Drug task forces organized under the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission (OOCIC) across the state confiscated more than $63 million in illegal drugs in 2023, according to Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.
OOCIC was established in 1986 to assist local law enforcement agencies in combating organized crime and corrupt activities.
Sizable seizures in 2023 include 272 pounds of fentanyl, 349 pounds of meth, 1,801 pounds of marijuana, 520 pounds of cocaine, 40 pounds of psilocybin mushrooms, 68,112 prescription pills, 400 firearms, and nearly $5.5 million in currency.
Intercepted quantities of cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms surged last year, Yost’s office notes. Year-over-year, cocaine seizures increased by 70.5 percent while psilocybin mushrooms seizures increased by 289 percent.
Task forces across the state also seized 2.45 pounds of heroin, 3.3 pounds of crack cocaine, 664 pounds of khat, 2.5 pounds of MDMA, and 2.2 pounds of xylazine.
OOCIC task forces have seized more than 1,774 firearms, $61 million in currency, and narcotics valued in excess of $304 million under Yost’s leadership.
“Our major drug interdiction task forces are taking drugs, guns and cash off the streets and holding traffickers accountable,” Yost said in a statement. “The bottom line is that poisons like fentanyl continue to stream into Ohio and ruin lives. Stopping the flow of illegal drugs has been and will continue to be a top priority.”
Governor Mike DeWine also commented on last year’s total seizures, saying, “The role of these drug task forces in the safety of our communities cannot be overstated. I sincerely appreciate the collaborative work of state, local, and federal law enforcement officers in 2023, and I’m grateful for their continued dedication to public safety in the year to come.”
Yost added that a large portion of drugs circulating across the Buckeye State are “coming across the southern border.”
“From meth to fentanyl, we just don’t have any control there. Every state now is a border state because there’s just a trafficking pipeline right up through the center of our country and it goes right across the unsecured Southern border,” Yost said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
