resurgence of meth worries law enforcers

Experts say users tend to be more violent than addicts on opioids.

The next wave of drug abuse could feel like déjá vu: Meth is back in a big way in the Dayton region.

Dealers are flooding the local drug market with methamphetamine, and users increasingly are replacing heroin and fentanyl with the highly addictive stimulant, Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer told Trump administration officials this week in Dayton.

Meth’s return is alarming because users tend to be very aggressive and vio l ent, and increased meth use will lead to more robberies and violent crimes, Plummer said.

East Dayton, where meth has a presence, has already seen a surge in crime, some community groups say.

By comparison, opioid users often are responsible for crimes like burglaries and thefts to feed their habits, but those are nonviolent offenses, officials say.

Plummer’s comments add to growing concerns about the resurgence of a drug that seemed to fall out of favor in the 2000s. That was following a national crackdown on chemicals used to manufacture the substance.

But it’s making a comeback. Plummer said that’s often how it happens in the world of street drugs:

O ne drug problem shows improvement, another worsens.

“It’s whack-a-mole. You fix one problem, something else pops up,” Plummer said.

Earlier this year, this newspaper reported that overdose deaths in Montgomery County in which meth appeared as a factor in the cause of death more than tripled in 2017.

More workers are testing positive for meth in some Midwestern states.

In Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, meth positivity in work-related drug tests increased 167 percent between 2013 and 2017, according to data from Quest Diagnostics, a national leader in drug testing for employers.

Meth’s rise comes at a time when there’s been progress to combat fatal drug overdose deaths related to opioids.

Montgomery County has had 65 percent fewer unintentional drug overdose deaths through July of this year, compared to 2017, according to public health officials.

But it’s important to understand that there is a drug addiction crisis — not just an opioid crisis — because the problems won’t end even if opioid deaths decline, said Jan Lepore-Jentleson, executive director of East End Community Services.

“We know lots and lots of addicts who have switched to meth while they are on Suboxone,” she said, referring to a medication used to treat opioid dependence.

Crime rates are “skyrocketing” in east Dayton, including assaults and aggressive criminal behaviors, Lepore-Jentleson said.

“Meth has returned with a fury,” and it’s scary because the drug causes people to act erratically, like they are in a psychotic state, she said.

There’s even a name for people who get violent on crystal: Meth monster.

In late June, Dayton police responded to a call in southeast Dayton on a welfare check complaint.

The 911 caller said there was a man with no shirt who tried to enter a home on Patterson Road and now was on the porch talking to himself, a police report states.

A friend told police the 26-year-old man was clearly intoxicated and, after leaving his apartment, he tried to open the front doors of homes as walked down the street, the report says.

Police said they spoke with the man, but he refused to provide ID and made aggressive statements. He tried to flee and then resisted arrest, police said.

Police said they tased the man and had to use a hobble restraint device because he kept trying to kick officers.

In a statement, his friend said the man came to his house but was delirious and did not know where he was, the report says.

At the hospital, police said they recovered a small plastic bag containing a white crystal-like substance. They say they knew from their training it was meth.

In May, police were called to northwest Dayton on a suspicious person complaint. They encountered and searched a man who they say had a screwdriver in his pocket as well as a bag of meth, a police report states.

Police spoke with the woman who called 911, who said she did not know the man. But he had banged on her front and rear doors and used a screwdriver on the door. The man told police he was in the area trying to pick up a friend.

A few days later, police responded to a residence in east Dayton on a complaint about an intoxicated person.

Police found a woman who seemed confused and was on a porch of a home that belonged to no one she knew, a police report states. Police say they searched her and found crystal meth in a contact lens case.

In a different incident, around the same time, Dayton police say they found meth in the possession of a driver who was passed out at the wheel of his parked car.

Police said he had fled two attempted traffic stops earlier in the day. Police say the man had several arrest warrants for theft, escape from a supervision program, motor vehicle theft and contempt of court.