"Our prosecutions of meth dealers continue to rise. The methamphetamine that arrives in Nebraska is distributed and sold by gangs that routinely use guns and violence to conduct their illegal activities. We are attacking this problem in a concerted approach with local, state, and federal agencies.”

Those comments in January came from Jan Sharp, the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Nebraska. In response to the increasing amount of methamphetamine seen threatening Nebraskans, the federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in the state have formed a coalition to help combat what is the number one drug threat in both rural and urban communities. 

“A leading goal of this partnership is to sound the alarm that meth use continues to spread across our state,” said Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson. “We want citizens to be fully informed about the dangers of meth consumption and understand the destruction it brings to communities.”

The amount of methamphetamine seized in Nebraska has surged 293 percent in the last five years with law enforcement agencies combining for approximately 768 pounds in 2021. Total nationwide methamphetamine seizures increased 77 percent from 2018-2019, the most recent data available."

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"The Nebraska State Patrol said there's an increase in overdose deaths in the state.

The news tracks with a national trend reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: drug overdose deaths went up 28.5% last year. That’s more than 100,000 people affected in all.

NSP said it’s seeing drug trends change.

Investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol have been busy this year.

"Back in February, we had about a 48-hour stretch where we had 12 pharmacies hit in Omaha, Valley, Springfield, and Fremont," said Tyler

Kroenke, an investigator with NSP.

Burglars from out of town target high-power narcotics and opiates.

It's not the only group hunting pharmacies.

"We get hit with these traveling crews that are coming here for promethazine with codeine, that's a big one and we get hammered,” Kroenke said.

NSP said criminals are using real doctor's information found online to create fake prescriptions, then selling the drugs on the streets."

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