STEPHANI TOBIN
Two recent arrests in Chickasha have local law officials fearing a new drug is becoming more prevalent in rural Oklahoma.
Chickasha Police recently arrested Lindsay Shropshire, 25, and Alexander Ford, 21, on charges of drug trafficking. Poilice found them with more than 10 grams of ecstasy, according to reports.
Ecstasy, a popular drug among teens and college students, isn’t commonly found in large amounts outside metropolitan areas, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics spokesman Mark Woodward said.
“It’s uncommon to see that many pills, even in [Oklahoma City] or Tulsa,” Woodward said. “It’s hard to see what the motivation was.”
Small quantities of Ecstasy have been found in rural areas before, but the number of pills found in this arrest was enough to warrant a trafficking charge for Shropshire and Ford, Chickasha Assistant Police Chief Elip Moore said.
“There is no way of knowing how the drugs got to Chickasha,” Moore said.
Although authorities found unprecedented number of ecstasy tablets, the apartment was originally searched under warrant on suspicion of marijuana use and sales. About half a pound of marijuana and various drug paraphernelia were also found on the premises, police said.
Moore said Shropshire and Ford were “local” and were not believed to be passing through to a larger city. Some of the drug paraphernelia was found in the open and some was hidding, he said.
Moore said charges against the two would be filed at the state level, and the maximum charge for trafficking is life in prison without parole.
Ecstasy tablets usually have a design or logo on them, and sometimes these designs are popular cartoon characters, including Bart Simpson or Smurfs.
However, Woodward said these designs are the brand marks of particular dealers. Designs can also be popular advertising logos or designer labels, such as Calvin Klein.
Teenagers and college students remain the target audiences for ecstasy. The drug is especially popular at raves - traveling parties that can be held in farm fields, abandonded buildings and rented clubs.
Young children may be enticed by the cartoon characters on tablets and mistake them for candy or vitamins, but the cartoon brands aren’t meant specifically to entice children, Woodward said.
“Kids are not a steady flow of commerce for drug dealers,” Woodward said.
Los Angeles, Miami and New York remain the three main markets for ecstasy trafficking, although it has been found in every major city in the United States, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The drug is most often manufactured in the Netherlands and Belgium and smuggled into the United States through Germany and Poland. It can be brought into the country through body carriers, air and sea cargo and express mail.
