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Law enforcement agents have tracked a decrease in oxycontin and an increase in black tar heroin during the last four to six months, Norman police said.
Norman Police Capt. J.D. Younger said police cannot determine how much of the drug flow has been interrupted and redirected.
"It's difficult to pinpoint the exact impact you've had," he said. "The significant impact is based on the decreased availability and increase in price."
Investigators theorize why numbers have dropped: "Operation Pill Box."
In December, state and federal law enforcement, broke up an alleged oxycontin ring in the Norman area. The investigation was dubbed "Operation Pill Box."
Younger said most of the heroin supply is coming from Mexico. Police suspect someone is acquiring heroin and bringing it into the Norman area.
Suppliers frequently use Interstate 35 and Interstate 40 to transport drugs, Younger said. I-35 runs through Cleveland County and intersects with I-40 in Oklahoma City.
The Medical Examiner's Office tracks overdose deaths across the state and has data through 2009. Data for 2010 is not complete.
In 2008, 32 people in Cleveland County died from drug overdoses. Oxycodone killed five people. One person died from a heroin overdose.
Oxycodone also is found in combination with other ingredients in prescription pain killers. In its pure form it is oxycontin.
In 2009, drug overdose deaths decreased to 28, according to state statistics. One person died from oxycodone. Statistics on heroin related deaths were not available.
So far in 2010, there have been four heroin related overdoses reported in Norman. None have resulted in death, according to state officials.
Burnett said methamphetamine and cocaine are the most common drugs that county investigators come across. However, heroin is making a come back, he said.
Heroin has a massive addictive affect, Burnett said.
"It puts you out," he said.
Dr. David Fish, who joined the emergency department at Norman Regional Hospital in July 2009, said in the past nine months, he's treated at least two heroin overdoses. Both patients lived.
Heroin relaxes the body, Fish said. The narcotic slows down the respiratory system and induces a seemingly euphoric mental state.
Overdose patients brought into the emergency department typically are not breathing, Fish said. The person also likely is in a coma.
"If you take too much you will stop breathing and die," he said.
Fish said someone can become addicted to heroin in a single dose.
"People can be psychologically addicted pretty quickly and physiological over time," he said.
He said heroin originally was designed to be a pain reliever. Another opiate, oxycontin also is known to ease physical pain.
Fish said as an emergency room physician, he treats short-term pain. Oxycodone, in conjunction with other ingredients, is marketed as Percocet. Instead of oxycontin or an oxycodone compound, Fish said he normally prescribes a short dose of Vicodin or Lortab for pain relief.
"It's not something we give out regularly," he said of oxycontin.
Fish said compared with heroin overdoses, he's treated more patients who suffer from prescription drug overdoses.
People who live in Chicago, Washington , DC or San Francisco inner cities lock their doors at night. They are careful where they travel within the city. They all have friends who have been mugged, had homes burglarized, cars stolen or lives taken. They travel the city in crowds like schools of fish. Their safety, like all prey, is in numbers; the odds are that someone else will be eaten instead of them. In rural communities, small towns, and isolated ranch houses, we do not think of ourselves as prey.
During the election, candidate Obama made a very telling comment about bitter, small towns, "clinging to their guns and religion." He is from the big-city prey mentality. He comes from a place that believes that if we take guns away from ordinary citizens, they will somehow be safer. His comment was interpreted as a slam against small-town America, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt. He simply doesn't have any way to relate to those who believe each person is responsible to take care of himself.
The Mexican border, once a cultural bridge, is now a war zone inhabited by killers, smugglers, and drug dealers as bad as any town in Afghanistan. Rural people who live along this poisonous border live with the daily possibility of death and destruction. Thousands of Mexicans have been killed in the drug wars already.
The situation, which has been worsening, culminated last month with the murder of a rancher by a suspected drug smuggler on his way back to Mexico.
He lived in my county along the border. He was known to the neighbors and many Mexican illegals as a generous man. His ranch has been well traveled by illegals for years. His luck ran out. All of us, his neighbors, are saddened but reminded of just how fragile normal life has become where many have put down their roots.
If the president thinks the community is bitter, he just might be right. They are on the front lines in a war to supply recreational drug users their daily toke or weekly snort. The smugglers are doing quite well. I hear of no shortages from celebrities and potheads. And, in truth, I would guess most ranchers are ambivalent about dope smokers and drug users. Unfortunately, they are trying to ranch on the battlefield where the self-righteous, self-centered stoners, snorters, smokers, shooters and suppliers are fighting The Law.
You can see in this Arizona rural community why we cling to our guns. We don't have police cars patrolling our neighborhoods. The nearest neighbor could be ten or twelve miles away and the criminals pass like ghosts in the night. We use our guns because we are not prey; we take responsibility for our own lives and livelihood. The president's unfortunate denigration of religion as a source of strength is something he probably wishes he could take back. His past church membership speaks for his faith. Suffice it to say, when we turn to God for help, it is because He has proven to be more reliable than the stream of politicians' promises that continue to pour over us like dirty water sluicing down the drain.
And nobody seems to have a clue.
Baxter Black is a former New Mexico resident who spent most of his working days tormenting cows. He now resides in Arizona and spends most of his free time tormenting cowboys and the sorts. His column appears in the Deming Headlight on Tuesday. www.baxterblack.com
In Congress, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been a firm opponent of any proposal that would give amnesty to illegal aliens.
The federal government must provide the necessary resources to secure our borders, which is critical for America’s economic and national security.
She strongly supports legislation that would significantly increase the number of border patrol agents and place sophisticated technology along the Southern border to catch human and drug smugglers. In the House, Senator Gillibrand authored and passed an amendment that will prevent employers who have hired illegal aliens from receiving federal contracts.
Senator Gillibrand believes English should be made the official language of the United States and she opposes providing non-emergency taxpayer benefits to illegal aliens.
As a Member of the House Agriculture Committee, she has advocated for a review of the current H-2A visa system, so that farmers will have access to legal workers when they cannot find Americans to fill their labor needs.
In "October Surprise", Molotov Mitchell interviews the plaintiff in a stunning federal case against Barack Obama. The case is nothing short of electrifying, but the mainstream media is doing its best to keep Americans in the dark. Let's get the word out!
If Obama's innocent, then why isn't he cooperating with the court?
