CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – “Clarion County has a drug program,” said Pennsylvania State Trooper Jamie LeVier at a recent meeting of the Clarion Rotary Club.

“Unfortunately, the drug problem is statewide and nationwide,” continued LeVier who offered an overview of Clarion County operations.

“We are no different than anyone else; in fact, we’re probably ahead of most areas.”

Even though Clarion County is like a lot of other communities, state police are alarmed at the variety of drugs in use and how soon the heavier drugs like heroin are used.

“We see a lot of heroin use and meth amphetamine use, and those are the scary, scary items that we are dealing with,” said LeVier.  “It’s unfortunate, but if you try heroin once, you’re probably going to battle it all of your life.”

One of the driving factors in the growth of heroin use is its price, according to LeVier.

Someone can travel to Pittsburgh and buy a small stamp bag for $8.00 or even $6.00. Some people even make the trip to Pittsburgh and buy a whole “brick,” return to Clarion County and hope to sell enough to make money to support their own habit.  In the meantime, people are getting sick and losing their lives.

The world of meth has changed over the years, and it is now being produced everywhere, growing the problem of availability.

“We went from years ago with motorcycle gangs who produced meth in the northeast side of the state,” said LeVier. “Gangs would come in from New York State.  They would come into the Poconos and set up a meth lab the size of a large hotel room and start producing the stuff. Meth progressed quite rapidly, and they would produce meth in in what we call a ‘mom-and-pop’ or a box lab.  They then progressed to what we call one-pot meth or in a 16-ounce pop bottle, or more commonly a two-liter pop bottle.  They use Sudafed and there are a number of chemicals and a cooking process to make meth amphetamine that’s very dangerous.  There are so many chemicals involved in the cooking process, and sometimes they are filtering the stuff through a coffee filter to get rid of the chemicals. We’re not all chemists, but you can probably figure out that a coffee filter is not going to take all the gradients that need to be removed.”

The advance of meth into nearly every level of society hit home for LeVier after a meth lab was found in Fisher and Children and Youth Services had to be called in concerning the problem.

“When Children and Youth have to do a meth lab presentation and pretty much show all of the ingredients needed, you get an idea of the extent of the problem,” said LeVier. “It’s just an ongoing process, and we’re dealing with it in real time.”

Many crimes now being reported are directly associated with the drug program, even the growth of scrap metal theft in Clarion County and elsewhere. LeVier said police are starting to get a grip on it, but some people go out and get whatever they can get their fingers on and sell it to get a little money and go buy more heroin or other drugs.

“We see a lot of families ripped apart because of these young people, and in many cases they are young, but not necessarily,” said LeVier. “They’ll end up taking mom’s jewelry to the gold exchange and turn a couple hundred bucks just like that. A lot of these crimes are relating back to the drug problem. It can happen to anyone if you’re pushing that envelope.”

LeVier cautions that even marijuana is more potent than in past years, and that can also lead to problems.

“I have some strong feelings about marijuana,” explained LeVier. “It’s changed over the years, and try to convince somebody that the pot smoked back in the 70s is not the same pot we have today. The THC back in the 70s in the marijuana was like two to four percent THC, and that’s the stuff people were getting from Mexico.  The stuff today that they’re growing in backyards is upwards of 25 percent THC.  You don’t have to be a numbers person to figure out that’s much stronger.”

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects.

The use of prescription drugs is also on the radar of State Police, but alcohol continues to generate the most number of calls.

“From Wednesday through Saturday starting at 10 p.m. about 95 percent of the calls we respond to are alcohol related,” said LeVier.  “That’s not based on any scientific study, just my experience.”

However, if there is any good news concerning alcohol, the number of DUI fatalities is rapidly dropping. LeVier feels that the drop directly relates to the number of DUI arrests, and they are climbing.

“I have had the good fortune of sometimes speaking at the DUI classes here in Clarion at the probation office,” said LeVier. “It’s a great opportunity to get in and try to educate some people. At the same time, it’s alarming to see people coming from every walk of life. A state trooper was even in one of the first classes I taught.”

Drugs are also now part of DUI arrests, and alcohol is not the only problem. During the 70s, according to LeVier, the LAPD would make traffic stops where they knew someone wasn’t driving in right way, but they couldn’t smell any alcohol on their breath.

“The medical professionals and law enforcement officers created a drug recognition expert program,” said LeVier.  “They have a set of evaluations where they go through, and they can determine what you’re on, how much you’ve used, how long it has been since you’ve used, and they can parlay all of that information into a trip to the hospital to get the blood drawn, and that will back up the facts that are there.  It’s a very good program.  The state police have been using it since the middle of the last decade and picked up quite a bit.”

LeVier, who taught DUI classes for about 20 years, said that up until about three or four years ago, he would only see maybe one controlled substance related to DUI in a year.  Now there are two or three cases in each class.

State police also work with the Clarion County Drug Task Force in addition to their own cases.

“Our undercover officers are working every day with the Clarion County Drug Task Force,” said LeVier. “At least three or four of our undercover officers are from Clarion County, so they have a great working relationship with District Attorney Mark Aaron and his people. They are really taking a big step forward, and it’s a tough line of work right now.

“At the bottom level, you can go and snag someone pretty easily, but we are more interested in going up that food chain, and that becomes a little tougher.”