LAWMEN CAN'T KEEP UP WITH THE FLOW OF DRUGS

Illegal drugs are everyone's problem, said the program manager for
HIDTA, the federal agency known as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Agency.

Or at least everyone should be willing to step up and help fight the
issue.

"A lot of this problem is our own doing," said John Postlethwaite, who
has been in law enforcement for almost 40 years. "Without the demand,
there wouldn't be a supply."

That doesn't mean law enforcement agencies -- local, state and federal
- -- are not going to fight the issue of drugs on the streets but those
agencies would like help.

"We have to not only be diligent in law enforcement, but we need to be
more active in our education system, with prevention and treatment,
with doctors, pharmacists, rehab centers, churches, politicians,
community leaders and parents. There are too many mothers, fathers,
sisters and brothers burying loved ones due to drugs," Postlethwaite
said.

In Ohio, heroin is the biggest problem drug, Postlethwaite said.
Oxycodone, prescription pills, marijuana and meth remain major problems.

Those in law enforcement say those taking prescription pills that are
opiates, such as oxycodone, become addicted. Then, when they can't get
the pills, they have to turn to something else and heroin is the
cheapest and easiest to get.

In 2001, when federal law enforcement started sweeping the streets and
putting high numbers of individuals in jail for Oxycodone, that drove
the price of the pills up which allowed the Mexican cartel to swoop in
and fill a need.

"They saw a need and could supply it cheap," Postlethwaite
said.

While different drugs are problems in different areas of the state,
Ohio is the third major interstate system for commercial travel -- and
within 500 miles of 60 percent of the U.S. population. So it's easy to
see how drugs can be brought in to be distributed to all points of the
country, let alone to the communities surrounding our area.

Zanesville and Muskingum County

Zanesville Police Detective Sgt. Mark Lenhart has seen a rise in
prescription pills being abused for the past couple of years. Along
with it, a spike in heroin use.

"I've seen people take the pills, crush them to either snort them or
melt them down to shoot in their veins," Lenhart said. "When they
can't get them, they turn to heroin."

Lenhart said he takes 50 to 75 cases a year to the prosecutor's
office. About 70 percent of those got into court. The others are sent
back to Lenhart's office for further investigation.

In Muskingum County, the main drug issue is cocaine, both crack and
powder.

Sheriff Matt Lutz said there were 98 drug cases in Muskingum County
last year, 89 of those felonies and another 30 misdemeanor cases.
That's a jump from 2008 where there were 65 cases.

"That's not a big increase, but it's not a decrease either," Lutz
said.

Most of the drugs are coming from Mexico and the drug cartels, Lutz
said.

But the cartels are so well insulated, it's hard to penetrate them and
bring the leaders to court.

Lt. Tom Brown, of the Central Ohio Drug Task Force, said a major
pipeline from Mexico is right next door, in Licking County and the
Columbus area.

It takes time to gain information about a drug trafficker and then
make an actual arrest.

"It's not an overnight thing," Lenhart said. "It takes a lot of work,
a lot of manpower, resources and money."

Lenhart agreed with Postlethwaite that society as a whole needs to
correct the drug problem.

"I blame a lot of neighborhoods for allowing the drug use to go on.
People are either afraid of retaliation or they just seem to turn a
blind eye. People need to get more involved and more pro-active
instead of calling us and expecting something to happen overnight.
That's just not how it's done. An investigation can take days, weeks
or months. But some people would rather ignore the situation than do
something about it."

Lenhart said if he lived in a neighborhood where drugs were being
sold, he'd be screaming.

"But some people just seem to let it go by," he said.

Muskingum County Prosecutor Michael Haddox said drugs always will be a
problem until the vast majority of people decide that using illegal
drugs is morally wrong.

"Teaching children at very young ages the perils of drugs doesn't
always seem to stop those out there who, knowing full well the risk
they take with their lives when they use drugs, go ahead and disregard
all caution and use," Haddox said. "Until these people have a moral
fiber telling them not to use illegal drugs, we won't be able to have
a better community."

Lutz said while law enforcement takes a proactive stance in the fight
on drugs, it's a very tough process.

"You have to gather intelligence, which takes time and money. Then, if
you try and find an informant to purchase drugs, it's hard to find
someone like that. Dealers will only sell to someone they know or
trust. That can add a lot of time to the investigation."

Both Lenhart and Lutz agreed money and personnel are big issues when
it comes to fighting drugs.

The Zanesville Police Department can have no overtime, due to the
city's $2.6 millon deficit. That has made Lenhart's job even tougher.

"We've got three or four officers working the drug unit and now we
don't have any overtime," Lenhart said. "That's put a real crimp in
our operations."

Lutz said he has four of the hardest working people he knows in his
drug unit, but again, it takes a lot of time, money and personnel to
work the cases.

"I think the people of the community have seen what we're doing and
how hard we're working," Lutz said. "My guys on the road have become
more proactive in drug awareness and very assertive in drug
enforcement. They're always looking for it and they know it fuels
other crimes.

Haddox said as far as punishment versus rehab or counseling, he looks
at each case individually.

"What is going to be best for society and this person," Haddox said.
"Most first-time offenders, or those getting caught with a small
amount of a drug that is obviously for personal use, will probably get
community control and we also look at some type of rehab. Now, having
said that, one of the first issues is whether or not that person
admits they have a problem. If they don't, chances of recovery are
slim. They have to want to kick it."

Perry County

Cocaine and meth labs are running close for being the biggest drug
problem in Perry County, said Perry County Sgt. Kevin Starrett.

Since November, the sheriff's office has had three convictions out of
13 pending drug cases. In 2008, eight meth labs and two dump sites
were located, resulting in eight arrests. A dump site, usually in
wooded areas, is where an illegal drug manufacturer discards the used
materials and chemicals.

"If I had time, I could be out on the streets buying drugs eight hours
a day," Starrett said.

While it seems to be a revolving door with no end, Starrett said
Sheriff Randy Barker is taking a very proactive stance against this
problem.

"We're becoming very aggressive in our approach to taking as many
drugs off our streets as we can," Starrett said referring to the
increase in drug-related arrests.

There has been an increase in prescription drugs in the area, said
Prosecutor Joseph Flautt.

Starrett agreed and said he's seen those seeking prescription drugs
going as far away as Florida to get pills.

Postlethwaite said there were 45 doctors in 2008 in one Florida
community that prescribed 9 million doses of Oxycodone.

"That creates pill mills and doctor shopping," Postlethwaite said. "In
2008, we had 85 pain clinics just in Broward County in Florida that we
knew were supplying to Ohio residents. People in Ohio are getting as
many prescriptions as they can and bringing them back to sell."

That adds up to a lot of money.

Postlethwaite said prescription pills have become a cash crop for
those who need money and can get the pills.

"With the economic situation and high unemployment, especially in
southern Ohio, some people take the easy way out and use the pills to
supplement their income," Postlethwaite said. "They get a prescription
for 60 pills and then sell half of the pills to pay their rent, bills
or put food on the table."

Flautt said he's seen young people stealing drugs right out of their
parent's medicine cabinets.

"I think people aren't really aware of how extensive the problem is,"
Flautt said. "Drugs are everywhere. They're taking over your next door
neighbor, the businessman down the street and the young children in
our schools."

Flautt said he has seen a major increase in the young women in the
area abusing prescription drugs.

"I don't really understand someone becoming addicted to the drugs, but
I do know from watching what happens to them that it's a terrible
addiction and hard to get out from under."

When the pills become harder and harder to get, Flautt said heroin
dealers know these people eventually will turn to heroin, so they sell
it cheap and get them hooked.

"That leads to an increase in property crimes, burglaries and
robberies," Flautt said. "It becomes a viscous cycle."

Coshocton County

Crack and powder cocaine are the bigger issues in Coshocton
County.

An undercover detective with the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office
said 75 drug-related arrests were made in 2008.

"That may not seem like a lot for an area like Columbus," the agent
said, "but for our community, that's pretty big."

One of the reasons Coshocton County has smaller drug-related arrests
is that dealers and traffickers are harder to find.

"Years ago you could drive down certain streets, knew who was dealing
and make buys and your case that way," the agent said. "Now, they're
either from out of town or they're living here one day and somewhere
else the next. They move around the minute they think we're on to
them. We get a lot of our drugs from Zanesville and Columbus."

Lt. Tom Brown, one of the Central Ohio Task Force officers, said
traffickers and dealers keep coming up with new methods of selling
their wares all the time.

"We keep investigating," Brown said. "I think one of the most
important things to remember is we're not going away."

The undercover detective said he has seen an increase in prescription
drug abuse and knows users are crushing, snorting and injecting drugs
like Oxycodone.

"It can be an appalling story," the agent said. "I've seen kids as
young as 10 or 12 getting high before going to school."

Coshocton Prosecutor Bob Batchelor said the drug use peaked in 2006
when there were 50 people indicted on drug charges.

"We've been very successful in our interdiction," Batchelor said. "I
have to credit the sheriff's office, the prosecutor's office and the
Central Ohio Drug Task Force for that."

Batchelor also said anyone caught with drugs needs to have the
opportunity to go to rehab, but should spend some time in jail.

"I believe they need the shock value. When that cell door closes, they
seem to get that it's real."

Morgan County

Morgan County Sheriff Tom Jenkins believes the war on drugs can be
won.

"If I buried my head in the sand and said, 'No, we can't win this,'
then I may as well turn in my badge," Jenkins said.

In Morgan County, the biggest drug problems seem to be crack and
cocaine with marijuana and prescription pills coming up fast.

Jenkins said an increase in property crimes is being noticed,
especially the theft of scrap, such as copper.

"These people need money to buy their drugs," Jenkins said. "So they
get it however they can. With copper being up to $3 a pound, they can
get a good chunk of money they need to get the drugs."

In Chesterhill, the drugs seem to have died down, but they haven't
gone away, Jenkins said.

"Even when we bust someone there and another moves in, it just doesn't
seem as bad as it did," Jenkins said.

Some of that may be due to strong interdiction on the part of the
sheriff's office.

Jenkins said he has no problem asking for help from other counties if
he thinks there is a problem.

"I have such a small department, I have to call for help," said
Jenkins, whose department consists of four. "When investigations can
last weeks, months, even years, I need help."

And not all drug dealers look like riff-raff, Jenkins
said.

"I think that's a big misconception on people's part," Jenkins said.
"People think dealers are supposed to look like dirt-balls. They
don't. They don't stand on a street corner anymore and sell the stuff
to those passing by. Times have changed. Now it's a food chain. You
have a guy who sells marijuana and the next guy sells acid and then
another sells kilos of coke."

Jenkins believes education is a big help in the fight with
drugs.

"If you don't educate the people, they don't know how to change,"
Jenkins said. "But, they have to believe it. We're not a socialist
state. We can't threaten people. We can punish them, but we can't
threaten people to stop using drugs. So it's education, education,
education."

Solutions

The undercover agent in Coshocton wants more law enforcement on the
streets.

"When drugs are on the streets, it creates more crimes," the agent
said. "People don't realize that until it gets in their neighborhood.
We could do this all day long, every day of the week. We need more
help."

Education is another of the solutions law enforcement has in the
battle against drugs.

With programs such as DARE in the schools, Lutz said it's a good
start.

"Peer pressure is the highest during junior and high school," Lutz
said. "We know we probably won't be able to save all the kids, but
even if we keep one off drugs, we've done our job."

Haddox agreed.

"The younger the person is that receives the education, the better off
they are," Haddox said.

Closing the borders is another solution Jenkins, Lutz and Lenhart said
definitely would put a damper in the drug market.

"If someone wants to come here the legal way for legitimate reasons, I
have no problem with that," Jenkins said. "But when they come across
the border to bring or sell drugs, that needs to be
eliminated."

Postlethwaite also agreed with Haddox that public opinion needs to be
swayed that drugs are bad.

"Demand reduction is the answer. Again, with no demand, there will be
no supply."

For that to work, Postlethwaite said it will take everyone in the
community -- not just law enforcement and courts -- but politicians,
rehab centers, parents, teachers, physicians, health care workers,
churches, community leaders and pharmacists, too.

Postlethwaite is also a big supporter of doctors and pharmacists
throughout Ohio joining the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, or a
statewide electronic database which collects designated data on
substances dispensed in the state.

"If a doctor has a patient come in seeking medication, all they have
to do is look up the patient on this database and they'll be able to
see right away if they've been to two or three other doctors in the
past week or month," Postlethwaite said. "Then that doctor can
immediately take action. At least preventive action."

The drug agent in Coshocton said he believes doctors are slowly
becoming more aware of what the issue with drugs are, especially with
the prescription pills.

"I think we as law enforcement agents should be training these health
professionals in what to look for," the agent said. "We all need to
work with each other."

In January, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Diversion Control
reported there are 34 states with operational data bases which have
the capacity to receive and distribute substance prescription
information to authorized users. Ohio is one of those states.

According to the Justice Department, the advantages of a PDMP is to
support access to legitimate medical use of controlled substances,
identify and deter or prevent drug abuse and diversion, facilitate and
encourage the identification, intervention with and treatment of
persons addicted to prescription drugs, inform public health
initiatives through outlining of use and abuse trends and educate
individuals about PDMP's and the use, abuse and diversion of and
addiction to prescription drugs.

Law enforcement officials said they will continue to fight the battle
of drugs -- be it prescription abuse or illegal use -- as best they
can, but they can't do it alone.

"It takes everyone to be involved," Postlethwaite said. "Everyone."