Buchanan County Drug Strike Force outlines goals for the year
Overdose deaths in Missouri have dropped over the years, however, that will not impact the fight against drug use in the St. Joseph community.
Buchanan County’s Drug Strike Force Captain Shawn Collie said despite the number of overdose deaths declining there is still work to be done.
“We’re making cases every day, unfortunately, there’s always individuals next in line for dealing or bringing stuff into our community,” Captain Collie said. “We saw a lot with meth, fentanyl and with our younger population, the vapes and the gummies and the different THC products.”
One of the Drug Strike Force’s goals for 2025 is to work their prosecutors office, focusing on working with agencies to identify the people bringing the drugs into the community. Based on coast-to-coast trends, the Drug Strike Force believes they can predict which substances will be in the streets.
“To see into the future we look at the east coast and west coast and try to see what some of those trends are and what’s going on in those areas,” Captain Collie said. “We start seeing this island scene on the coast and then all of a sudden it was here within no time.”
Another goal the Drug Strike Force has outlined for 2025 is balancing enforcing the law and eliminating the distribution with staying on top of youth THC use.
According to Captain Collie, there is big difference now compared to the ‘old days’ because kids have more knowledge of what drugs are.
“What we really want to get through to them is the effects of these drugs,” Collie said. “Whether it’s you start seeing the unemployed, the homeless or the sexually transmitted diseases or infections and the teen pregnancy. Then you start looking at the violent crimes.”
The Drug Strike Force stated that working to get this information out and boosting overall community involvement is one of their main goals for this year.
“We just need to do a better job of how to get information to the kids,” Collie said. “Whether through the school district, that probable I’d like to see within a few months, especially then going into the next school year.”
Collie said they want to find the right people and groups that can help come up with announcements to get the information out.
“For us to be a part of the community, not just as law enforcement but a part of the community, we live here we take pride in our community...” Collie said. “The more we can do and the more we can be involved in the community, I think that is probably one of my biggest goals.”
