MORE DRUG USE, ENFORCEMENT BOOSTS ARRESTS

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- The number of drug-related arrests in Wisconsin
rose 7 percent last year over 1999 levels to more than 25,000 arrests
in 2000, a state report said.

The number of arrests for sale and possession of drugs in the state
more than doubled during the 1990s, said the report released Thursday
by the Office of Justice Assistance.

Police officials throughout the state attributed the rise to
increased drug activity and expanded law enforcement.

Many police departments are pooling resources with neighboring law
enforcement agencies to combat the problem of more people using
cocaine, methamphetamine and Ecstasy, law enforcement officials said.

Drug arrests "have been rising consistently for the last four or five
years," said Outagamie County Sheriff Brad Gehring, a former
president of the Badger Sheriffs Association. He said 14 officers
fight the problem in his four-county area drug task force.

"I think there's more drugs, but I also believe that the biggest
thing we're probably seeing is that there are more agencies, more
information-sharing, and that creates more arrests," Gehring said.

In April, members of an anti-drug task force from the Dane County
sheriff's office and other area police departments posed as drug
dealers, arresting 17 people on charges of trying to buy drugs.

The "reverse operation" was designed to "discourage open-air drug
markets and get a handle on where customers are coming from," Sheriff
Gary Hamblin said.

"I've never been comfortable with the term 'war on drugs,' " he said.
"But we certainly aren't solving the drug problem."

State agents linked the increase in drug arrests partly to growing
use of methamphetamine and Ecstasy, said Mitch Henck, a spokesman for
Attorney General Jim Doyle. He said those drugs appeal to
middle-class users.