In Pennsylvania, two people were charged with drug-related felonies after police found more than $230,000 worth of cocaine and methamphetamine in an apartment.
In another part of the state, police responding to a call about an overdose stumbled upon more than 1,300 bags of heroin, and 45 grams of meth.
In Iowa, police arrested a man who had more than $10,000 and a large quantity of of cocaine and meth in his hotel room. And in Florida, police who stopped a driver for speeding found 36 grams of cocaine, and roughly 22 grams of meth in his car.
These incidents, which happened across the last four weeks, show a relatively new trend in the rise and availability of meth and cocaine across the U.S.
The development is, in part, an outgrowth of the crackdown on opioids in the U.S., and the result of cartels finding other drugs. The 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA), released last fall, noted the rise of more potent forms of meth and cocaine in the United States.
And the drugs are being smuggled into the country., the report noted, mainly by Mexicans, through the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We’re seeing an explosion,” said Mike Stuart, U.S. attorney for the southern district of West Virginia, according to the Washington Times. “We have all hands on deck in fighting the opioids crisis — the height of that might have been two years ago. It’s important right now that we’re ready and tackling the meth crisis that’s going to happen, and that we’re hitting the cocaine crisis.” – READ MORE