Heroin Hill, a 50 acre stretch of land in Pogonip, has housed many a drug deal. However, in light of increasing heroin busts, local enforcement and residents look to the future for the park’s quality and overall safety.

Not many people would expect to find the site of the most prolific drug problem in the county in such a serene environment. But at a September meeting of local organization Santa Cruz Neighbors, Steve Carney, former head of the Sheriff’s Office Narcotic Enforcement Team, shared some surprising information: Pogonip State Park, located directly across Coolidge Drive from Stevenson College, is the “meth capital” of Santa Cruz County, where between 10 and 30 drug arrests are sometimes made in a single 10-hour police shift.