Meth Still The Deadliest Drug In Oklahoma, Says Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics says meth is the deadliest drug in the state and killed more than 600 people in Oklahoma last year.

OBN says that even takes into account, the recent rise of fentanyl. OBN says it's common for agents to intercept meth shipments of 50 to 250 pounds of meth traveling through the state. But, they say the key is getting the people behind those shipments, then shutting them down and saving lives.

OBN agents seized 114 kilos of meth last week, with a street value of more than half a million dollars. In December, agents took another 28 pounds of meth off the streets in one case, then another 180 kilos of meth in another case in Tulsa County.

"Meth continues to be our number one killer,” said Mark Woodward with OBN. "15 years ago a lot of people were cooking their own meth but since we put Pseudoephedrine in the pharmacies and made it more difficult for people to get large quantities, the drug cartels out of Mexico started being the primary source."

Woodward says Oklahoma is a crossroads because the highway system allows drug traffickers to go in any direction they want across the country. He says getting the drugs off the streets is great, but they have to shut down the leaders of these drug trafficking organizations.

"If we can unplug these groups that are moving the drugs from lets say El Paso into Dallas, Dallas into Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City to Tulsa and Tulsa to the streets of places like Grove or Bartlesville, if we can take down the entire network then you can really cripple that organization,” said Woodward.

Woodward says meth is extremely addictive. He says while fentanyl is very deadly, meth-related deaths were more than double fentanyl overdose deaths in 2021. He says there's a high demand for meth in the state and that addiction leads to other crimes.

“A lot of these kids are 16, 17, 18 trying meth for the first time and it just tells the brain that they love this craving, and once the brain is craving it they are hooked. Their lives will start crumbling because everything they do will be to feed what the brain is craving.,” said Woodward.

OBN says their partnerships with local law enforcement agencies are critical because a simple traffic stop could lead to them taking down a large drug trafficking organization.