Pogonip may be popular with people out for a brisk stroll, but anyone who veers off the most popular trails could run into a heroin or coke deal. Chief Ranger John Wallace says that the number of drug deals taking place there is so enormous that people are making their way down to “Heroin Hill” from Silicon Valley. Over 100 drug-related arrests have been made in the area since this past May.
While that would be a problem on its own, Wallace adds that dealers have been using makeshift burners, often little more than soda can stoves, to cook the heroin that they sell. In the severe drought conditions facing Santa Cruz County, this poses a serious risk for wildfires in the area. With the problem getting worse by the day, city officials closed a large swathe of the 2,000-acre park yesterday, hoping to reduce crime and giving them a chance to clean up the countless used syringes and other paraphernalia that litter the more remote trails. The park is expected to reopen once the winter rains begin. Read more at Santa Cruz Sentinel.
