Police and prosecutors are turning to more aggressive tactics against heroin, dusting off little-used laws to seek murder charges against suspected dealers and provide for longer prison sentences.

Angry parents are joining the effort, too. They've organized anti-drug rallies and founded organizations to spread the word about heroin in affluent areas where it is usually considered a distant, unlikely threat.

Over the last several years, heroin has become cheaper than a six-pack and as easy to obtain as pot in many parts of the country.

The more assertive approach is not entirely new to the drug war, but it's being adopted more widely and in more areas that have rarely been so bold - comfortable residential communities.