Do dealers really drive around with balloons in their mouths, prepared to swallow them if stopped? Do buyers really receive calls from dealers asking them whether they're satisified? Do buyers really announce their intention to quit using or switch dealers, and get free heroin?
I don't have a lot of experience with stuff like this, but it sounds so bogus.
Balloons are typically sold in .1 gram quantities, with lower quality heroin. I do recall buying balloons wet with saliva, but only some of the time. An acquaintance told me that it used to be standard practice for dealers to use young Mexican children to sell dope by this method on foot in Skid Row, but that the city had really cleaned up downtown. With the popularization of cell phones, the delivery system described in this article became the standard.
Higher quality heroin was usually sold by the half gram. Instead of being in a balloon, it would be wrapped in plastic torn from a grocery bag, tied off or melted to close and seal it. I don't recall these ever being spat out. They would often hide it under the hood in their beat up trucks or minivans.
I never got customer satisfaction surveys from dealers. I'm sure that the dealers had customers or friends from whom they got feedback on their product, but I was never one of them.
A dealer's number was quite a hot commodity. You couldn't just call the dealer up and expect to get served—you had to be introduced. And the dealer would often throw in a free bag if you bought x number of them.
The result of this was that one user would have the dealer's contact information, and would make a buying run for other users who didn't. If they bought enough they could keep the free bag, or otherwise pinch off the bags that they acquired for the other users.
Phone calls with the operator (el jefe) were brief and to-the-point. Code words were often used, e.g., "I need 2 pairs of pants." There was certainly never any in-depth discussion pertaining to the product.
I'm sure they had users with closer relations that they used for feedback.
It is definitely standard practice for them to keep balloons in their mouths. When I bought from these guys they always spit them out one at a time, and always kept a bottle of water by their side to swallow them if needs be.
I also remember one driver telling me that the organization he worked for actually drug tested him regularly to ensure he wasn't using.
Once swallowed, a pat-down search finds nothing, you wait until the police leave, then stick your fingers down your throat and throw up the bags. Here they are ususally wrapped with cling-film (saran wrap) and as long as you don't wait too long, stomach acid won't be a problem.