Oak Ridge, Tennessee, prohibition agents arrested 25 alleged drug dealers, and a grand jury returned 80 indictments against 49 people in total, following a nearly year-long undercover operation, according the Associated Press, which relied on information published in the Oak Ridger [4].
The arrests were made by late Friday night, according to the Oak Ridger, by both local and county prohibition agents, working with the Tennessee National Guard Drug Task Force and the East Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force.
The Oak Ridger article [5] noted that the operation, dubbed "Operation Prairie Fire," was the second such roundup in as many years. However, the fact that the most recent operation took nearly a year, and took place about a year after the last one, suggests that the drugs that were the subject of the investigation -- cocaine, methamphetamine and Oxycontin -- were all widely available in Oak Ridge for most of the year following the 2008 operation.
Oak Ridge Police Chief David H. Beams told the Oak Ridger that the operation did not target a specific area of the city -- suggesting the drugs were also widely available throughout the city.
Beams and other officials did not comment on whether "Operation Prairie Fire" was more likely to make an impact than the previous operation, and if so why.
Other cities have found drug dealing back to normal within a couple of weeks [6] after similar sweeps.