Calling it a "meth epidemic," law enforcement officials say it's time to connect users of the drug with treatment.

Captain Jason Gearman of the Minnehaha County Sheriff's Department agrees.

"That's the final solution - get them off the streets, off meth and into some treatment and get them some help. By letting them go out there on their own is obviously not working right now. Something needs to change."

Aside from treatment, Captain Gearman says keeping meth users behind bars for a longer period of time could be one answer.

"As a community we need to explore more options such as dumping more money into treatment. However, I also think that you have to weigh the options of keeping people away from the drug longer. Sometimes, we may need to keep them locked up for a longer period of time."

Captain Gearman says a number of crimes, including robberies, burglaries, shootings, stabbings, and aggravated assaults, have a connection to meth.


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