Police: Prescription Drug Addicts Look To Heroin

Heroin is taking center stage in a community that doesn’t really deal with it much after four Marsh Valley teens were put behind bars last week for allegedly possessing the narcotic.

Though heroin is rare in southeastern Idaho, it does make its way into the Gem State via corridors like I-15, said Lt. Steve Davis of Idaho State Police Investigations.

Davis said the drug may very well begin to show up in the region more often. As prescription pain medications like Oxycontin and Vicodin become more regulated by the Board of Pharmacy, Davis said addicts may be turning to highly addictive heroin.

“It is the new epidemic,” said Davis, as he spoke about prescription drug addiction in southeastern Idaho.

He said that epidemic could be contributing to a frightening trend.

“Now you’re seeing these drug trafficking organizations seeing an opportunity to capture a market,” he said.

The market, he said, is prescription drug addicts. The substitution is heroin.

“They’re supplying a substitute for that at a very low cost so they can get them in, and now they own them, once they’re heroin addicts,” said Davis.

For drug traffickers, he said, it could be a goldmine.

“These drug-trafficking operations are going to make billions of dollars,” said Davis.

On Thursday, a Marsh Valley High School resource officer spotted a parked car full of kids near the school. Inside he found Marsh Valley seniors and 18-year-old twin brother Ryan and Kyle Austin. He also found syringes filled with suspected heroin.

Both brothers now face heroin possession charges.

Eighteen-year-old Zachary Leiby is charged with frequenting a place where drugs are used.

Davis said even without any background on the Marsh Valley heroin bust, he’d expect there to be some connection to prescription pills.

In fact, a 17-year-old arrested at the scene is charged with selling prescription drugs.

A community meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at Marsh Valley High School l for neighbors to voice their concerns about Thursday’s bust.

Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen and a local judge will be there.