Georgia Has a Big-Time Drug Problem
Like every state in the nation, Georgia has a big-time drug problem. Unlike most though, the Peach State also has a big-time drug-running problem. No, Georgia didn’t suddenly move to the border. The border didn’t suddenly move to Georgia either. And yet more and more narco-traffickers are finding its climate comparable to both Texas and Florida.
Why is that? Could it be Georgia’s 100-mile coastline? Unlikely. Even South Carolina has more coast and it doesn’t have nearly the drug-running problem. Maybe it’s because more and more drug dealers are being created in Georgia. And because that in turn is creating more and more drug users. After all, most drug-users do live in non-border states. So shouldn’t most drug dealers live there as well?
Georgia On My Mind
Perhaps. Perhaps not. The question is mostly moot. See, we’re talking about drug traffickers; not dealers. The kinda folk who deal in kilos not dimes. Those who are more likely to be found in warehouses rather than on corners. In fact, these dealers are about as far from corner boy as you can get.
Or are they? Many of these dealers are men (nearly 90% of traffickers are male), and many of these men worked their way up from corner boy. How better to create the bona fides that cement your ties? More importantly, how better to prove your muster? If a man can handle his business in the streets, that man can surely handle his business in the penthouse.
And what better testament to bootstrap capitalism? Isn’t America made by men who worked their way up? A poor house is a poor house, whether it’s on a farm or in the projects. And there’s something to be said about mustering up what it takes to get up and out.
Sure, some folks say drug-dealing is the easy way out. Those folks have never sold drugs though, either on a corner or in a penthouse. If they had, then they’d know the enterprise takes strength and smarts. It also takes guts. Because a drug dealer can be killed at any second.
Yes, a dealer can also be arrested. And that risk is more foolish than gutsy. Then again, when options are few and the market is plentiful, it aligns right with capitalist principles. So maybe it’s not quite as foolish as it first appears.
Robbing and stealing are easy ways out. But the only thing easy about drug dealing is the ease in which a person can enter the trade.
Georgia High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Just witness Georgia. Better yet, witness the official drug-trafficking operations taking place in the state, and the number of drug-trafficking arrests that have come about as a result. Why the Justice Department has concluded two rather extensive operations in just the last three months. It’s also taken over 30 people into custody.
Last year Healing Properties featured a case where the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia led an alphabet-soup-sized group of agencies in shutting down a drug ring that operated out of Albany-area hotels. This year we’re back featuring the same U.S. Attorney’s Office (namely Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah McEwen), which is prosecuting a Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation into an alleged armed drug trafficking organization that was distributing methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl and other controlled substances across Middle Georgia.
Twenty-two individuals are facing federal charges as a result of that investigation, including Pedro Valencia, who currently resides in (and may have been operating from) Calhoun State Prison. The 45-year-old Valencia, who’s also known as Casper or Bossman, 45, is charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. If convicted, he faces a maximum of life imprisonment and a maximum $10,000,000 fine.
Operation Wheat Fields
We’re also featuring Operation Wheat Fields, which dates back to early 2018 and includes allegations of trafficking in large amounts of methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana, along with multiple firearms charges.
The Operation actually involves two cases – USA vs Wheatley, et al, and USA vs Fields, et al – and both are being prosecuted for the United States by Southern District of Georgia Assistant U.S. Attorney and Criminal Division Chief Patricia G. Rhodes. Both cases are built upon
investigations that identified a pipeline of illegal drugs that are coming from Mexico and being routed through Atlanta and into the greater Augusta area.
The lead defendant in USA v. Wheatley et al, is Jayson Dwayne Wheatley, 41, of Augusta, who’s awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty Sept. 23 to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute, and to Distribute, 50 Grams or More of a Mixture Containing a Detectable Amount of Methamphetamine.
The lead defendant in USA vs Fields, et al is Justin Wayne Fields, 39, of Swainsboro. Fields has been with Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute, and to Distribute, 500 Grams or More of a Mixture Containing a Detectable Amount of Methamphetamine and an Amount of Heroin; three counts of Distribution of Methamphetamine; and 11 counts of Use of Communication Facility, related to the use of a cell phone or Facebook Messenger to facilitate the conspiracy.
As the Justice Department so helpfully states, this investigations took place under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program that has been successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer.
It’s not joking about the bringing together either. Operation Wheat Fields included the Georgia Bureau of Investigation; the Swainsboro Police Department; the Emanuel County Sheriff’s Office; the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
Drug Use By State
As for their customers, well, oddly enough, most drug users do live in non-border states. And they out-use their coastal brethren by a considerable margin. In fact, when WalletHub crunched the numbers, it found that nine of the Top 10 drug-using states weren’t anywhere near a border.
West Virginia ranked Number One Overall, though, to be fair, it ranked fourth in Drug Use & Addiction. Washington DC topped that metric, followed by Vermont and Tennessee. Kentucky rounded out the Top 5.
More use and abuse of course means non-border states also rank highest for drug overdoses. Okay, so Delaware recently joined the Top 10, but that’s largely because its small population gives it a higher per capita percentage. Otherwise the 444 overdose deaths in 2020 would barely even rank. But they did rank, and rightly so. Because those 444 people equal a whopping 47.3% of every 100,000 Delawareans.
West Virginia ranked too. Still. In fact, the inexplicably-named Mountain State still ranks #1. Then again, when 81.4% of every 100K is dying from drug overdoses, you’re probably going to top the charts. Yes, even if that percentage “only” adds up to 1330 people.
Kentucky also out-overdosed Delaware – 49.2%, or 2083 per – “earning” it second place ranking. Ohio (77.2%; 5204) and Tennessee (45.6%; 3034) rounded out the Top 5. You can find the entire Drug Overdose Mortality Chart, as well as a bounty of other essential stats, via the remarkable CDC Wonder portal.
A Good Neighbor
Healing Properties has been helping men from neighboring Georgia since 2002. In fact, a couple of our earliest clients had come straight from the University of Georgia. And true to fashion, they fought like two Bulldogs too. We’re not talking brother against brother though; we’re talking brother beside brother. And when those two Brother Bulldogs teamed up to fight addiction, the drugs never had a chance!
Of course there were more than a pair of ferocious brothers in the fight – there was also the HP Team. And when you’ve got the support of the kinda team we provide at Healing Properties, you will kill drugs dead. You’ll kill addiction dead too.
Got doubts? Check out our Testimonials, in both written and video format. That’ll put those doubts to rest. If you follow-up with a phone call, we can start putting your addiction to rest too. Whaddya say?
