South Dakota officials says meth arrests are up by thirty two percent, statewide, from this time last year.
Several counties experienced a substantial increase in meth arrests, including Minnehaha, Pennington, Fall River and Oglala Lakota counties.
Bryan Gortmaker is the Director of the Division of Criminal Investigation with the Attorney General’s office in South Dakota.
He says law enforcement has only busted six meth labs this year. He says that means most of the meth is trafficked into the state.
“Make no mistake about it, we are fighting big business. These cartels, these people that are supplying it are making a lot of money," Gortmaker says. "I realize here that means we’re trying to fight big business with limited resources.”
Gortmaker says the state remains an island, so far, in the fentanyl epidemic. Fentanyl is a highly potent opioid.
He says law enforcement isn’t seeing a lot of fentanyl in the state, but have recently seized several hundred pills of the drug.