The rise of methamphetamine use in Marinette County is presenting new challenges to law enforcement officials. Marinette County Sheriff Jerry Sauve says while opioid use is on the decline, his department is now seeing an increase in meth cases. Sauve cites the drug’s accessibility and cost as some of the primary reasons for the shift.
Sauve says the effects of methamphetamine tend to make users become more aggressive, putting responding officers at risk. And it’s not just the use, but also the manufacturing of the drug that is cause for concern.
Sauve adds that while police and EMS personnel are provided with Narcan to reverse opioid overdoses, there’s not yet a similar reversal agent for methamphetamine. Marinette County isn’t the only county in Wisconsin seeing meth use increase. A report released last year conducted by the FBI and Wisconsin Department of Justice revealed methamphetamine use statewide likely expanded between 250 and 300 percent from 2011 to 2015.