There were 87 drug-related arrests in Kewaunee County in the first quarter of 2016, up from 63 in the first quarter of last year, said Lt. Jason Veeser of the Door-Kewaunee Drug Task Force.

“We ran dogs through all three high schools in the winter and found drugs in two of the three,” Vesser said.   Last year, drugs were only found at one of the county’s three high schools.

He said trained police dogs from Brown and Door counties are regularly used in Kewaunee County to sniff out hidden drugs in the schools and other public facilities.

The increase in the number of drug-related arrests may be due to several large targeted enforcement activities, including the March 22 meth bust by the Brown County Drug Task Force, which resulted in the arrests of three Kewaunee County residents, he said.

Six years ago cocaine was the biggest threat, but now heroin, meth and prescription drugs are the most common illegal drugs involved in arrests, Veeser said.

He said that it was difficult to determine the number of heroin overdoses in the county because most users go to hospitals in Brown or Door counties if they are experiencing symptoms of an overdose.   Those that seek medical aid for a heroin overdose cannot be arrested, he said.

Veeser said that many of these arrests involved other violations, such as traffic violations and domestic abuse cases, where police officers find the drugs when doing a search on an unrelated charge.

He noted that it was difficult to find heroin during a search because it comes in doses that are the size of a pea, while drugs like marijuana, which are stored in bags, are easier to find.  Statistics on the specific drugs involved in most arrests are difficult to access because of the way they are recorded by police departments, he said.

“Prescription drug use is our fastest-growing problem,” he said.  Among prescription drugs, painkillers and ADHD medications are the most popular drugs sold on the street.

He warned parents and caregivers to be vigilant about disposing of prescription drugs that they or their patients are no longer using.   He said that unused prescription drugs can be dropped off at the Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Department.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press Gazette: Drug arrests rise In Kewaunee County