FBI report confirms what La Crosse police already know: meth is on the rise fast

The increase between 2011-15 was 349%, compared to 97% for heroin.

A new FBI report on meth in Wisconsin comes as no surprise to local law enforcement. 

La Crosse police captain Jason Melby says the surge of meth on the streets that the FBI and state agents have identified is pretty obvious.

“This is something that we have noticed over the last couple years but, with the high-profile deaths and overdoes of heroin, it’s kind of grown quietly,” Melby said. “It is a very large problem in the area.”

The report, released this week, says that between 2011-2015, meth-related cases submitted to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab increased 349 percent. In comparison, heroin-related cases rose 97 percent during the same time period.  

“We’ve got to focus on the opioids, prescriptions drugs and the heroin for the last several years, and this has been allowed to make a pretty decent comeback in the area,” Melby said, noting a bustling meth industry happening locally.

“It has been on our radar for the last several years,” he said. “All you have to do is look at some of the drug arrests that we’ve made, where you’re seeing tens of thousands of dollars of product and money being taken off the street through some pretty organized drug dealing.”

One of the things the report found was that meth is typically trafficked through California or Minnesota from Mexico and it’s wide availability has made it relatively cheap.