Crack cocaine. Marijuana. Pills of every sort. Local authorities routinely arrest people for peddling these kinds of drugs.

But Monday night, agents with the Lawrence County Drug and Major Crimes Task Force encountered a drug they do not normally see offered on the streets of Lawrence County: heroin.

“The drug task force was started in 1998. This is the first time we have purchased heroin in Lawrence County,” Lawrence County Sheriff Tim Sexton said. “We have a concern now. We have someone here who was trying to peddle this stuff.”

Robert Green, 31 of Russell, Ky., was arrested Monday night after attempting to sell undercover drug enforcement agents black tar heroin. Sexton said 14 doses of heroin were confiscated. Each dose has a street value of $60.

Green was charged with trafficking in drugs and possession of drugs and was taken to the Lawrence County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in Lawrence County Municipal Court in Chesapeake Friday to answer the charges against him.

According to information from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, heroin is processed from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the Asian poppy plant. It is highly addictive.

While the Lawrence County arrest may be unusual, Sexton said he is aware the drug is present in other cities locally, such as Huntington, W.Va.

“We like to talk about this being Lawrence County, Ohio, but we are a metropolitan area that includes Huntington and Ashland (Ky.). We all share some of the same problems and some of the same drug traffickers. And we often share intelligence with other agencies,” he said.