POLICE SAY OSCODA IS A DRUG HUB FOR REGION

OSCODA - According to local law enforcement, drug problems in Iosco
County are worse than many citizens are aware of or willing to accept.

Those at the Michigan State Police (MSP) post in East Tawas say the
need for a county-wide undercover drug investigation team is more
desperate than ever. According to MSP Lt. David Street and D/Sgt.
Robert Lesneski, drug abuse and distribution is on the rise,
especially over-the-counter prescription painkillers.

Both men say the bulk of drugs in Iosco County are being distributed
out of Oscoda.

Oscoda Township Police Department (OTPD) Sgt. Mark David agreed,
saying it is not incorrect to assume the majority of the drugs come
from Oscoda and have been for quite some time.

David said he has been on the force 22 years and the drug
distribution has been a long standing problem.

"It's a regular occurrence and it's because we haven't had the
manpower," he said.

Although David said he doesn't see the specific statistics, he
believes the Strike Team Investigative Narcotics Group (STING) will
help address the problem.

Oscoda and neighboring Au-Sable townships are among the few
municipalities which recently joined STING after Iosco County bowed
out a few years back.

STING is the multi-jurisdictional drug task force with an assigned
coverage area which includes all or part of Iosco, Arenac, Oscoda,
Ogemaw, Roscommon and Crawford counties.

An Oscoda police officer has also been assigned to STING since August.

STING Commander D/Lt. Jeff Keister said, although there is a large
amount of drugs distributed in Oscoda, its larger population is a factor.

"My perception is, the more people in an area and the bigger the
area, the more problems," said Keister. "The whole north end of Iosco
County has the largest population base."

Keister said about 15,000 people live in Plainfield, Oscoda and
AuSable counties combined.

D/Sgt. Mike Hahn of the Huron Undercover Narcotics Team (HUNT) -
STING's sister drug task force for Alcona, Alpena and Presque Isle
counties - said he has found this to be true in other surrounding
counties as well.

Hahn explained that a variety of drugs is being delivered to Oscoda
from larger cities, such as Saginaw, Flint, Lansing and Detroit.

Since an Oscoda officer has been assigned to STING, Keister said,
they have made some arrests in Hale and are obtaining several search
warrants for the area.

"We're gonna be out there," said Keister. "We're building activity up."

Hahn said a county-wide drug team would be beneficial to Iosco, as
HUNT can only help or supply resources to Iosco County if a drug
crime in the HUNT district stems from the county.

"Iosco County has a drug problem," said Hahn. "They [drug dealers]
have free reign. Iosco needs a team [for the entire county]. Anybody
who says they don't doesn't know what's going on."

And what is going on are grounds for concern to everyone in the
county, according to Street.

He stressed that drug use affects every person in the community,
whether directly or indirectly, because it leads to other crimes,
such as theft.

"Unfortunately, a lot of those people using drugs aren't working, so
they steal to fund their habit," he said.

Lesneski said more than 100 breaking and enterings, which occurred
earlier this year in Ogemaw, Alcona and Iosco counties, were drug related.

"Iosco County was hit bad. Habitually, the common denominator was
drugs. This is an acute problem," Lesneski said.

Hahn estimates 90 percent of property crimes are committed by drug users.

Unfortunately, Hahn said, he foresees more aggressive drug related
crimes in the future.

"Eventually, the drug market will be more open. Overdoses will go up
and there will be fights over territory, like in the city. It's
bleak, in my opinion," said Hahn, who served on STING from 1994-98,
when it serviced Iosco County.

Since then, he said, the drug problems have escalated.

Abuse and sales of prescription drugs are huge problems and seem to
dominate locally, according to Lesneski and Street.

Lesneski said the East Tawas state police started running into
Oxycontin on the street about two years ago.

According to Street, one local house, identified as a drug
distribution location, had more than 13,000 Oxycontin pills pass
through it in the last year and a half.

Based on a $40 per pill figure, this totals over $500,000 in sales.

"It's high profit. If you sell something that a person needs to live,
you have a captive audience," said Street.

Keister said STING has seen 35-40 percent increase in prescription
drug distribution in the last three years.

Keister said STING has been kept busy with diversion cases associated
with prescription drugs. He said the cases are difficult to
investigate because anyone with a prescription suddenly has the
potential of becoming a drug dealer.

"They take up a lot of our time," he said.

David said problems with prescription based drugs have existed in
Oscoda for a while, with the most prevalently abused drugs being
morphine-based painkillers, such as Oxycontin and Vicadin.

Community awareness rose about three years ago, after a popular local
teenager overdosed on Oxycontin and died.

Oxycontin, the trade name for the drug oxycodone hydrochloride, is a
time-release pain management drug, which was approved by the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) in 1995.

Keister said a new time-release pain killer called Palladone, which
is four times as potent as Oxycontin, has been surfacing in the area.

"If we (Iosco County) don't take a proactive approach, it will get
worse," said Street. "We don't want our hometown community to become
an urban war zone."

"So much of the problem is behind the scenes and underground," said
Hahn. "You must have insight into the culture. It is a sub-culture."

Hahn said dealers that sell prescription drugs usually go to numerous
doctors to obtain prescriptions for drugs, such as Oxycontin and
Vicodin, and then fill them at various pharmacies.

He calls on area physicians to be more aware of the problem.

"I don't see any effort by the doctors," said Hahn, who added he
feels the local pharmacies take more responsibility than the doctors.

"The pharmacies do a little more research," he said.

Hahn said many pharmacies are on the lookout for doctor shoppers -
identical prescriptions being filled for an individual by different
doctors within a short time period.

However, Keister said, he feels the majority of the practitioners are
very careful. Many use pain management agreements to regulate their
patients. These are promises signed by patients that they will only
use the drugs as prescribed, and which give doctors the right to
sever ties with patients they believe are abusing prescription drugs.

In addition to higher crime rates, drug abuse results in social
problems, such as suicides and unwanted pregnancies, Street said.

According to Dave Beck, deputy director for clinical services at
AuSable Valley Community Mental Health, there has definitely been a
rise in the abuse of prescription drugs - particularly those used for
pain management.

The center offers group and one-on-one drug counseling, out-patient
treatment and also runs a regional detoxification center.

Since Beck has been employed at the mental health center he said he
has witnessed a shift in drug trends.

"It has predominately changed from people seeking help for alcohol
abuse to illicit substances like prescription drugs and street
drugs," said Beck. "The nature of substance abuse has changed over time."

Three years ago, Beck said, about 330 patients sought detoxification
treatment per year, the majority of which was for alcohol abuse.

The number has since risen to more than 530 patients per year, with
the majority seeking help for the abuse of pills and harder drugs
like cocaine, meth and heroin.

Poly-substance abuse is also increasing, the term for multiple drug
use, such as pills with alcohol.

In addition to an estimated 40 percent increase in people seeking
detox, more younger people, generally in their late teen years, have
been seeking help.

An increase has also been seen in individuals seeking treatment for
meth addiction, Beck said.

Methamphetamine [crystal meth] is available and is being produced in
Iosco County, particularly in Oscoda, according to law enforcement.

According to Keister, most of the individuals producing meth are
using it up themselves or distributing it to small cliques.

Medical and social problems accompany meth use, according to Keister.

He said less than 60 percent of children removed from the home of a
meth addicted parent return, as opposed to 80 percent with other substances.

Also, the majority of heavy users must seek medical care due to "meth
mouth," which refers to the rotting of their teeth from smoking
poisonous substances like drain cleaner.

"Chronic meth users have terrible dental problems," he said. "Our
budgets for health care and child care are limited and there is a
lack of foster homes in the area. Meth is our number one concern. We
need to keep this stuff off the street and out of the local area,"
Keister stressed.

He said the STING team would be "swamped" if meth ever infiltrates
northeast Michigan as it has in other midwest states in recent years
and southwest Michigan.

Keister said about 200 highly explosive meth labs were found in
Michigan since the beginning of this calendar year.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), emergency
room mentions of prescription drugs containing oxycodone, including
drugs such as Percodan, Percocet and Oxycontin, have increased across
the country.

The NIDA is part of the National Institute of Health (NIH), a
component of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Lesneski said he is aware of at least five deaths caused by drug overdose.

"Most [of the drug related deaths] are caused by narcotics," Street said.

Other narcotics have also been a problem, according to Street.

"We're seeing a large influx of crack-cocaine in the area," he said.

Street said the latest bulk of drugs in the county was transported
from Saginaw.

Finding the drug source is another reason why the county needs a drug
team, he said.

The Michigan State Police (MSP) and the MSP Third District Diversion
Team recently arrested four subjects as the result of a crack-cocaine
distribution investigation, including two Oscoda men.

Since Iosco County has no county-wide drug team, Lesneski said the
diversion team that serves Genesee and Saginaw counties had to be
called to execute the search.

"We have to call people from 100 to 150 miles away. And we have a
narrow window to work with," explained Street.

Street and Lesneski say they both fear the problems will escalate if
they are left with no means to address them.

"We live in Smalltown U.S.A., but we have things coming up from the
cities, people living in motels," Street said.

Beck said problems with drugs like cocaine, meth and heroin are not
just found in big cities, but are prevalent here.

"What you hear about in Flint and Detroit, it's here," he said.

When asked if he would be in favor of some sort of extra law
enforcement or drug team, he said he would.

"I would support any movement coordinated in the community to address
these issues," said Beck.

"We haven't had an active drug team in this area for years," said Street.

"We desperately need trained individuals to get the job done. It's a
large investment, but we need a team with the 'know-how' to do it.
What you're buying is expertise."

Lesneski agreed.

"It's not the kind of thing where you bring someone in for a week and
make a bunch of arrests," said Lesneski. "People don't realize that
drug people don't work on schedules like we do," said Les-neski, who
recently made drug arrests after working 38 hours in two days.

But the chances of obtaining funding for a drug team on the county
level are slim to none, according to several Iosco County commissioners.

Commissioner Patricia Schmidt said there aren't enough funds for a
drug team. She said state cutbacks in revenue sharing make it hard to
fund such a program.

"I'm sure that we all, as citizens, are aware of the drug problems,
but money is tight," she said.

Commissioner John Moehring resounded that the county's budget
revenues have dropped so drastically, he doesn't foresee any drug
enforcement team, such as STING, returning anytime soon.

"There's no money available," he said.

Moehring said STING previously cost the county about $30,000 per year.

"It's not that we [the board of commissioners] condone drug abuse,
but where is the funding going to come from," Moehring asked.

Furthermore, Moehring alleged, there were problems with STING.

"We weren't getting any real reports on what they were doing," he
said. "We were supposed to get annual reports and we didn't get any
for two years," he alleged. "We have to answer to the taxpayers.

"In my opinion, they [STING] were going after small drug offenses and
not getting the hard core offenses."

Moehring said the board chose to cut the program about two years ago,
rather than cut jobs.

Both Street and Lesneski said some kind of team is needed in the area.

A common misconception, according to Lesneski, is that many people
believe drug addicts are low income.

However, drug abusers in the local area come from all walks of life
and all levels of income.

"Many of them [in the local area] come from good families with good
upbringing," he said.

To anyone doubting there is a serious local drug problem, Street and
Lesneski offered up this information: a state trooper confiscated
heroin from a local high school student last year, while the student
was in school.

"That's a problem," said Lesneski.

Police agencies - Tawas Police Authority, Oscoda Township Police,
Iosco County Sheriff Department and MSP - do work together when
necessary, but all are shorthanded.

Currently, the East Tawas MSP post has only one officer who is not in
uniform and in an unmarked car for the whole county, he said.

"It's a joke to the drug people because they know we don't have an
active drug team. They know if they don't see an officer in uniform
or a police car around, they're probably safe," explained Street.

Without a county-wide drug team, Street said, most drug arrests stem
from traffic stops.

"Every police officer is aware there is a serious problem," he said.
"But they are frustrated because they want to do more, but can't. I
will commend all the police officers."

"We need to do something collectively," said Lesneski. "I don't want
to panic people, but I'm desperate. My worst fear is I'll get a homicide case."