Tate points to Mexican border for drug increase

HOLMES COUNTY — Holmes County Sheriff’s deputies served many arrest warrants over the weekend. 

Sheriff John Tate said they served 10 warrants for charges ranging from possession to selling methamphetamine. 

“We always have some sort of drug investigation going on. Basically what we do is we take time periods and we go out and make undercover purchases from individuals throughout the county,” said Tate. 

After a couple months of gathering information, Tate said they scheduled what they call a “drug roundup.” 

It’s a coordinated operation when deputies bust the suspects all around the same time. 

“Once we do round-ups and once we make cases, it spins off other investigations. So, we’re working on other investigations at this time that involve people trafficking and selling methamphetamine through our community,” said Tate. 

A few years ago, Tate worked in the narcotics unit. 

He said at that time, meth was selling for $1,200 an ounce and was not as much of a problem. 

Now, it’s selling it for $300 an ounce. 

“It’s become more common because of the open borders, with drugs flowing across the border the way they are. It’s caused the prices of meth to drastically drop; therefore allowing people to buy more of it at a lower price,” said Tate. 

In July, Holmes County Sheriff Mike Harrison and Franklin County Sheriff AJ Smith both said they are also seeing more meth trafficking and blamed the situation along the Mexican border for the increase in drug activity.