http://www.onlinemadison.com/main.asp?S ... M=64844.83

The director of the state Bureau of Narcotics has strong praise for Madison County law enforcement when it comes to the war on drugs.

While Marshall Fisher, the director, is watching a rise in methamphetamine imports from Mexico and feels conflicted about the 13,500-pound jump in seizures of cocaine and marijuana during the past fiscal year, he told the Madison-Ridgeland Rotary Club last week he believes law enforcement here is ahead of the game.

"There's a good working relationship between MBN and those agencies," Fisher told the club.

"If a problem does arise, there's a quick pipeline between agency heads to address something before it festers."

He singled out police chiefs Jimmy Houston of Ridgeland and Gene Waldrop of Madison for their efforts and efficiency in clamping down on narcotics, and called Sheriff Toby Trowbridge a "square shooter" who believes in his mission.

"In my mind, they're lucky to have a man like Jimmy Houston up there," he said.

These plaudits and the reputation of local law enforcement have a practical effect, Fisher was quick to point out.

Despite the potential for a great number of "spill over" crimes from Jackson into local neighborhoods, he said that the number of crimes that cross county lines is no greater than law enforcement can reasonably expect.

This is due in part, he said, to the feeling among drug dealers that narcotics offenders will quickly be caught and dealt with firmly by police and local district attorneys in Madison and Rankin counties.

"That word gets out among criminal element. They're going to pay attention to those boundary lines," he said.

Houston, for his part, said that communications between his department and MBN have improved dramatically since Fisher took office in June of last year, and that the director usually responds to Houston's calls within an hour.

"It seems like he's picked up the banner and moving it forward from the way it was. I've been very impressed," said Houston.

Fisher, who previously served at the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and has worked in roles ranging from an administrator to a street agent, believes that a crucial part of his job is to keep tab on larger trends within the world of narcotics, from demographics and transportation methods to the ebb and flow in the popularity of different narcotics.

When he looks at patterns among youth, for example, he notes a slight increase in Ecstasy usage among the youth, but does not see any new drug emerging as a popular new drug of choice among adolescents.

"Marijuana use has stabilized somewhat (for youth). It may have actually dipped slightly," observed Fisher.

In the ongoing battle against "Mom and Pop" methamphetamine labs, Fisher said that a state law enacted in 2005 that limited purchases of pseudoephedrine (a key ingredient in the strange chemical universe of meth kitchens) to 9 grams per 30 days, has cut back on the amount of homegrown meth produced in the state.

But this decrease has been accompanied by a rise in the amount of meth crossing the border with Mexico and making its way into Mississippi. In many cases, Mexican meth has greater potency, even accounting for the variability that exists between individual meth makers.

Local drug distribution networks are also experimenting with Mexican meth in their own way, helping to move the product through resources which they have previously used primarily for crack cocaine distribution.

"Drugs are going east-bound, while bulk currency is going west-bound to Mexico," said Fisher, describing the main corridors through which drugs are sold and transported in the state, such as Interstate 10 and Interstate 20.

Illegal immigrants from Mexico do play a role in the introduction of this new drug, Fisher said, but he believes that they are not having a disproportionate affect on the growth of Mexican meth in Mississippi.

The growth of meth from south of the Rio Grande comes at a time when MBN has also seen a sharp jump in the haul coming in from narcotics interdiction. During the past fiscal year, MBN seized over 1,500 tons of cocaine, a huge jump from the 260 pounds it seized in FY 05, while marijuana seizures jumped from about 3,800 pounds to over 12,000 pounds in the last fiscal year.

But Fisher said that the interpretation of such data is an extremely difficult exercise. While MBN is naturally pleased that it has taken more drugs and dealers off the street and prevented the drugs from reaching potential new addicts, it is not clear if narcotics interdiction is merely treating the symptoms of the problem of drug addiction and the financial allure of drug dealing.

One interpretation of the data, he admitted, is that MBN is not having the deterrent effect that is the ultimate goal of many drug interdiction efforts, and that drug enforcement officials are making more busts because there are simply more busts to be made.

Still, he said, criminals are criminals and need to be dealt with, no matter how one feels about the problem philosophically.

"It is what it is. You've taken those people out of the equation," he said. "I like to say that we provide them with another zip code."

What helps those with local, non-penal zip codes is their willingness to stay vigilant and keep their neighborhoods safe, Fisher said.

Like politics, he said, crime is ultimately a local issue. While the average person knows little and cares less about the mechanics of international drug cartels and complicated distribution methods, residents who simply keep a sharp eye on neighbors have a chilling effect on criminal activity just like aggressive prosecutors in Madison.

"If you live on a street, and everyone else keeps their houses up nicely, but you've got this one person on the block that doesn't keep his house so nicely, and see traffic in there all day and night . . . that's what you care about," said Fisher.