Heroin making inroads in Ky.'s pain pill country

BRETT BARROUQUERE Associated Press Published:

BURLINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Kentucky officials agreed they had to rid their state of a pain pill abuse scourge that had reached epidemic levels. They cracked down on the prescribers, set up an electronic system to track pills and clogged up a pipeline that had roots in Florida.

As those efforts began paying off and pills weren't as easily had, law enforcement came across a surprising discovery -- they busted more people for a drug that had long ago faded into the background. That drug is heroin.

Law enforcement officials in Kentucky and Ohio said the heroin, which is generally snorted or injected in powder form, is imported into the United States from Mexico and Central America. It's first going to Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, then migrating across the Ohio River into Kentucky.