ESCANABA – Drug trafficking across the Michigan Wisconsin border is becoming a problem for Menominee and the Upper Peninsula especially with heroin because drug dealers apparently know that they face more lenient sentencing if caught in Michigan than they do in Wisconsin.

On top of that, State Police Post Commander F/Lt. Greg Cunningham says addicts are turning to heroin because of a void left from enforcement efforts on prescription drugs.

“They would come across the border and do the drug dealing and of course then they get a lot of our youth and people in the community addicted to heroin which is a horrible drug to be addicted to,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham credits the cooperation that is forming among 12 different law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin and Michigan to fight the drug trafficking across the border.

“From this spring, we’ve held initiative after imitative using undercover officers, heavy uniform patrol tactics in that area to try and aggressively slow down and stop the issue of heroin drugs and illegal drugs in that community,” he said.

Cunningham says heroin is cheap and highly addictive and the area has seen deaths from overdoses.