US seeking to cut 'Asian connection'

August 21, 1980

Although the number of heroin addicts and on heroin-related deaths and injuries nationwide has dropped dramatically since 1976, several Eastern US cities are having severe problems, presidential domestic affairs adviser Stuart E. Eizenstat said Tuesday. In a new effort to stop the influx of the illegal narcotic, the Drug Enforcement Administration is singling out six major international organizations trafficking in Southwest Asia heroin for special investigation and is working with foreign law enforcement agencies to immobilize heroin laboratories abroad.

In addition, The Customs Service, the Coast Guard, and the DEA are conducting intensified inspections at airports throughout the country to stop heroin smuggling.