But as his use grew so did his addiction, something that also affected his wallet. For some of Brock's friends in the same situation, the goal became getting the same high but at less cost. The solution was heroin.

"It's something you didn't think you'd do," he said.

Teens would obtain the drugs by sharing the phone numbers of known dealers with other users, Brock said. The dealer would tell the juveniles to meet one or two delivery men in a store parking lot. The group would then drive to a nearby neighborhood, and the men supplying the drugs would spit several balloons out of their mouths, Brock said. Inside each balloon was black-tar heroin.

Dealers' greed

It was exactly the type of scenario that Taylorsville Police Sgt. Keith Stephens told the Deseret Morning News in July that his officers were seeing a lot. Since then, business has not slowed down.

In August, Taylorsville police had approximately 55 drug cases and made 35 arrests, he said.

"We're spending time talking to each (buyer, after they're arrested). None (of their use) is recreational. It's physical and psychological dependence that's driving this. I don't see any end to this in the near future. It's supply and demand. We're still finding people selling to drug addicts, supplying their habits," Stephens said.

In fact, he said, 98 percent of the spitters being arrested for selling drugs don't use drugs themselves.

"They're being driven strictly by the greed," Stephens said.

An arrest in early November highlighted the heroin addiction problem. Stephens said his deputies witnessed a drug deal go down in a Taylorsville parking lot. After the dealers left, officers stopped the buyer, questioned and ticketed him and then took his freshly purchased drugs.

Just 20 minutes later, the same man called the dealers back and asked them to meet him at another location. Officers who were still monitoring the man busted him for a second time and this time sent him to jail.

On Saturday, the obituary of another 19-year-old man who died of a heroin overdose was published in the Deseret Morning News.

"Heroin stole John first from his family, then from his friends, then from all who loved him. Early Thursday morning, heroin stole John from himself," the obituary read.

Mazuran said that according to reports coming to the sheriff's office, heroin has made a comeback over the past two to three years in Utah because young people are smoking it now rather than injecting it.

"Opiate abuse in general among young people right now is a pretty severe issue. It seems to be very popular," he said.

The first clues