CINCINNATI - No end in sight! That's the FBI director's bleak predictions about the Tri-State's heroin epidemic.
Worse, we should expect another tidal wave of meth from Mexico, he said.
James Comey was in town Wednesday to meet with law enforcement leaders. He said even the FBI is struggling to come to grips with the heroin epidemic.
"I don't see an end in sight, frankly," Comey said.
Comey was sworn in as the bureau's director just as the country was seeing a nearly 300 percent jump in heroin-related deaths.
"Heroin is as available - it's cheaper - than buying pills on the street, so why not use it?" Comey said. "And of course, the consequences are devastating."
Comey said his agents are taking the fight to the traffickers' supply pipelines.
"At the national level, we - working with the Mexicans - have to disrupt that transportation. That's a big part of what the FBI does."
He says the Tri-State's strategy of sharing the burden of law enforcement with other stakeholders is a move in the right direction.
"Obviously, there is a big part of this that is beyond the Bureau, that is education, and treatment that has to be a part of this, especially because of the way the plague is affecting kids," Comey said.
But even as law enforcement fights to get a handle on one poison, he says there's another tidal wave of misery headed toward the Midwest.
"The Mexican traffickers are manufacturing, again, in Mexico, huge amounts of highly pure meth, and they're looking to gain market share as well, and have that sweep - it started west - have that sweep the entire United States."
Another topic for the FBI: child predators online.
We've reported two recent cases of men accused of harassing young girls -- Bryan Harris is accused of requesting nude photos and Nicholas Kurtz is accused of forcing girls in sex slavery.
"The internet is the world. You wouldn't let your children wander around ... and when you let them on the internet, they're wandering the entire world."
The FBI is still hoping any other victims will come forward.
