Methamphetamine Rises Again In Grayson County
GRAYSON COUNTY, TX Narcotics officers say Methamphetamine is coming into Texas by the truckload, and Grayson County is on that route.
Twice a month Grayson County holds a grand jury, and this week, nearly half of all indictments are meth related felonies.
"There’s definitely an upward trend in the number of individuals we’re coming across with metaphor or selling metaphor," said Jeremy Cox, a Sherman Police detective.
Fourteen people in all face charges ranging from possessing the drug to trying to sell it. And that’s this month alone. Last year the district attorney saw 174 meth related cases. So far this year, they’ve already seen 183 cases.
"It’s a problem," said Britton Brooks, Grayson County Assistant District Attorney. "Grayson county knows that. We are trying to do what we can do to put a stop to that problem and put these meth dealers behind bars."
The most well known way to make meth is by going to the pharmacy and getting drugs that contain pseudoephedrine but authorities say the majority of meth they’ve seen doesn’t contain pseudoephedrine at all, but a chemical called P-2-P, and that chemical is not sold the in United States at all.
"Ninety-five to 98 percent of the meth that we’re seeing is coming from Mexico," Cox said.
Federal regulations on pharmaceutical drugs brought a decline to meth use between 2007 and 2012 but with the demand still there it’s made it’s way back to Texoma.
"It’s just easier to get it from out of country sources," Cox said.
Mexican meth is also more potent, and meth deaths for 2013 in the state of Texas are higher than ever, but there is one number that remains down, the number of meth labs.
"You’d find large meth labs, regular sized meth labs everywhere, but nowadays you don’t seem them like that anymore because the large amount of methamphetamine that is coming from Mexico," Cox said.
The district attorney’s office said that some first time meth offenders with no prior convictions may only receive probation and drug counseling, but the majority of people they see are repeat offenders, which results in prison time