Meth seizures in Brown County exceed 2022, 2023 numbers in first quarter of 2024

The Brown County Drug Task Force has seized more grams of methamphetamine in the first quarter of 2024 than it did in 2022 and 2023, combined, according to director Matthew Ronk.

• The first quarter yield 17,598 grams of meth, most coming in a large February seizure of 30+ pounds of the drug
• Ronk says meth numbers remain high despite the increasing risk of fentanyl in the community, in part because most users do not abuse both a stimulant and an opioid
• Video shows graphs of meth and fentanyl trends over the past six years

(The following is a transcription of the full web story)

The Brown County Drug Task Force has already seized more methamphetamine in 2024 as it did in all of 2022 and 2023, combined.

We're at the Brown County Sheriff's Office, sitting down with the Drug Task Force about how and why meth numbers are back up this year after a few years of lower rates.

"Huge amounts of methamphetamine are moving into the community," Lt. Matt Ronk said.

After a decline in the early 2020s, the Brown County Drug Task Force says meth numbers are back up. The Drug Task Force seized around 12,000 grams between 2022 and 2023 — it's already seized more than 17,000 grams in the first quarter of 2024. The Drug Task Force director says a big bust of about 30 pounds of the drug in February contributed to that high number.

"We knew of a large source of meth in Brown County," Ronk said. "We made an arrest that facilitated the movement of those drugs."

Fentanyl seizures also spiked recently, with the Task Force seizing almost 10,000 grams in 2022.

Ronk says the two aren't necessarily linked.

"There's more meth dealers in our community, more than meth users than fentanyl users," Ronk said. "Fentanyl users don't tend to stick around because they overdose and die, unfortunately. Meth users still tend to be stimulant users; opioid users tend to be opioid users."

He adds that the drug crime continues to plague the Green Bay area.

"Ten years ago, we'd be high fiving each other, 'hey, we got one pound of meth off the street,'" Ronk said. "Now, it's like, we got a pound of meth. Move on to the next one."

We also talked to the Drug Task Force about a drug more deadly than meth — more deadly even than fentanyl — we'll have that story for you later this week.