identical to those of powder heroin. This is because, although less refined than powder forms, black tar makes up for purity in potency through excess alkaloids left in its creation process which affect its course of action. Black tar heroin is found to contain byproducts such as 6-monoacetylmorphine, U.S. DEA microanalysis of seized black tar heroin was shown to contain over 50% and as much as 63 percent 6-MAM. 6-monoacetylmorphine is more potent by weight, with less of a negative side effect per milligram, than heroin. However black tar heroin is also found to contain 6-acetylcodeine, which is more toxic than heroin and more likely to cause allergic reactions to otherwise opiate tolerant individuals. Additionally, leftover morphine by itself is found in black tar heroin. The combination of heroin, 6-MAM, & morphine and the difference in their onset upon crossing the blood brain barrier can theoretically be a cause of increased duration of peak effects that none of the drugs alone would reach, making black tar heroin an opiate cocktail of sorts. Because of the consistency of black tar heroin, it is usually injected or smoked. It can also be ground into powder or dissolved in water and snorted.