Both the Rusk County sheriff and the Ladysmith police chief are dealing with a spike in total drug cases and both say prescription drug cases are climbing the fastest. On Thursday, the police department was dealing with two more busts.

“It's a scary thing with the prescription medications. You don't know what the effects are going to be--neither the short range or long range effects," says Ladysmith Police Chief Dean Meyer.

Chief Meyer says the drugs that investigators are seeing the biggest increase in are the ones readily available in a lot of our homes.

"Calls just involving thefts of medications has increased 20 to 30 percent this year," Meyer says.

The chief the police department averages around 80 total drug cases a year. So far this year, investigators are already at 55.

"Last year, (prescription drug cases) were climbing quite a bit and this year we're seeing even more than we had any other year," says Rusk County Sheriff David Kaminski.

The sheriff says they had 76 total drug cases last year. This year, investigators already worked 40. He says unemployment could definitely be part of the growing problem—especially for the jump in calls involving prescription drugs.

"They are selling and if they have the buyers and they can get the medications, they're going to make money off of them. If you can make a buck, you're going to make a buck,” Sheriff Kaminski says. “It's something that's so easy to control, but it's not being controlled. It's so easy to get rid of these drugs and they're just not doing it."

But, Chief Meyer says it might be too early to tell what's causing the increase:

"At the end of the year, we need to look and see are we being more diligent with our investigations? Are we better prepared and better equipped to locate the drugs and apprehend the offenders? Or is it truly on the rise?”

Both the sheriff and chief say parents need to recognize that the problem exists and that it's growing. But, they also stress it's not limited to teens.

Sheriff Kaminski says adding to the problem, the funding for clean sweep programs was cut from the state budget. He's now working with the county to get drop off sites set up to help keep prescription drugs off the street.