WARREN COUNTY, N.Y. -- The arrest Sean Fogg, 21, for selling heroin is just another in what law enforcement in the area are calling a boom in heroin sales.
Glens Falls Police Chief Joe Bethel said, "What we have been seeing is people coming from New York City or some larger city south of us because of the high profit margin for selling drugs in this area."
Bethel says dealers have been infiltrating the area for years, but he has seen a sharp increase within the past year alone.
"We have a close-knit human network of drug users who are either unwilling or unable to travel to buy drugs, so they are like an island unto themselves so it's a ready market for sellers," said Bethel.
The Warren County Sheriff's Office announces the arrest of a Fort Ann man charged with selling drugs. And while drug arrests aren't unusual, law enforcement agencies in the area say heroin use and sales are on the rise. As our Jessica Mokhiber reports, the bigger the problem becomes, the more police will be cracking down.
Glens Falls Police and the Warren County Sheriff's Office both say one reason is that heroin is cheaper than cocaine and crack, but there's also another reason they say people are getting hooked.
Bethel said, "One of the reasons may be because of prescription drug use. The pharmaceutical companies have manufactured quite a large amount of prescription opiate-based pain killers and we know they're out there in the homes and in the medicine cabinets."
Those who become addicted to painkillers, they say, often turn next to heroin.
Warren County Undersheriff Robert Swan said, "It's not just seen in one area, one group or a specific gender. It covers everyone."
Because of this growing problem, the Warren County Sheriff's office has assigned four more people to their drug unit within the past three months. The unit has gone from one person to five.
"One-hundred percent of their time is spent on combating this problem."
Both agencies say while possessing and selling drugs is illegal people who are hooked should not be afraid to seek help because having and addiction is not a crime.