The Heroin Epidemic: Then and Now—Lessons Learned

Former DEA Administrator Peter Bensinger and former National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Robert DuPont, M.D., outline the steps taken during the late 1970s to reduce the supply of heroin in the United States. The goal of these efforts was to reduce the number of heroin users and overdose deaths by increasing heroin prices and reducing heroin purity. Bensinger discusses two major heroin initiatives, Operation Heroin B and Operation Trizo. Dr. DuPont highlights the crucial role of DEA and law enforcement in a public health approach to the heroin epidemic and lessons learned from the 1970s heroin epidemic.