While heroin and other opioids continue to draw headlines and the attention of political figures, methamphetamine has made a comeback in Madison County.
Mexican drug cartels are sending a flood of methamphetamine into the United States, 
Madison County Drug Task Force Commander Robert Mott told the fiscal court Tuesday.
The large volume and high quality of the Mexican meth has lowered prices and led to the decline of crude, local meth labs, Mott said.
In 2016, law enforcement in Madison County seized four meth labs, only one in 2015 and none so far in 2017, according to figures Mott presented. A few years earlier, seizure of four local meth labs a month was not uncommon, he said.
Meth stats
In 2015, 232 grams of meth were seized in Madison County, but almost seven times that amount, 1,563 grams, was taken in 2016.
In the first three months of 2017, the amount was 537 grams. If that rate continues, meth seizures in Madison County could reach 2,150 grams by year’s end.
Heroin stats
While meth was multiplying in 2016, heroin was declining. While 1,053 grams of heroin were seized locally in 2015, the number fell to 794 the following year.
However, heroin appears to be making a comeback in 2017. In the first quarter, 442 grams were seized. At that rate, the number could total nearly 1,770 by year’s end.
Heroin remains the leading cause of drug overdoses and overdose deaths, Mott added.
Other stats
Oxycodone seizures totaled 4,711 pills in 2015, fell to 943 in 2016 but had reached 1,633 at the end of March 2017, as it also appeared to be making a comeback. If that trend continues, 2017’s total could reach 6,532.
The tide appeared to have turned in the battle against prescription pills in 2016, but was showing an uptick in 2017.
While 3,209 were seized in 2015, that number fell to 367 the following year. In the first quarter of 2017, however, 165 were seized. If the next three quarters follow suit, the total would be 660.
Cash seizures totaled $695,221 in 2015 and $30,940 the following year. They were up to $98,334 in the first quarter of 2017.
Firearm seizures totaled 112 in 2015, fell to 30 in 2015, but like other seizures, increased in the first quarter of 2017. The 23 seized in this year’s first three months would reach 92 by Dec. 31, if the trend continues.
Focus on importers
The task force focuses its efforts on organizations that import drugs into the community, not street-level dealers, Mott explained.
However, that may frustrate those who report suspected dealers and want immediate action, he acknowledged.
In some cases, police informants may make multiple purchases of drugs from a street-level dealer and not make an arrest for months because they hope to build a case against those in that dealer’s supplier chain.
The task force made 109 arrests in 2015, 102 in 2017, and 34 in the first quarter of 2017.
When interstate traffickers are caught, their cases usually are prosecuted in federal court, Mott added. Such arrests may escape local attention because suspects often are turned over to federal authorities who may try them in cities as far away as Chicago, Detroit or Atlanta.
The task force has successfully prosecuted large-scale dealers under a federal statute that called for sentences of 20 years to life for suppliers of drugs that can be tied to an overdose death, Mott noted.
The task force opened 123 cases in 2015, with a jump to 179 in 2016. For the first quarter of 2017, new cases totaled 33.
Effort is local, state, federal
Madison County Sheriff Mike Coyle said he and former sheriff Jerry Combs were blamed when funding for the previous county drug task force ended. However, with the help of U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Sixth District, and U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a new federal grant was secured in 2014 for a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force.
One requirement of the current grant is involvement of federal as well as state and local agencies in the task force, Coyle explained.
In addition to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, which contributes two detectives, Richmond Police Department, two detectives; Berea Police Department, one detective; and the Kentucky State Police, the task force includes agents of the federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm Agency and the Drug Enforcement Agency.
“The drug epidemic has changed us all,” Coyle said, not just law enforcement. He compared law enforcement’s effort to fighting a forest fire, specifically comparing it to the 2016 forest fire that destroyed much of downtown Gatlinburg, Tenn.
The sheriff said 85 percent of local crime, including thefts, can be traced to the drug epidemic. He called it the worst wave of criminal activity in his four decades as a law officer.
The stress has contributed to the high rate of turnover in all local law enforcement agencies, Coyle added. His office has lost five deputies in the past six months, but has been able to replace them.
Two deputies left to join the state Department of Criminal Justice Training, one joined the Eastern Kentucky University police force and two joined the KSP.
His deputies stepped up to work longer hours while three fellow deputies were on leave for heart procedures, the sheriff added.
Both Coyle and Mott said they initially opposed the needle/syringe exchange the Madison County Health Department will begin operating next month. However, they were persuaded it may help prevent the spread of chronic disease and reduce the chances of law officers being pricked by a suspect’s hidden, dirty needle.
richmondregister.com/news/meth-surpasses-heroin-as-most-seized-drug/article_1413d20c-5084-11e7-80af-d3fe8fccb448.html
