Rusk County Sheriff Says Texas Law Enforcement Overwhelmed By Border Drug Flow

HENDERSON, Texas (KETK) – Dozens of bottles of promethazine have been taken from a man in Rusk County.

These products would have been worth more than $ 32,000 if they were sold on the street.

“It’s starting to increase, I don’t really understand why because it’s been around for a while,” said Kevin Bisnette, a Henderson police officer.

The vials were stolen from a pharmaceutical truck in Houston.

This is the same town where Rusk County Sheriff Johnwayne Valdez worked in the narcotics business for nearly a decade.

From the border all the way to east Texas, the sheriff says officials are exhausted in their bitter fight against the constant flow of drugs from Mexico.

“We’ve spoken to a lot of border sheriffs. We had a huge conference just to talk to the border sheriffs. The word overwhelmed doesn’t even begin to describe what these sheriffs are going through right now, ”Valdez said.

A variety of drugs like cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamine are all smuggled in.

“They’re crossing that border by 18-wheel loads or by four or five kilos at a time, and we just can’t keep up,” added Valdez.

The problem for East Texans is what happens when these substances are transported north.

“It goes up north like Illinois, Chicago, Kentucky, Nebraska, New York. It goes further north into the states, ”said Jon Randolph, the Mount Enterprise Marshal.

Drugs are kept in smaller towns, so they will not be easily detected by officers. This creates an environment where East Texans can become addicted to drugs like promethazine.

Using many of these types of drugs can cause overdoses that can lead to hospitalizations and even death.

“I mean narcotics, it’s a multi-billion dollar industry, and it gets worse and worse every year,” Randolph said.

For now, law enforcement in East Texas is trying to slow the spread.

“They’ve got tons of it across the border, sitting on it to filter it. They know what they are doing. We just don’t have enough manpower to be able to take it all, ”Sheriff Valdez said.

He also said that if the governor asked for help at the border, he would not only send some of his deputies, he would also go there himself.