A Bowling Green woman who died in December after being found unresponsive in a hotel room is one of the countys latest methamphetamine casualties.

A toxicology report recently received by the Warren County Coroners Office shows the 38-year-old died from acute intoxication by the effects of methamphetamine, hydrocodone and gabapentin, Warren County Deputy Coroner Dwayne Lawrence said.

Were seeing a lot more of those things, Lawrence said of methamphetamine-related drug overdose deaths.

While Louisville, Lexington and northern Kentucky are awash in heroin, methamphetamine has flooded the illicit drug market in Bowling Green.

Methamphetamine trafficking arrests increased by 54 percent within the city limits of Bowling Green in 2016 compared to 2015, Bowling Green Police Department spokesman Officer Ronnie Ward said.

When it comes to substance abuse, it depends on what county you are standing in as to what the biggest threat is, Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy Director Van Ingram said.

Statewide, the number of meth trafficking arrests is up 53 percent.

It doesnt surprise me, Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force Director Tommy Loving said. Thats due to the increase we have seen here in crystal meth coming into our region. It originates in Mexico and the Southwest border. It follows the traditional smuggling routes from west to east.

The percentage of task force methamphetamine seizures is up 825 percent in 2016 over 2014. In 2014, task force detectives seized563 grams of meth or about 2.3 cups. Last year detectives seized 5,213 grams or about 22 cups. A typical dose commonly referred to as a hit of meth is one-quarter to one-half of a gram.The number of drug task force undercover methamphetamine buys also spiked from39 in 2014 to 76 last year.

As recently as six years ago the majority of methamphetamine used and sold here was home cooked using ingredients readily available in any supermarket. Meth users have now shifted to crystal meth, which is made in drug cartel-controlled super labs in Mexico and the Southwest. Crystal meth has a higher purity level and packs a more potent high but comes with the risk of fatal overdose not typically found in homemade meth.

Prior to 2015 I had never heard of a death from a meth overdose, Loving said.

I think we already had a strong addict base here for methamphetamine, he said. The supply is following the demand. Its difficult to say if we have more users. Its apparent to me the crystal meth is replacing the locally produced meth. And if there is an upside to that, the dangers from meth labs are decreasing just because of the sheer drop in meth labs.

As home cooked meth decreases in use, the number of meth labs found also decreases. In 2015 there were 59 meth lab incidents in Warren County. Last year the number dropped to 15.

Meth labs are very dangerous to the community if they explode into a fireball in a hotel room or apartment that you are standing next to, Loving said. By reducing meth labs thats the only upside in reducing danger to the public and police officers. The down side with this more pure meth is in all likelihood more people will have the potential to become addicted to it. There are all sorts of long-term health problems that if you dont overdose and die its going to kill you.

Probably 90 percent of your crime is driven by addicts stealing to obtain money to buy more drugs. So whatever your drug problem is in your community, you can pretty well assume that thats driving 90 percent of the crime in your community along with neglected children at best and certainly child abuse at worse, he said. Because when people are addicted to this drug and other drugs many times their children will be their last priority, and to those that would say drug crimes are victimless crimes, maybe they should go with us sometimes and see the children.

Follow Assistant City Editor Deborah Highland on Twitter @BGDNCrimebeat or visit bgdailynews.com.

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