For the first time since its formation, the Straits Area Narcotics Enforcement (SANE) unit will have a deputy from the Mackinac County Sheriff's office on its team, owing to a $231,022 grant received by the sheriff's office last week.

The federal grant will pay for a deputy's salary, benefits, vehicle, and equipment for three years, with the stipulation that the sheriff's office pick up the tab for a fourth year.

Sheriff Scott Strait applied for the grant program April 22 and said he expects to have a deputy working on the team before the end of the year.

Hr said not having a local representative on the SANE team may have hurt past investigations in the area, since there was nobody plugged into the Mackinac County community.

"There was nobody to connect to local officers," he said. "Now there will be. It's a connection to the drug team that will help increase the productivity of the team."

The SANE team is currently made up of officers, troopers, and deputies from Michigan State Police, Chippewa County Sheriff's office, Sault Ste. Marie Police, Cheboygan County Sheriff's office, Emmet County Sheriff's office, Charlevoix County Sheriff's office, a part time prosecutor, a secretary, and an administrative assistant.

The coverage area for the drug enforcement team is the sevencounty area of Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Chippewa, Emmet, Luce, Mackinac, and Otsego. The headquarters for the unit is in a covert location in Cheboygan County and a second office is in Sault Ste. Marie.

Police working with the SANE unit determine the focus of their efforts each year, and in 2009, the drug enforcement officers are honing in on the illegal sale and possession of prescription drugs, an increasing problem in the area.

In 2008, 233 arrests were made and 535 charges were made on these individuals by the team, and a large range of illegal and prescription drugs were seized totaling $1.4 million in street value. Mackinac County saw 32 arrests by the unit in 2008, fifth highest in the seven counties, after Chippewa at 54, Charlevoix at 43, Cheboygan at 37, and Emmet at 33. The number of arrests has ranged from as low as 73 in 2000 to 223, the highest number in the last 10 years, in 2008.

Unit Commander Ken Mills said the team's focus changes every year, and fighting the prescription drug problem is very different from enforcing laws on other illegal drugs.

"It's unique for us," Mr. Mills said. "Other drugs are typically brought in from other areas. These are prescribed by doctors in our communities and dispensed from pharmacists in our communities."

To combat the problem, Mr. Mills said team members are taking a more active role, working with treatment facilities, physicians, and pharmacists on the prevention end.

"We're a law enforcement team, but we're trying to have an impact working with schools, medical, and treatment facilities," he said. "Nothing is going to happen overnight."

Methamphetamine is another drug the task force is constantly watching, monitoring any movement north of southwestern Michigan, where the drug has been most prominent in the state.

"We take an aggressive approach with that," Mr. Mills said.

Another difference in working with prescription drugs instead of other illegal drugs, he said, is that forfeiture money collected by the unit for sale of confiscated evidence is minimal.

"We rely on the forfeiture money to help fund us," Mr. Mills said. "We just don't see as much with prescription drugs."

These forfeiture seizures can include any property purchased with money gained through the illegal sale of drugs, or any property used in the business of dealing drugs. In some cases, this can include real estate, vehicles, guns, boats, bank accounts, and cash. Mr. Mills said there is not as high of a ladder of command in the prescription drug dealing community as with other illicit drugs, making for smaller seizures for the unit.

"We go after that aggressively if we are able to ascertain that the items were purchased through money made through the sale of drugs," he said.

The unit is funded through the money collected through forfeiture, state and federal grants, and from contributions from local, tribal, and county governments. These contributions have gone down over the years, Mr. Mills said, while the units costs have stayed flat, or in the case of staff and transportation costs, have increased.

"Over the years, the contributions have gone down," he said.

In 2008, forfeitures contributed $70,141 of the team's income, while local governments contributed $78,000 of the total $458,450 in revenue. Much of the rest of the revenue comes from federal and state grant funding.

Mr. Mills said he his excited to be getting a new team member from Mackinac County through this grant.

"That's the best news I've heard," he said. "It's exciting for the community, too. The officers can learn a great deal here and return to their departments with that new knowledge and experience."