TRAVERSE CITY -- With warm summer weather, comes an increase in drug activity, Traverse City Police said.
“Our drug arrests will go up in the summer months. It’s typical year after year and it’s been that way for over 20 years,” Traverse City Police Captain Brian Heffner said.
Heffner said the boost in drug activity stems from tourism and an excess of free time for young adults, who find themselves out of school on summer vacation.
“Manly because of these people that are out of school in the area...and where some may be using recreational drugs in their own community, now they are traveling to Traverse City and bringing that type of activity with them,” said Heffner.
Police officers are not the only officials who have their hands full in the summer months. Drug rehabilitation centers said they also experience a busy summer season.
“During the summer months we tend to see and increase in our out-of-town clients. People coming here on vacation for the festivals or to visit family and they happen to slip up and need treatment or detox services,” said Becky Lelito, Director of Sub-Acute Detox at Dakoske-Phoenix Addiction Treatment Services.
For the past 20 years, Heffner said he remembers seeing an increase in drug arrests during the summer, and in the past few years prescription drugs have grown in popularity.
