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Law enforcement seeing a rise in drug activity in Acadia Parish

Posted at 6:54 PM, May 31, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-31 19:54:31-04

In Acadia parish, police and deputies say they’re seeing a rise in drug activity.

On Wednesday, the  Acadia Parish Sheriff’s Office made a heroin bust near Basile. They say the majority of drug varieties likely originate from outside the parish. 

"In Acadia Parish, there’s a lot of small communities where we’re seeing drug issues. That is all of these pushers going out into small communities. They’re expanding their industry," explained Crowley Police Chief Jimmy Broussard. 

Broussard says I-10 acts as a passageway for drugs coming into the parish. 

"Of course we’ve spoken about the I-10 corridor where a lot of times it’s coming up from the Central American countries, and it enters the United States, and some of the vehicles travel west and some of them of course travel east," said Broussard. 

Even though I-10 is considered to be a corridor for drugs entering Acadia Parish, the sheriff’s department is focusing inside of the communities to fight drug trafficking instead of on the interstate.

"Am I gonna take the manpower away from our community? And don’t get me wrong, you get the mother-load that’s great! But, if I put all my guys up on the interstate, this is gonna sound harsh,  but a resident that’s in an area that’s infested with drugs and so forth would rather see the deputies in the community trying to fight the drug problem, they’re not worried about what’s potentially going on on I-10," explained Acadia Parish Sheriff K.P. Gibson. 

Broussard and Gibson agree that methamphetamine is the parish’s biggest drug problem. 

They say the reason is that it is easily made and because it’s cheap.

"Look at it from your users. If I’m flat broke and don’t have money or a job obviously and I need drugs, Am I gonna go buy something that costs me a hundred dollars to get the high? Or something that costs twenty dollars to get the high," said Gibson.