Drug officers say right now heroin is a growing problem in western Wisconsin but say meth labs are also on the come back.

"It wasn't because I enjoyed it; it was because I needed it. My body craved it," says Jessica Barker a recovering heroin user.

Barker was arrested this past August for using and selling heroin. She's now on probation and trying to get her life back on track after she says she lost two years to the drug.

"I smoked pot, I did meth, cocaine, I tried pretty much every drug out there but this was the worst, it has more of a physical hold," says Barker.

She says now she’s in AIM court in Eau Claire County and happy to be clean of heroin.

"That's the focus of your life your every day is getting that drug finding people to sell it to and make that money so you can get more," says Barker.

"We've had an influx of heroin not just in Eau Claire but all over the West Central Drug Task Force area and that’s six counties," says Eau Claire County Deputy and Drug Task Force Field Supervisor Jeff Wilson.

"Our problem is as big in Eau Claire and Eau Claire County as it is in Clark County,” says Wilson.

Wilson says right now a lot of the cases he's dealing with revolve around heroin.

"Over the last nine months there has been a more local population that's been involved in the use and distribution of heroin so we're starting to see an upswing in everything that comes with it," says Wilson.

He says a lot of area crimes like burglaries and thefts can be tied to drug use and while heroin's on the rise, meth is also back on Wilson's radar. Small meth labs are starting to pop up like one found in a Lake Hallie home in January. A few years ago new laws made Pseudoephedrine, a main ingredient in meth, tougher for people to get their hands on. Wilson says labs dropped off for a few years but says usage of the drug didn't.

"(The new laws) pretty much did away with meth labs but now we're seeing smaller labs and we’ve handled two to three in the last four or five months, which is nothing like it used to be,” says Wilson.

Barker says she's thankful for deputies like Wilson because she says they saved her life.

"This is the only chance I get and I can't take advantage of it because if I go down that road again I'm going to end up dead or in prison and I wouldn't have my kids," says Barker.

Barker says her kids are what keep her motivated to stay off drugs.

Wilson says you need to know you're neighborhood and says if see anything suspicious let officers know. He says some of the best cases he's worked on have come from neighborhood tips.