Crack cocaine plagued Beckley for years. Cocaine took over and dominated the illegal drug trade.

Now, the illegal prescription drug trade has skyrocketed, quickly overtaking cocaine’s top spot.

“I didn’t think I would see the day,” said Detective Lt. Gant Montgomery, field supervisor for the Beckley Police Department narcotics unit.

Exponentially rising prescription drug abuse and illegal sales have become a major game-changer for law enforcement. Numbers of these cases have quickly overtaken ones involving street drugs, and the investigations are much more difficult and time-consuming. On top of that, other related crimes are increasing.

Police say these crimes affect every citizen, not just dealers and abusers.

When Montgomery became a full-time narcotics investigator in 1999, he saw an influx of prescription drug cases. There was a particular increase in the early 2000s in Mercer and Wyoming counties. But he never thought it would get as bad as it has become.

“This has spread all over,” he said. “It’s not just concentrated in one neighborhood. ... The users are everyone, from poor to rich. It’s everywhere.”

“There was a time when we only had a handful of prescription drug cases,” Beckley Police Chief Tim Deems said.

Prescription drug-related arrests yielded the highest number, 34, of Beckley P.D. narcotics unit arrests in 2008. Twenty-seven arrests were cocaine-related and 11 involved crack cocaine. As of late 2009, most of the unit’s arrests, 31, involved marijuana. Prescription drug-related arrests had the second-highest number, 26. There were 12 cocaine-related and 18 crack cocaine-related arrests last year.

Deems noted these numbers do not include arrests from road patrol and K-9 officers.

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Police still encounter people addicted to street drugs like cocaine, Montgomery said. But many new prescription drug addicts were people who first received the medication legally and for a legitimate injury. Then they became hooked. Powerful painkillers like oxycodone and hydrocodone are what police encounter more often, but almost any prescription drug can be abused.

“We’re seeing people who became addicted to any type of medication to numb their pain,” he said.

Deems said some people have low tolerance levels for addictions and they can easily become dependent.

“Once they become addicted and can no longer obtain them legally, they’ll turn to obtaining them illegally or to street drugs to satisfy their addictions,” he said.

Addicts, Deems said, tend to have their drugs of choice, but they will abuse others if their preferred drug is not available.

“It’s similar to alcoholics,” he said. “They may prefer whiskey, but if none is available, they’ll drink beer or wine.”

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Prescription drug investigations are much more complicated than ones involving other drugs, Raleigh County Sheriff Steve Tanner said. Someone abusing or selling prescription drugs could have a valid prescription. Other drugs are illegal in all circumstances.

“You could have Lortabs and OxyContin in plain view,” Tanner explained. “There’s no such thing with cocaine, crack or heroin.

“Here’s the problem: Even if you have prescriptions for 40,000 pills, you have a legitimate right to your medications. If a medical doctor legally gives you a prescription, what police officer can say you can’t have it?”

Police can intercede when pills are sold or when people are carrying prescription drugs that are not inside a proper container, Tanner said.

Police have another workload on top of this — the numerous related crimes.

Montgomery has estimated 80 percent of all crimes are drug-related.

“I don’t believe that has changed,” he said. “But it’s a good guess that prescription drugs are a large percentage of that 80 percent.”

Property crime investigations often lead to someone trying to support a prescription drug habit. Police have said some people will steal anything — from huge, high-priced items to the outright unorthodox. They say items stolen to support these habits include vehicles, bingo totes and jumper cables. State troopers said a man they arrested “brazenly” stole a flat-screen TV from a Wal-Mart display.

“If you need money for it, you will do anything to get it,” Montgomery said. “Some people will steal anything they can get their hands on to get money.”

Addicts often resort to violent crimes like robberies as well. Those desperate for prescription pills are often going straight to the source and robbing pharmacies.

“It’s become such a problem now that some of them are robbing pharmacies just for the pills,” Montgomery said. “It’s not just a drug addict robbing a Go-Mart to get $20. Now they’re robbing pharmacies for large amounts of pills. It has become commonplace.

“It’s sad to see.”

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Some people may turn a deaf ear to a societal problem unless it directly affects them. But police emphasize prescription drug-related crimes affect everyone.

“No one isn’t affected by this,” Tanner said. “You may not be able to get your prescription filled in a timely manner. Pharmacies may close earlier. You may have to pay more for prescriptions. Someone could break into your car or your home — or rob you, personally.

“This obviously has effects on the (addicted) individuals because they get desperate. But it also affects society as a whole.”

“I think this affects people of all walks of life,” Deems said. “I don’t think it’s a problem for one certain group of people. There are people who are stealing or committing violent crimes to support their drug habits. You don’t want to become a victim of that.

“When you look at it from a monetary perspective, it’s the taxpayers who are sending people to rehabilitation, paying jail fees and paying police to investigate crimes.

“It costs all of us.”

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