L’ANSE — In October, the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team (UPSET) submitted a report to the Baraga County clerk’s office explaining their purpose and the risk factors for drug abuse present in the county.

UPSET is comprised of 17 officers from departments across the U.P., an intel analyst and two administrative assistants who collaborate with agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATFE) agents, and U.S. Homeland Security. UPSET is the only undercover team fighting opioids in the Upper Peninsula.

The report cites a national survey that found “the rate of illicit drug use was higher for those who were unemployed” or employed only part-time. The Upper Peninsula’s unemployment rate earlier this year was 7.5 percent, well above the state and national levels. According to the community health needs assessment from the Western U.P. Health Department (WUPHD), the unemployment rate in Baraga County is 7.9 percent, even higher.

The UPSET report also states that people living in rural areas with low income are more susceptible to prescription painkiller abuse, and that poor prescribing practices that put patients at risk for addictions are higher among Medicaid patients. According to the WUPHD assessment, 12.3 percent of Baraga County residents are enrolled in Medicaid or Healthy Michigan plan insurance. The level has been decreasing slowly. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that well over one-third of Baraga County residents earn less than $20,000 annually.

The UPSET report says they have found individuals trafficking drugs into the U.P. from lower Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana and identifies heroin, prescription opioids, cocaine and methamphetamine as the most evident in the U.P. UPSET defined their main goals as increasing prescription narcotic abuse arrests, dismantling methamphetamine labs and halting the growing heroin trend.

The participating agencies that contribute officers to UPSET continue to pay for the officers wages and benefits, but other operational costs are covered through grants and donations, according to the UPSET report. They are anticipating a $185,000 operating budget for 2019’s fiscal year and asked Baraga County, as a municipality in their jurisdiction, if they could contribute.

The Baraga County board took no action at the meeting.