FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — While heroin usage continues to be an issue throughout West Virginia, another drug has seen an uptick recently in a few southern West Virginia counties.
Fayette County Sheriff Mike Fridley tells MetroNews affiliate WJLS the use of methamphetamine has increased in recent months alongside heroin.
“That’s our major two drugs right now. Cocaine once in a blue moon, marijuana once in a blue moon. It’s more than less your heroin and your meth that we are dealing with right now.”
Raleigh County Sheriff Scott Van Meter also indicated a similar trend in a previous interview.
“You still have the heroin, the marijuana, the pills that always a problem and it’s a constant problem. The crystal meth seems to have spiked because it’s cheap and sometimes the high seems to stay longer”.
Fridley also indicated the county received its first case recently of a drug known as “Flaka”, a synthetic form of meth. He described users of the drug as highly dangerous.
“That stuff is very scary. It’s like the walking zombies they run their heads through windows. It doesn’t stop them, it’s scary.”
Sheriff Fridley advises anyone that sees someone who is acting under the influence of a drug to keep their distance and call 911 immediately. Flaka causes users to lose all feelings, making apprehension tools like tasers useless.
“Their body functions, they can’t control that. They might strip off their clothes because they’ll get hot. If you think of the worst of the worst, that’s what it is.”
Fridley hopes to host another community drug roundtable in Oak Hill sometime in February. An official time has yet to be determined. The department held a similar event a few months ago in Fayetteville which resulted in a packed Historic Fayette Theater.
A full report of the Fayetteville event is available here.