Tagged: Drug Enforcement Administration

The Drug Enforcement Administration and about two dozen St. Louis-area police agencies are arresting more than 100 traffickers in a heroin roundup.

The arrests began Tuesday morning. By midday, nearly 50 traffickers were in custody. The DEA's St. Louis agent in charge, Harry Sommers, told The Associated Press that all told, 104 traffickers were expected to be arrested.

Sommers says the goal is to put a dent in the local heroin market and send a message to users, dealers and traffickers that police are out to get them.

The use of heroin in the St. Louis area is at epidemic levels, according to law enforcement officials.

The number of heroin overdoses and deaths has doubled in the St. Louis County and city over the past four years. St. Louis County Chief of Police Tim Fitch said the drug is cheaper now and it can be snorted or smoked, instead of injected. He said it's no longer just an urban issue.

Updated at 1:06 p.m. March 1, 2011 with information that Tenn. has overtaken Mo.

Data from state officials shows Tennessee has knocked Missouri out of the lead for meth lab busts and seizures for the first time since 2003.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the state had 1,960 meth lab incidents in 2010. That's a 10 percent increase over the previous year.