The Raleigh County sheriff’s department’s drug investigators emphasize they remain in business despite the TRIDENT drug task force’s demise — and that they never closed in the first place.

The county’s investigators say they will battle the local drug trade, taking on problems like a new marijuana growing season and an illegal prescription drug trade they termed “epidemic”.

“The Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department is actively involved in drug investigations. We always have been, and we never stopped,” said Detective Cpl. John Dunn, the county’s lead drug investigator. “Just because our officers are not a part of a drug task force named TRIDENT anymore doesn’t mean drug investigations have stopped in this county.”

In late March, both Raleigh County Sheriff Steve Tanner and Fayette County Sheriff Steve Kessler decided to disband TRIDENT, the Trilateral Drug Enforcement Team. TRIDENT had overseen drug investigations in both counties. Kessler said he ultimately decided to end Fayette County’s participation in the task force, explaining resources would be better utilized if deputies’ efforts were concentrated in their home county.

Dunn said the respective county’s drug investigators were basically brought back to their home bases. Vehicles and some equipment were split between the two.

Raleigh County is now working to obtain grant funding, Dunn said, that will allow it to obtain more items like video and audio surveillance equipment. He explained Fayette County was the grant holding agency when TRIDENT was still together.

The county has two active drug investigators, plus the detective bureau when needed, Dunn said. It maintains a mutual aid agreement with Fayette County for major incidents, like meth lab recoveries. Investigators have an established working relationship with the Beckley Police Department and State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

He also strongly emphasized all pending cases and ongoing investigations from TRIDENT continue.

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The new “prime growing season” for marijuana will occupy much of the investigators time, Dunn said. West Virginia is one of the top 10 states for marijuana eradication. A fully-matured marijuana plant has a $2,000 to $2,500 street value. Locally, bagged pot sells for $10 a gram.

This is often used as a “gateway drug” — something used before moving on to something stronger, he said. For young people ages 12 to 17, the average age for first marijuana use is 14.

THC, the chemical in marijuana that gets a user high, is about 10-15 times stronger than in marijuana grown in the 1960s, Dunn said. He credits science, fertilizer use and the relative ease in getting seeds. Marijuana also contains 421 different chemicals and composite materials. Sixty are only found in marijuana, and they are all considered toxic.

Dunn encouraged anyone with information about marijuana grows to contact the sheriff’s department at 304-255-9300 or Crime Stoppers at 304-255-7867. He noted Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards for valuable information, and callers at both numbers can remain anonymous.

“If you’re out on your four-wheeler, out ginsenging or what have you, and you come across this, notify us,” he said. “It’s everywhere — on back porches growing in pots, hidden in the woods or even ‘booby trapped’.”

Because of the “booby trap” risk, Dunn said no one should touch any marijuana found and, if possible, follow the same path taken when leaving the area.

Another focus will be the ongoing prescription drug trade, which has consumed drug investigators across the region.

“We are completely inundated with pharmaceuticals,” Dunn said. “It’s at an epidemic stage, in my opinion. The people selling it are anywhere from kids selling it in schools to 70- to 80-year-old people selling to supplement their incomes.’

“It’s a lot harder to build a pill case because you can legally obtain them with a prescription”

Often, people with valuable information do not call police because they fear retribution, Dunn said. Dunn encouraged people to call, nevertheless.

“If you want to give us all anonymous information, we will try and work with that,” he said. “The only way you can better your community, if you have drugs in it, is get actively involved (in eradicating it).”

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com