Herion: A Growing Trend in Medellin

The 1990s culture in the United States was a counter culture revolution to the excess of the 80s, and this was obvious in the fashion, apathy, and the drugs that the pop culture did. They made a switch from the high energy all-night partying at clubs like Studio-54 fueled by copious amounts of cocaine to doing heroin at the Viper Room. Cocaine took a cultural icon before his time in Jim Belushi, and not to be outdone, heroin took the emerging voice of the 90s with Kurt Cobain. They say everything is full circle, and it's being proven all over again.

Medellin is NOT the city of cocaine

First thing's first, regardless of what Netflix sold to you, or a Brazilian Pablo Escobar tried to portray, Medellin isn't a city where everyone does cocaine. It's not a stretch at all to say that every major city in the US has a bigger cocaine problem than Medellin. Is it here? Yes. Is it the party drug of choice in Medellin, not even close. Most locals see cocaine as a "Gringo drug", and don't touch it. They tend to silently (or not so silently) judge those foreigners that ask for it. If you are obviously a tourist, and spent any time in Parque Lleras, Provenza or La 70, you have been offered cocaine by the street 'chicle' vendors.

The drug that has been at the forefront of the party scene in Medellin for more than a decade is 2CB, or Tusi. It's a pink or purple powder that is flavored with artificial drink sweetener to mask the terrible flavor. This has given many including the tourists that have jumped to their deaths in 2024, a false sense of how bad this drug is. I wrote a few articles on it, please take a moment to go back and read those, it's quite eye opening. Some call it "Pink Cocaine" and thanks to the unsealing of the records that were compiled as part of the Diddy trial, it's obvious he abused 2CB and it has caused a massive curiosity among people in the US wanting to try "Pink Cocaine". Actual cocaine is making a cultural renaissance in the US, judging by the number of cocaine related reels and tiktoks posted in the name of humor. "Coming out of the bathroom smelling my keys" has replaced songs like "Heyo for Yayo" by Andre Nikatina - If you haven't heard the song, listen to it. It's highly critical of the cocaine trade on all sides.

Tusi is losing it's grip on Medellin's youth

As we enter the halfway point of one of the most tumultous decades in Medellin's history since the height of the drug trafficking, an alarming trend has shown some momentum, the selling and consuming of heroin among Medellin's youth in Estrato 0-3. Tusi used to be the party drug that was used, but only occasionally because of price. So they have turned to a less expensive alternative, heroin. It seems counterintuitive but heroin is a more economical option for the youth than tusi.

Tusi is sold in the legacy method of marketing drugs, by the gram. A gram of tusi costs anywhere from 50k-100k Colombian Pesos, and one bag can be consumed in one night of hard partying. Heroin on the other hand, follows the crack marketing method, and is sold based on the baggy size. Small, Medium and Large. The small bag holds approximately .75 grams and the large holds 1.5 grams. The prices are lower as well at 65k COP for the small bag and 125k COP for the large bag. If you just look at the economics, you can see that the heroin is certainly more expensive, but you have to factor in how much it takes to achieve a high from the drugs. It takes considerably more tusi to get high that does heroin. To get high may take the whole gram of tusi depending on it's strength, where as a small bag of heroin will get you incredibly high 2 times. The cost per unit may be higher, but the cost per high is considerably less. Also, the type of high from heroin lends itself to going home, putting on tiktok videos and transing out alone. Tusi is something you do to party, and to have a good time.

Logistics of heroin in Medellin

I am sure I will get pushback from many of "Where are you hearing this?" or "I party all the time and I never been offered h". Well here is the cold hard fact - as a gringo, you won't be offered it. There is a stigma that goes along with using heroin that is similar to the stigma of using meth in the US. Nobody will admit to it, because of the dark implications of it. Cocaine and Tusi are party drugs that can be easily written off as a "What the hell" kind of "YOLO" behavior, but to admit to heroin use is a hard core drug problem. For good reason too. So finding it will be very hard. Mr Weed, The Astro Group, and street vendors will not advertise it, nor sell it to you.

What would a drug expose on MedellinUnfiltered be without a chemical analysis of the heroin off the streets. We had an independent lab run a chemical analysis of 100g from a small bag off the streets, and the results were as follow:

• 100mg sample size

• 71mg heroin (3,6,-diacetoxy-7,8-dehydro-4,5 epoxy-N-methylmorphinan) and process chemicals

• 13mg glass bead particles

• 6mg muratic acid

• 4mg calcuim chloride

• 3mg sodium hypochlorite

• 1-1.5mg synthetic heroin - fentanyl

• Trace elements of cypermethrin and dirt

What can be done?

First of all, it's not our place to try and fix the problem. We can't. All that can be done is to let the users know what they're injesting. In the sample above, the glass bead particles were told to be not smooth, but jagged and will (not can) cause membrane damage if inhaled, and imminent vein collapse if injected. Also the amount of chlorine and acid in there as well as the cypermetnerin is wild. That is the active ingredient in most roach sprays. Not to mention the boogie man, Fentanyl makes an appearance.

The long and short is that we can't do much past inform. Any young person you talk to wearing a Nirvana or Kurt Cobain shirt, let them know that heroin is what took Kurt away from us. It started innocently enough for him as well. Bradley Newell of Sublime as well. It just started with snorting a little H to escape their lives, and caused them to die, from suicide and from an overdose. Inform those you love that heroin is one of the most destructive and most addictive drugs out there. This isn't a scare tactic like places like Reefer Madness, this is real life, with millions of historic examples. All you can do is arm your loved ones with information.

If the city cared, they would have judgment free drug testing facilities, where people could take drugs to be tested for purity. If they want to follow in the footsteps of Amsterdam, and foster the party city image, hell even embrace it, then follow it completely and provide places where people can know what they're taking. I will guarantee that you would see a change in the way that drugs are sold here. Calling on you Fico, look at the reality here. This is not a problem you can blame on the gringos. It's time to make a positive change.