BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – The 2015 report by the Brown County Drug Task Force (BCDTF) has been released.
According to the report, the task force opened 408 investigations, made 503 arrests, seized 40 firearms and seized drugs with a street value of just over $1.87 million.
Agents executed 83 search warrants, conducted 56 consent searches, 127 drug purchases and had to deploy the task force’s drug detector K-9s 235 times.
“Marijuana continues to be the most available drug in the area,” says Lt. Dave Poteat with the Brown County Drug Task Force. “Heroin, which we’ve talked about for many years now, is our chief concern.”
In 2015, the task force seized 219 marijuana plants, 80,431.45 grams of processed marijuana, 1,809.51 grams of edible marijuana products, and 722.97 grams of Hash Oil. Hash Oil is a potent extract of marijuana; it has a high concentration of the psychoactive drug THC which is found in marijuana.
The BCDTF referred 78 people for manufacture or distribution of THC and 203 people for possession of THC. Most of the people who were referred for possession of THC were also referred for either distribution of a controlled substance other than marijuana or possession of another controlled substance, or they were arrested on a warrant, probation hold or for a non-drug crime such as theft.
In 2015, the BCDTF seized 219.28 grams of heroin. Although heroin seizures decreased somewhat from 2014, narcotics like heroin and prescription opioids continue to pose the greatest drug threat in this area.
The BCDTF arrested 57 people for possession of heroin and 20 people for distribution of heroin. Agents seized 191 dosage units of narcotic drugs, 36.9 grams of prescription amphetamines and 3,716 dosage units of various other prescription drugs. The BCDTF made 80 arrests for possession of prescription drugs without a prescription and 19 arrests for distribution of prescription drugs.
The overprescribing of prescription drugs creates an excess of medication which is often diverted from medicine cabinets to drug users. The public is encouraged to promptly dispose of prescription medication to help reduce the availability of these drugs to juveniles and thieves.
Most area law enforcement agencies continue to collect prescription drugs for disposal. Ask your doctor or pharmacy about their collection programs and the efforts they are making to reduce prescription drug abuse by collecting unused medication.
“Probably the thing that was most surprising, however, was the dramatic increase that we have seen and are continuing to see with methamphetamine,” said Poteat. “The cost of it has dropped from what it used to be, roughly $100 a gram now, and the effects of it are much higher and longer lasting than cocaine.”
Officers began observing increased use and distribution of methamphetamine in the last quarter of 2014 and began increasing enforcement efforts targeting methamphetamine.
In 2013, the BCDTF seized approximately 41 grams of methamphetamine. In 2014, the BCDTF seized approximately 237 grams of methamphetamine. (A 478 percent increase from 2013 to 2014) During 2015, the BCDTF seized 1,268.67 grams of methamphetamine. 2015 methamphetamine seizures are up 435 percent compared to 2014 which is nearly a 30 fold increase in just 2 years.
In 2015, the BCDTF arrested 29 people for possession of methamphetamine and 20 people for distribution of methamphetamine. We have seen instances of users and dealers switching from heroin to methamphetamine. We will continue to be proactive in our enforcement of methamphetamine in our area.
Historically, cocaine in Brown County has been very easy to obtain. The last 5 years however has seen a steady decline in the availability of cocaine. In 2015, the BCDTF seized 527.14 grams of powder cocaine and 114.16 grams of cocaine base (crack cocaine).
The BCDTF made 31 arrests for possession of cocaine and 24 arrests for cocaine distribution. The 641 grams of cocaine seized in 2015 is more than twice the amount seized in 2014; however, 641 grams is well below the previous 10-year average of 4,189 grams of cocaine.
Other drugs like ecstasy, LSD, synthetic cannabinoids, and psilocybin mushrooms were also seized this past year. The availability of these and other, especially hallucinogenic, drugs is sporadic and our enforcement efforts constantly adapt to the new and renewed drugs threats that arise in our area.
If you observe drug activity that is occurring at that moment, contact your local police department so they can follow up on your observations. If you have suspicions, observe or have knowledge of drug activity involving a person or place in Brown County, you can call the Brown County Drug Tip Line at (920) 437-DRUG (3784), and leave the information on the recorded line.
Caller’s identities remain confidential. If you provide us with a contact number and request to be contacted, someone from the task force will call you back to get the details of your information. Due to the volume of tips we receive, it may take a couple of days to receive a call back.
Finally, if you are using drugs we encourage you to seek help from your family, doctor or a treatment professional before you cause irreversible harm to yourself or someone else. There are a number of resources available in the community to assist you.
Remember that drugs not only affect your mood, but they impair your ability to think, reason and react. Driving under the influence of mind altering drugs puts you and those around you at risk.
In addition to all of the tips we receive from all of the concerned citizens in the community, we have over 100 active investigations on-going.
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