Deputies Make 2 Big Busts In Clark County: Sheriff

VANCOUVER, WA — A Clark County Sheriff's K9 reportedly sniffed out more than 20 pounds of methamphetamine during a traffic stop on Interstate-5 in Vancouver on Halloween. The haul has an estimated value of roughly $147,000.

Three people, all of whom denied ownership of the illegal substances, were in the car at the time: two men, from Longview and Portland, respectively, and a Vancouver woman.

In a Thursday post on the Clark County Sheriff's Office Facebook page officials said the traffic stop occurred Oct. 31 around 10 a.m. near the exit to Northeast 134th Street, north of Vancouver. During the stop deputies requested the assistance of a K9 team, which subsequently discovered the meth.

During the same traffic stop the K9 also located about 12 pounds of MSM, or methylsulfonylmethane, which is apparently marketed as a dietary supplement but is often used to cut meth in order to "increase yield and profit," sheriff's officials said.

In another post shared a few hours later, Clark County Sheriff's officials noted another drug bust that resulted in the seizure of a large quantity of Fentanyl-laced counterfeit Oxycodone pills.

"A powerful synthetic opioid analgesic that is similar to morphine," Fentanyl is between 50 to 100 times more potent, officials explained, noting it's easier to overdose on this "extremely dangerous" drug.

"The National Institute of Drug Abuse reports nearly 80 percent of heroin users started with prescription opioids," officials wrote. "And during that 1999-2016 time frame, overdose deaths from heroin increased 7x. And deaths from synthetic opioids like fentanyl increased almost 21x."

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Images via Clark County Sheriff's Office