Afghan heroin hits U.S. Midwest

"For the first time, we have more people addicted to heroin than alcohol in my clinic, and these are suburban kids from St. Louis County. More and more Afghan heroin is coming in," says Percy Menzies, president of Assisted Recovery Centers in St. Louis.

Newly elected Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., plans to use his recently acquired seat on the House International Relations Committee to propose setting up a legal market for Afghan opium for manufacturing pain relief medications.

"You can't just cut off the poppies because that's the livelihood of the people who live there," Carnahan says. "But providing them with alternative legal markets for pain-relief medication is a way to help cut back on that heroin supply." Details from the San Jose Mercury News.