Task force director details approach to combating drug usage, sales

EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio (WKBN) — The Columbiana County Drug Task Force has kept busy into September, executing numerous search warrants as part of its mission to remove drugs from the streets.

Most recently, the task force, in conjunction with other local law enforcement, executed a search warrant Thursday where it recovered items indicative of drug trafficking. Two raids were conducted last week that resulted in suspected drugs and drug paraphernalia as well.

Jesse Smith, director of the task force, says a lot of narcotics investigation work is about opportunity.

“We’ve been pretty fortunate the last couple of weeks to get the opportunity to get in some good target houses, specifically in East Liverpool,” Smith said. “That doesn’t mean that we’re not pursuing targets in the rest of the county … but we’ve just had good opportunities. Our East Liverpool agent has done a really good job with his investigations in that area, and it’s paid off for us.”

The task force is a collaborative effort of local police departments, along with the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office and prosecutors.

Smith said most of these cases start as tips that are then passed along to the proper jurisdiction. Next, agents work to gather more information — this can be done through a number of tactics, such as traffic stops and informants. Once the necessary information is gathered, a search warrant is issued, leading to further investigation and potential arrests.

Smith said over the last few years, the task force has changed its approach to how it polices drugs and drug trafficking in Columbiana County.

“We realized that it’s not all about targeting the demand. The reason people sell drugs in Columbiana County is because there are drug users in Columbiana County,” Smith said. “And we would be foolish to think we could completely eradicate drug trafficking in Columbiana County by just going after drug dealers.”

He said they’ve partnered with the state and the county’s mental health board to help get people treatment.

“Our goal right now is to get as many people dealing with substance use disorders, as many drug addicts as we can, get them into treatment, and we can really curb the supply part of this, and hopefully, in doing that, drug traffickers — especially out of town drug traffickers — will no longer see Columbiana County as just a place to make money and go sell drugs and ruin our communities.”

Smith said they are still pursuing, charging and prosecuting as many mid-to-upper-level drug traffickers as they can.

“I believe doing a combination of both of those things essentially is what’s going to make the biggest difference in our county,” Smith said.

Thursday’s search took place in the 600 block of Minerva Street, where agents reported recovering suspected fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, psilocybin mushrooms and prescription pills, along with cash and other paraphernalia. The prior week’s raids took place in the 200 block of Ravine Street and the 600 block of Minerva Street — a different address from Thursday’s raid.

Smith said Minerva Street isn’t a necessarily bad area for drug trafficking, but that the street is dense with houses and it just happened the two homes the task force had information on were near each other.

The task force state charges for trafficking and possession of the drugs are pending lab testing.

In 2023, the task force reported initiating 258 cases involving narcotics-related offenses in Columbiana County.

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