Law Enforcement Sees Sharp Increase of Meth in the Flathead
Sheriff’s office has confiscated as much meth in 2016 as it did all last year
By Justin Franz
The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force have confiscated as much methamphetamine in the first five months of 2016 as it did all last year.
Local law enforcement officials say the spike in confiscated methamphetamine exemplifies a rise in the drug’s use across the Flathead Valley and Montana.
“Meth has taken over,” said Shane Haberlock, a regional narcotics agent with the Montana Department of Justice. “It’s much worse now than what it was in the mid-2000s … and what we’re confiscating is only a percentage of what is out there.”
Haberlock said a decade ago – when meth use was so prevalent in the state that the Montana Meth Project was launched to reduce its use – lawmen would frequently confiscate the drug by the ounce. Today they’re often taking it in by the pound.
Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force confiscated 9 pounds of meth in 2014 and 15 pounds in 2015. This year there was a sudden spike and, from January until the end of the May, law enforcement confiscated 15 pounds of meth.
Curry said at current prices, the task force has confiscated $288,000 worth of meth so far in 2016. He said much of what has come in stems from a handful of large drug busts.
Curry said unlike a decade ago, when most of the methamphetamine was locally produced, much of what they see now comes from other countries. That’s because the state has made it harder to buy the ingredients needed to make the drug.
The continued increase in drug use has also resulted in a spike in theft in the valley, Curry said.
“Being an addict is expensive and a lot of people don’t have six-figure jobs to maintain their habit so they turn to property crime,” Curry said.
Despite the continued use of meth across the state, organizers of the non-profit Montana Meth Project have said it is still successful in convincing young people not to use the drug. Last year, Montana Meth Project Executive Director Amy Rue said since it launched in 2005 teen meth use has dropped by 63 percent in the state.