State police seize more than $5 million in drugs from April to June

The amount of illegal drugs seized by Pennsylvania State Police dropped sharply in the second quarter of 2017.

State police announced Monday that drugs worth $5,451,300 had been confiscated from April through June.

The amount for the first three months of the year came to $13.7 million, making the total for the first half of 2017 more than $19.1 million.

The largest amount of the second quarter seizures came from marijuana.

According to the state police, the largest single dollar amount came from processed marijuana. The seizure of 491.25 pounds came to a value of $1,473,750.

But add in all types of marijuana and the bottom line grows. There were 2,195 marijuana plants confiscated with a value of $357,000. Then there was 63.05 pints of liquid marijuana THC worth $403,200 and 60.4 pounds of solid THC worth $302,000. Total value of all marijuana tops $2.5 million, almost half of what was taken in overall.

That comes a week after the state announced the dispensary licenses as the state moves toward availability of legal medical marijuana.

Opioids were seized in large numbers, too.

Police say they picked up 7.38 pounds of heroin and 2.4 pounds of fentanyl, with a combined price tag of $628,500. “Other narcotics (pills)” are a separate category, not delineated specifically by opiates, but the connection between prescription drugs and opioids is frequently noted in the battle against heroin. There were 26,977 pills taken off the street with a value of $675,000.

Cocaine was another top commodity, with 41.93 pounds valued at $760,800 seized. Another 4.36 pounds of crack cocaine worth $296,500 was confiscated, police said, as was 13.22 pounds of methamphetamines with a $540,000 price tag.

This story was originally published July 10, 2017 at 5:43 PM with the headline "State police seize more than $5 million in drugs from April to June."