419 grams of heroin, eight guns, and $3,000 cash were seized last Thursday in a drug arrest. The Dane County Narcotics Task Force worked with the Department of Criminal Investigation two apprehend 40-year-old Cory Alexander and 39-year-old Tory Latham.

Two search warrants were executed. One at Alexander's residence on the 2300 block of Essex Drive in Sun Prairie, and the other at Latham's Hazelwood Court home in the Town of Madison.

Both Latham and Alexander were arrested for possession of heroin with intent to deliver and maintaining a drug dwelling. Alexander was also arrested for a probation hold.

Sergeant Matt Schroedl with Madison Police and the Dane County Narcotics Task Force said Alexander and Latham are dealers who sell to other dealers.

"At one of the addresses we found a significant amount of heroin. It was over 300 grams of heroin at the one location along with 8 guns. At the other address we found over 60 grams of heroin at that other address," Schroedl said.

The heroin recovered at the two residences carries a $58,520 street value. Schroedl explained that a typical dose of heroin is about .2 grams.

"The total of over 400 grams of heroin that were recovered out of these two locations, that's like 2,000 doses of heroin," he explained.

Schroedl said the bust was in the making for awhile. "It was a culmination of a longer-term investigation. We'd received some information about individuals who had been dealing a larger amount of heroin in the Madison, Dane County, and Milwaukee area."

This large drug arrest comes at a critical time in the opioid epidemic in Dane County. Officer Bernie Albright with Madison Police said the epidemic is at an all-time high in the area.

"Our numbers are bigger than ever," Albright explained. "Our number of overdoses and number of deaths...it is getting worse all the time."

Schroedl said in May alone, officials responded to 29 overdoses and six deaths related to opioid use in Madison.

Without narcan or naloxone, the antidote for opioid overdoses, Schroedl fears those numbers would skyrocket.

"If you figure if we didn't have Narcan to be able to help some of these people come back from pretty much being dead, we would have several, several more deaths in the City," Schroedl said.

In Schroedl's eyes, getting the 419 grams of heroin off of Madison streets ultimately means saving lives.

"If we can take 2,000 doses off the street, that's that many times that people may attempt to overdose or use," he said.

Drug arrests are part of successfully battling the opioid epidemic, Schroedl said, but it is only part of their approach. He said resources for education and recovery are important.

"In conjunction with education as well as things like the MARI program and different recovery opportunities. So, if we can take their source of heroin away, that gives the recovery and rehabilitation time to work and hopefully allow them to break that addiction," he explained.

The scope of those affected by heroin addiction goes beyond dealers and users, Schroedl said.

He explained, "We are out there to help them in trying to get these dangerous drugs off the street because it really does affect not only the individual user who is addicted to it, but their families. Whether it is a mother, a father, a brother or sister, or their own children."