Cocaine making a comeback, say law enforcement officials – News – The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

Cocaine has taken a backseat during the opioid epidemic, but officials say in the past year they’ve seen an uptick in cocaine activity.

QUINCY — In the wake of three people charged with cocaine trafficking in Weymouth and Quincy last week in separate investigations, officials say the drug is making a comeback on the South Shore.

Cocaine has taken a backseat during the opioid epidemic, but officials say in the past year they’ve seen an uptick in cocaine activity.

“There has definitely been an increase of reported cocaine use and seizures of cocaine in Weymouth and throughout the South Shore over the past year or more,” Weymouth Police Detective Lt. John Perchard said.

Police arrested a man and woman from New York Tuesday night as part of a weeks long cocaine distribution investigation in Weymouth. The pair, Michael Abreu, 22, and Diomary Tejada, 20, were charged with trafficking cocaine among other charges and police said they collected 25 grams of cocaine during the arrest.

In Quincy Tuesday night police charged 37-year-old Starling Ledesma of Boston with trafficking cocaine after officers said they saw him dealing the drug in West Quincy and found 24 grams of cocaine in his car. Ledesma’s arrest came weeks after he had been charged with cocaine trafficking in January.

“Cocaine was really off the radar and the focus was on opioids,” said Quincy Police Detective Lt. Patrick Glynn. “It seems to be making a comeback.”

Glynn heads Quincy’s drug unit and is the director of the South Shore Drug Task Force. He said that drug sales and use go in waves and that for drug dealers “profit is the main factor, that’s all they care about.” Glynn said his department was coming across more and more cocaine, but it had not reached the prominence of heroin and its stronger synthetic cousin, fentanyl, which remain the most pervasive drugs on the South Shore

Both detectives warned that another rising trend they are seeing is cocaine being cut with fentanyl. Glynn said that cocaine had a lower chance of causing an overdose on its own, but when mixed with opioids, the risk increases.

Perchard said that often fentanyl is added to cocaine, unbeknownst to the user.

“Fentanyl is appealing as a cut for dealers because of its lower cost and addictive properties. This creates a very dangerous situation for cocaine users who are unaware what exactly they’re ingesting.” Perchard said. “It’s always a risk not knowing the purity of the product, which can vary greatly from one bag to the next.”

While heroin and fentanyl overdose deaths outpace cocaine nationally, there has been a steady increase in the past 18 years, according to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Estimated drug overdose deaths involving cocaine rose from 3,822 in 1999 to 13,942 in 2017, according to data updated in January. The number of cocaine-related overdose deaths more than doubled since 2015 when they were estimated at more than 5,400.

Norfolk County Superior Court Records show roughly 26 indictments in the past year for cocaine trafficking and distribution charges. An indictment transfers a case from District Court to Superior Court where more serious crimes are tried and defendants can face longer sentences if convicted.

David Traub, spokesman for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office said that State Police assigned to the office and prosecutors there have seen more cocaine activity in the past year.