For more than a decade, one drug has dominated the attention of Cass County law enforcement officials — methamphetamine.

First introduced to the region in the early 2000s, the substance has become one of the main focuses of police, prosecutors and judges, with dozens of arrests and convictions made every year for people using and manufacturing the drug. From 2013 to 2015, there have been more than 400 meth-related cases in Cass County.

In response to the problem, both county police departments and courts have had to adopt new approaches in order to combat the continuing issues with the drug, especially as addicts devised new ways of making it — as well as the recent appearance of more potent batches made and distributed by Mexican drug cartels.

Faced with an onslaught of meth activity in the county, local law enforcement leaders knew that a swift response was needed.

Fortunately, the joint-effort by officers with the Dowagiac Police Department and Cass County Sheriff’s Office several years earlier to rid city streets of crack provided a model on how to combat the emergence of meth.

In 2004, then-Dowagiac Police Chief Tom Atkinson and Cass County Sheriff Joseph Underwood, along with Prosecutor Victor Fitz, launched an effort to expand the Cass County Drug Enforcement Team, a three-person task force, comprised of officers from both agencies, dedicated to cracking down on drug production and sales occurring throughout the county. To pay for the additional resources needed to expand the program, the county presented a millage hike proposal to voters — a measure that citizens approved.

“The drug team has been one of the single largest factors in keeping Cass County safe from the meth scourge,” Fitz said. “I couldn’t even imagine where this county would be if voters hadn’t made their formation possible.”

More than a decade later, the team still plays an essential role in discovering and busting methamphetamine operations in the county.

The task force is comprised of six detectives, who are rotated into and out of the team on a regular basis, along with a drug prosecutor and an administrative assistant “who keeps the whole thing together,” said Cass County Undersheriff Richard Behnke.

The team employs several methods to track down meth production sites. One of the most simple, and effective, has been working with local businesses that sell some of the common components used to make the drug, monitoring customers who frequently purchase these kinds of materials, Behnke said.

“Everything you need to make a batch is located at the hardware store, except for Sudafed, which you can get at the drug store,” Behnke said.

The bulk of the detectives’ work involves following up on information provided to the team through citizen tips, though. While they might not get to it right away, drug team officers make it a priority to chase any tidbit the department receives, big or small, Behnke said.

Some of the common signs of meth activity occurring in a house include chemical-smelling odors emanating from the property and cars frequently arriving and leaving the driveway.

“If you see something, say something,” said Steven Grinnewald, the director of public safety with the City of Dowagiac. “If something made you stop and say ‘that was odd,’ you should report it.”

A new way of

addressing the problem

As the first batch of local meth cases began flooding into his office, Prosecutor Fitz took a hardline stance toward offenders: they would not receive a deal from his office and would face severe prison sentences for making, selling or using the substance.

“We wanted to send a message that meth is not welcome in Cass County,” Fitz said. “If you chose to make or use it here, you would be doing hard time.”

However, with the drug still running rampant within many county households, the courts turned toward a new method of addressing the problem, focusing on rehabilitation and treatment instead of mere punishment.

Cass County Probate Judge Susan Dobrich was instrumental in bringing this paradigm shift to the courtroom with the introduction of the county’s first drug treatment court program, Family Treatment Court, in 2003.

These kinds of problem-solving rehabilitation programs are intended to free offenders from the shackles of addiction — the root cause of what drives meth users back into the thralls of the drug after their release from incarceration, Dobrich said.

“It’s not as simple as just punishing offenders,” Dobrich said. “If it was we would have solved the drug issue years ago.”

The program requires participants to undergo court supervised rehabilitation as part of a probation sentence, through agencies such as Woodlands Behavioral Health. Each case is managed by a panel of treatment workers, prosecutors, attorneys and human services agents, who are tasked with coming up with individual plans suited for the needs of the participant.

On top of rehab, one of the core foundations of the program is the aggressive drug testing for each participant, to make sure they remain sober during their lengthy rehabilitation.

“The tests must be random and frequent,” Dobrich said. “Someone has to expect to be tested at any second.”

Failure to comply with the rules of the treatment court almost always results in the offender going to prison — and, in the case of parents, losing custody or visitation rights for their children, Dobrich said.

In spite of the heavy stick, the program is designed around positive reinforcement, with Dobrich and other judges congratulating participants for their achievements during their scheduled courtroom appearances, the judge said.

“People tend to respond better to praise,” she said. “Individuals come into court expecting negativity, but when we focus on the positives it’s easier to get them to cooperate with their treatment plan.”

Since the introduction of Family Treatment Court in Dobrich’s courtroom, several other judges have introduced similar problem-solving programs into their chambers, with District Judge Stacey Rentfrow adopting Adult Treatment Court in 2011 and Circuit Judge Michael Dodge picking up Swift and Sure Sanction Probation in 2013.

Future challenges

While the law enforcement has certainly found a way to manage the problems stemming from meth abuse, the drug’s presence is still apparent throughout the county today.

The Cass County Drug Enforcement Team continues to bust several labs every month, court dockets almost always have a methamphetamine-related case on them and, in spite of the efforts of the county’s drug courts, Cass County felons continue to fill the local jail and state prisons due to meth abuse.

According to Fitz, numbers of meth-related arrests ebb and flow every year, mostly dependent on the amount of information officers receive about possible lab operations, he said.

In response to the crisis, several states have created legislation that have helped curb the production of methamphetamine within their borders, including laws that have made pseudoephedrine, a common meth ingredient, available through prescription only, Fitz said. In spite of opposition from drug makers against widespread national adoption of such measures, Fitz said the possibility remains that such laws could one day be adopted in Lansing, he said.

“I would support such legislation, without question,” Fitz said.

In addition, the county is at risk of an even more potent strain of the drug, Mexican-made crystal meth, flowing into local communities.

Last year, CCDET, working with officers with the FBI, managed to seize more than $200,000 worth of meth from dealers with connection to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, led by the infamous drug kingpin El Chapo. Officers later discovered that more than 100 kilos of the substance have been delivered within the Michiana area, with a $2.5 million street value.

With no magic bullet to the problem in sight, the only thing that law enforcement officers can do is continue to keep their ears to the ground and root out meth labs and users whenever they can.

“Meth will probably never disappear,” Fitz said. “It’s like mowing the grass. If you stop, the lawn grows out of control. But if you keep at it, you can contain it to a manageable level.”

 Read about the background of the methamphetamine problem here.