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No Single Action Will End County’s Fight With Addiction

If there was a silver lining to the methamphetamine busts reported by Jamestown police officers five years ago, it was that most of the busts were local residents trying to make meth with what is called a one-pot method.

That silver lining is disappearing, according to Harry Snellings, Jamestown police chief and public safety director. Snellings recently told members of the city’s Health Care Action Team that police officers are seeing a significant increase in methamphetamine in the city. Rather than being produced locally, Snellings said the methamphetamine being produced is top-of-the-line product from Mexico, arriving in Jamestown through the U.S. Postal Service. February also brought an increase in fentanyl being laced in meth and cocaine.

Think about that for a second. The demand for meth is so great in the Jamestown area that the drugs are being shipped through the mail from Mexico. That should be a sign that we have a long way to go locally in reducing demand for meth by getting people into treatment and making sure they don’t become addicted to opioids in the first place. It is also pretty obvious that all options should be considered when it comes to keeping drugs from making it through southern border crossings. Once the drugs make their way into the United States, it is nearly impossible to stop their spread.

While the county’s opioid addiction problem isn’t limited just to illegal opioids, Snellings’ statement is a sign that, once again, dealers of illicit narcotics have changed their tactics again. As police and treatment officials plot their future courses, and Congress debates border security, the constantly changing tactics of dealers should be a reminder that our treatment and interdiction efforts must be just as multifaceted. Just as dealers don’t rely on any single method to get their products in front of those fighting addiction, no single action will end the fight against addiction, either.

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