We are now, finally, able to put some numbers to the city’s drug problems.

The number of bags of heroin seized by Jamestown Police has increased from 119 in 2012 to 826 in 2013 and 4,500 in 2014. Alstar Ambulance EMTs have responded to 89 overdose calls, or 25 more than the same point in 2013, and administered nalaxone 59 times, or 27 more times than the same point in 2013.

It’s safe to say there is a problem. It is also safe to say area police departments are doing their best to make it difficult on those who want to deal drugs in Jamestown. If that wasn’t clear from the increased drug enforcement activity in the city, Harry Snellings, city police chief/director of public safety, made it crystal clear at the recent Striking Back At The White Plague education lecture at Jamestown Community College.

“Our goal is to make it extremely difficult to set up and deal heroin or any drug in our community … we don’t want (them) here,” Snellings said during the forum.

Their efforts are paying off and have brought about some changes in how area police agencies handle drug cases.

A few weeks ago, Cesar L. Santiago was charged with second-degree burglary after Jamestown police officers found him selling drugs from a vacant apartment at 1091 E. Second St. Santiago posted bail and, this past Thursday, was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. You see, after being roused from his Jamestown selling spot, Santiago had taken his drugs to the Budget Inn, 2 E. Second St., Falconer, and started selling again. Such situations are the reason the Jamestown and Ellicott police departments created the Jamestown Metro Drug Task Force, the group which teamed with the State Police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team for Thursday’s bust. It was the second time the new task force had executed a search warrant on suspected drug activity in the Jamestown and Ellicott area. Give credit to both departments for not letting municipal lines hamper officers’ efforts to deal with the region’s drug problem.

We are disappointed, however, in the ease with which Santiago was back out on the streets.

It does no good for police officers to strike drug dealers fast, hard and often, in Snellings’ words, if they are back on the streets a couple of days later selling products that result in overdoses, bring drug traffic and the resultant drug-related crime into our neighborhoods. Sheriff Joseph Gerace said last August the county needs to find better alternatives to jail because the jail is operating at full capacity most of the time. Gerace is right, but somehow the system must also stop allowing situations like Santiago’s to continue happening. Incarceration must also be an alternative to prevent drug dealers from hopping to new locations every time they are charged and post bail. We need to free up jail space where appropriate so there is room for the pushers who post bail and find a new spot to sell product to their same old client list. The legal system needs to re-evaluate low bail and light sentences for those who are at a high risk of reoffending.

All options should be on the table as part of the public discussion. And those talks should happen soon.