With two cocaine arrests in the past week, Whitman County is cracking down on the use of hard drugs.

Quad Cities Drug Task Force Sgt. Brad Hudson said since the price of cocaine has decreased in the past few months, the county has seen an increase in cocaine usage, as well as a continuing use of meth and heroin.

WSU Police Department Sgt. Dawn Daniels said what is considered a hard drug differs depending upon who one asks. The popularity of drugs differs from semester to semester and there are currently issues with cocaine, heroin and prescription drug usage.

While there is an occasional use of hard drugs on WSU campus, there is not an abundance of them, Daniels said. She said the most common drugs seen on campus are caffeine, alcohol and marijuana.

The Drug Enforcement Administration classifies hard drugs on a one-to-five scale, Hudson said. A one rating means there is no legitimate use for the drug and a 2-5 rating means there may be a legitimate use, such as in prescriptions, but has the potential for abuse.

The factors that determine changes in use of narcotics are supply, demand, price and enforcement by the task force, Hudson said. The task force contributed to the heroin problem in Whitman County by not coming up with ideas to make it harder for people to obtain and illegally use prescription drugs containing opium, often used in creating heroin.

Pharmaceutical companies reduced the amount of the narcotic that is inside the drugs, Hudson said, reducing the amount of money drug dealers make.

Hudson said illegal drug manufactures, called chemists, may also change the chemical makeup of a drug to something that is unknown or does not classify as a hard drug. An example is the popular use of ecstasy, one molecule away from becoming meth, in fraternities, he said.

“Just because someone says it’s just cocaine doesn’t mean it’s just cocaine,” Daniels said.

When something cannot be classified as a known narcotic or controlled substance, the task force cannot do anything, Hudson said. In those scenarios, when a substance such as a white powder cannot be identified, the individual technically does not have a drug in possession.

Drug use is not exclusive to one group of people, but is based on individual circumstances, Hudson said. For example, those who hurt themselves on the job and are prescribed a pain medicine containing opium may become addicted over time and experience violent illness when they stop using the prescription, Hudson said.

“They get sick in a way you and I have never experienced before,” Hudson said.

When the prescription drug becomes harder to get ahold of, people start looking at narcotics such as heroine to obtain the same high when they no longer have the prescription, he said.

When interviewed, some users are in tears, never dreaming they would become an addict, Hudson said. Most of these people may have had a very good job beforehand, supporting their families and living the American dream, he said.

The drug task force is not looking for the small-time dealers, Hudson said, unless they can help find larger manufacturers. The task force may work out an agreement with the dealer’s prosecutor to reduce charges if they can assist in investigations of other dealers, he said.

“You couldn’t do this job without confidential informants,” Hudson said.