In the garage of the Lake County Narcotics Unit sits bags and boxes filled with $2 million worth of drugs.
Narcotics agents packed boxes and bags with the drugs, including half a million dollars worth of cocaine, a drug that is becoming more prevalent.
“It seems to be making a comeback, because we find that when people go through heroin rehab, they still have the desire to abuse some sort of drug,” said Chris Begley with the Lake County Narcotics Unit.
A lot of marijuana was also confiscated by the Lake County Narcotics Unit in the last two years.
Pot has become prevalent in Ohio, thanks to states where it’s legal.
“If you have a bumper crop in California or Colorado, you can’t sell your marijuana for a lot of money anymore, but if you send it out to Ohio, this stuff is selling for three to four thousand dollars per pound.”
Along with the illegal drugs, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of prescription painkillers and medications will also be burned in an environmentally friendly incinerator with industrial filters that prevent the fumes from going into the air.
The medications were voluntarily turned into drop boxes at area police stations.
The drop boxes also mean the drugs aren’t flushed and end up in groundwater.
There’s another reason to destroy unused painkillers.
“Statistically, first time abusers of opiates actually are obtained from the family’s medicine cabinet, stealing their left over prescription drugs.”
All of the illegal drugs seized are from investigations and cases that have been closed.
