Drug arrests see increase on Ohio roadways

The Ohio Highway Patrol reported an increase in drug arrests last year.

Troopers on a statewide level made 16,956 drug arrest in 2018, which was a 2 percent increase over 2017, and a 20 percent increase over the previous three years. The total number of drug arrests in 2018 were 76 percent higher than in 2013.

According to Chardon Post Commander, Lt. Larry Roberts, these numbers are at an unprecedented level.

“One reason for the rise is our troopers are focusing more of their efforts towards drug enforcement,” Roberts said. “Our highways are often used as highstakes pipelines for the transportation of illegal drugs to cities in Ohio like Chardon and Painesville. “In Lake and Geauga counties we have had an increase in felony drug cases and drug violations in general.

“The Highway Patrol has geared our training more toward removing the criminal element from our roadways,” he added. “This is due to the impact of drugs in our communities.”

During 2018, OHP troopers made 341 felony drug arrests in Cuyahoga County. In Geauga County they made six. In Lake County 57 arrests were made while 87 were made in Lorain County.

The amount of felony drug arrests made by troopers increased by 34 percent in Cuyahoga, 50 percent in Geauga and 43 percent in Lake. The numbers went down for Lorain County where the arrests by troopers fell by 36 percent.

Non-felony drug violations also were up for three of the four counties in 2018.

For Cuyahoga County there was a 28 percent increase, while Geauga saw an 85 percent increase, and in Lake the increase was 6

percent. In Lorain County there was a decrease of 26 percent.

According to a news release sent out from OHP, Ohio’s troopers had historic drug seizures in 2018, including two methamphetamine seizures consisting of 141.8 pounds and 94.6 pounds. The release also noted that troopers conducted three of the top 10 heroin seizures on record.

According to Lt. Robert Sellers OHP Public Affairs commander based in Columbus, the increased amount of arrests made does not necessarily mean that more drugs are coming into the state but that maybe the troopers are simply getting better at finding them.