Butler County’s chief detective and Drug Task Force coordinator encourages parents to look more closely at the containers children keep in their rooms.

Chief Detective Tim Fennell brought with him cans of salt, Ajax, Lysol, soda and a lint roller to the 3rd annual Discovery Recovery symposium on March 3 at Butler County Community College.

As audience members asked themselves what these household items had to do with controlled substances, Fennell opened each container to reveal a hidden compartment. Most parents wouldn’t give these “stash jars” a second look, Fennell said, but they would after his demonstration.

Fennell joined law enforcement in 1979 before fighting substance use consumed law enforcement, he said. Alcohol, marijuana and cocaine were the primary street substances in the 1980s, before crack cocaine changed law enforcement in the 1990s, he said.

“It changed all the time and resources that law enforcement does spend on drug enforcement,” Fennell said. “Then, we come to the 2000s, when we didn’t think it was going to get any worse, heroin flooded our area.”

Fennell didn’t have his first experience with a person addicted to heroin in Butler County until the late 2000s, he said. The county didn’t have many dealers, so users would instead drive to Pittsburgh daily or choose crack cocaine before heroin dealers surfaced, he said. Fentanyl then emerged in the 2010s mixed with heroin.

“By the end of that decade, fentanyl became a major, major player … mixed with heroin,” Fennell said.

He said heroin use continued to dwindle as it was replaced in fentanyl/heroin mixtures with xylazine, a veterinary tranquilizer that does not interact with Narcan. He said most toxicology reports for fatal overdoses he receives from the coroner show a mixture of fentanyl and xylazine with no heroin.

“None of these drugs went away except heroin,” Fennell said. “They just kept getting worse.”

Fennell said the three most common drugs in Butler County are fentanyl, crack cocaine and methamphetamine. Previously found primarily in the West for decades, Fennell said, crystal methamphetamine began crossing into Pennsylvania from Ohio. Fennell said police would pay $100-$120 per gram at controlled buys, which has been reduced to $50-$80 as supplies increased.

“It makes no sense to try to make meth here in Pennsylvania because the stuff coming from Mexico is dirt cheap,” Fennell said.

“Meth labs” have largely been left behind as updated building materials codes have made them harder to conceal, Fennell said. He added rave-era substances like ecstasy and MDMA still circulate, as tablets pressed to look like candy hearts, but they aren’t as common anymore.

Fentanyl and OxyContin presses that look like prescribed pills are also trending, Fennell said. These pills are usually blue and don’t achieve the same sharp edges as a pharmaceutical pill.

Along with the “stash jars,” Fennell brought various products legally purchased in other states, and others legally purchased from area tobacco and vape stores, all containing THC and kratom. THC is the active psychoactive compound in marijuana, and kratom produces similar effects to opioids.

The compounds came in the form of gummies, candy bars, candy pieces and vapes, most of which were brightly colored with vibrant visuals. Fennell said these commercially sold products are often marketed toward children.

“A 69-year-old man with a beard walking in … they know I’m a cop, but they don’t care,” Fennell said about the people who sold him the products.

The products bought from other states all contained Delta-9 THC, the naturally occurring THC in marijuana. The products bought in Pennsylvania contained Delta-8 THC, a synthetic compound derived from marijuana and hemp. The synthetic compound is less potent than its natural counterpart but provides the same effects.

Delta-8 products were made legal in Pennsylvania by the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp, a similar plant that contains less than 0.3% Delta-9 THC by dry weight. The Delta-8 products can be sold legally to individuals 21 and older, if they contain less than 0.3% Delta-9 THC by dry weight.

“You’re supposed to be 21 to buy it, but there’s nowhere in the law that says you have to be any age to possess it,” Fennell said.

What troubles Fennell more is kratom, a compound derived from an evergreen tree native to Southeast Asia that is sold legally, but has similar effects to an opiate, Fennell said. He said kratom is a favorite of individuals on probation because it doesn’t appear on a drug test.

“No one is prosecuting that … It’s such as gray area that you can’t get a conviction,” Fennell said.

Students caught on school grounds with THC can be arrested for possessing a controlled substance. Students caught with kratom may get a ticket for possessing a vape, he said.

Fennell said it’s also not certain what’s in the synthetic products as manufacturers are not required to disclose what other ingredients or compounds are added.

Drivers can also still be charged with a DUI if they have THC in their system from previous use, even with a prescription.

“The prescription doesn’t matter. If you’re impaired, you’re impaired,” Fennell said.

Sgt. Detective Ryan Doctor with Butler police said dealers are typically smart people with business and marketing knowledge, but police have ways to track their stock.

Doctor said Butler County’s supply of substances largely comes from Philadelphia. Pittsburgh can be considered a “source city” for Butler County, but most substances that run through Pittsburgh came from Philadelphia, Youngstown, Columbus or Detroit. He said drugs are also commonly shipped from outside the country to eastern havens like New York, Miami and Baltimore.

Most substances in the county from Philadelphia have branding markers that signal quality. Putting a quality or brand mark of substances on the market will attract more customers and money, but also attract more heat from law enforcement to the dealer, Doctor explained. He said dealers will typically start selling in areas where they have previous connections.

Police will then arrest customers possessing substances with the same quality markers, which can lead them back to the dealer. Information about investigations and substances is also shared between law enforcement agencies. General informants and repeated controlled buys also help police narrow suspects.