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Meth seizures, use on the rise

3,027 views · Published 25 May 2018 · 2:03 · Indexed 23 September 2026

Channel: LOCAL 12 · 2018 · News & Politics

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CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Police on both sides of the Ohio River and treatment specialists are seeing more methamphetamine on the street and more addicts using it.

Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force Director Chris Conners said the amount of methamphetamine his unit is seizing has increased dramatically over the last three years.

In the unit's year of 2015-2016, 1.47 pounds of meth was seized. The next year, seven pounds was seized and this year, more than 21 pounds of meth has been seized.

"There's a lot of ingenuity within the drug trafficking organizations," Conners said. "They understand that if law enforcement and government and communities are paying more attention to the heroin crisis, that may be a good time to introduce something new."

Nan Franks, the director of the Addiction Services Council, said more people who've been using meth are calling into her organization for help.

"We're also seeing an increase of people who tell us they use meth after coming down off of heroin," Franks said. Franks said there's an urban myth among heroin addicts that using meth will prevent them from getting "dope sick" or ill because of withdraw. Franks said they're also seeing new meth users on both sides of the river.

"The symptoms around the meth use are often like psychosis or inability to sleep. It's not anything that there's a medication-assisted treatment for," Franks said.

Meanwhile, Conners said much of the more pure crystal meth is coming from cartels in Mexico.

"As long as there's a market, there's going to be people trying to sell it," said Conners.

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