Because heroin is illegal in the United States, it has become a black
market commodity (product available illegally only) and, as such, its
color, purity, and even its name have changed. On the street, heroin is
called smack, horse, H, dope, skag, or junk. As in other commercial
markets, the dealers give their product brand names like “Tango & Cash,” “DOA” (dead on arrival), “Body Bag” (no explanation
needed), and the more subtle “Red Rum”—murder spelled
backward. A “fix” (enough heroin for a single high) is usually
bought in a glassine (thin transparent paper that resists air
and grease) envelope with the brand name stamped on it.
Street heroin is far from pure. Every time it is traded
down the distribution chain, it is “cut,” which means that
it is mixed with other products to increase its weight and the
profit of its sale. Some of these products are innocuous—for
example, sugar, starch, powered milk, quinine, brick dust, and
starch. Others are intrinsically harmful—for example, the
harmful poison strychnine and the potentially dangerous
talcum powder, which, when injected in a vein, does not
dissolve in the bloodstream but forms little particles that can
cause vein blockage. Sometimes heroin is laced with other