by Monica Chamness
Staff Writer
According to Sheila Smith, resident agent in charge of the Jacksonville office of the Drug Enforcement Agency, a majority of cases in the Middle District of Florida deal with drugs.
“Sixty percent of the cases from last year for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District were drug cases and the majority of them were done by DEA,” Smith told members of the Federal Bar Association at its luncheon Tuesday at the Omni.
The Jacksonville DEA office reported 195 arrests with incidents related to crack cocaine topping the list at 57 arrests. However, Smith contends the trend, both locally and nationally, is towards methamphetamine. Its modified version, known as crystal meth, is gaining in popularity.
“Florida is fourth in the nation for meth seized in 2001,” she said, adding use of methamphetamine has escalated exponentially in just five years.
“Studies have shown that 12-year-olds that live in small towns are 104 percent more likely to use meth than 12-year-olds in large cities,” said Smith.
Adding to the drug’s popularity is items needed to produce methamphetamine can be purchased at local stores.
MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, is a synthetic, psychoactive stimulant with mild hallucinogenic properties that is also creating problems for law enforcement agencies.
“During the last couple of years, MDMA use in the United States has increased at an alarming rate,” said Smith. “During the 1970s, it was used by some psychiatrists as a therapeutic agent because it would reduce the inhibition of their patients to speak openly during therapy.
“Nationwide, hospital emergency rooms where the patient mentioned they were on ecstasy rose from 637 in 1997 to 5,542 in 2001.”
Operation X-Out , a program launched in November, teams the DEA with the Partnership for a Drug Free America, the medical community and state legislators to educate the public on the dangers of predatory — date rape — drugs.
“I’ve been trying to get City Council to enact laws that say clubs can’t stay open past midnight if they don’t serve alcohol,” said Smith. “What we’re trying to do is shut them down. What will usually happen, though, is they’ll find a warehouse or something.”
Another proposal being discussed is the Pill Squad, which has not been approved yet. “The DEA will be providing the City with long-term support, developing and implementing prevention treatment programs and will help the community address the underlying needs that make them vulnerable to drug use and practices,” she said.