VIDEO: Methamphetamine Coordinator Visits Columbus Exchange Club

COLUMBUS, Miss.(WCBI) – The Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics has been in the war against drugs since 1971.

Since then, agents have made it their mission to keep Mississippi safe.

Methamphetamine Coordinator Lt. Eddie Hawkins visited a local club to discuss the prevalence of the drug in our area.

Crank, Uppers, Ice. The drug, more commonly known as, Methamphetamine comes in different forms and goes by many names.

The one thing that remains the same is the harm it causes the user, families and communities.

If you think the meth crisis has come to an end, Mississippi Bureau Of Narcotics Lt. Eddie Hawkins says, think again.

“The methamphetamine problem is still here, our meth problem hasn’t gone away,” said Hawkins.

Thursday Hawkins spoke to the Columbus Exchange Club, most of his talk focusing on new and innovative ways drug dealers are selling their product.

Hawkins says the first step to combating the distribution of meth is knowing the target consumer.

” The users have actually changed their drug of choice and they are going from, crack cocaine to methamphetamine. As the users change, now the dealers are having to keep up with supply and demand. They are changing from selling cocaine to methamphetamine so we are seeing methamphetamine more prevalent on the streets now,” said Hawkins.

Though the demand for methamphetamine is higher, production of the drug here isn’t.

“Our meth production, we’ve had a 98% decrease in meth production across the state since 2010 when Pseudoephedrine was placed under prescription only again,”said Hawkins.

Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient to making meth and was available over the counter.

Hawkins says with the production locations changing the M.B.N. had to switch their tactics.

“Basically our agents are not out chasing meth labs every night. Now we can focus our efforts on the drug trafficking organizations that are importing it into the state so that gives us more time to work on those organizations,” said Hawkins.

Methamphetamine was first introduced to the United States in the late 1800s.