Hutchinson ? As communities focused time and money on fighting the surging use of methamphetamine, crack dealers sensed an opportunity and moved in, according to law enforcement officials in south-central Kansas.

“I had a coke dealer tell me once that they loved meth labs, because it created a windfall for other drugs,” said Howard Shipley, head of the Reno County/Hutchinson Drug Enforcement Unit.

Shipley said regional cocaine dealers saw an untapped market in Reno County, where officers had their hands full dealing with clandestine meth labs and an increasing number of meth-related crimes.

“We were spending so much time on meth, we didn’t have as much time to devote to other cases,” he said. “Now we’re beginning to devote more resources to crack.”

As the number of meth cases dropped, Shipley said, he and the four other detectives in the DEU found Wichita dealers were bringing large volumes of crack cocaine into Hutchinson and selling it at a cheap price.

In 2003, the DEU handled 29 meth cases and only six crack cocaine cases. In 2004, the number of meth cases fell to 17, while crack jumped to 30.

So far in 2005, Shipley said his agents have handled 17 meth cases and 23 crack cocaine cases.

Reno County Sheriff Randy Henderson said the DEU hadn’t seen this many cocaine cases since the early to mid-1990s.

“We’re just lucky we don’t have the heroin cycle in there, like some larger areas do,” Henderson said.

According to the Kansas Drug Threat Assessment by the National Drug Intelligence Center, crack is commonly found in urban areas, medium-size cities and some smaller towns.

Abilene, Kansas City, Liberal, Salina, Topeka, Wichita and Reno County reported the drug was “readily available” in their areas. Reno, Sedgwick and Miami counties reported rates of cocaine abuse were high.

The surest way agents can measure the supply of any drug is by the amount in possession by the typical drug user, Shipley said. In 2001, crack users purchased one-tenth of a gram of the drug for $20 on the street.

Now Shipley sees users carrying $20 doses that weigh upward of a quarter gram – more than twice the amount sold for the same price as four years ago.

“That’s an indication that the availability has increased despite our best efforts,” he said.