Numbers show murders in Wichita are higher than they've been in more than a decade and police and the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office say an increase in violence is largely fueled by drugs.

Law enforcement leaders say methamphetamine is an enormous problem in Kansas and the opioid epidemic is expected to soon hit the state harder.

One Wichita area family attended a drug summit to tell their son's story. The Douglasses tried to find help for their son Caleb's drug addiction before his

but they say there are not a lot of resources.

Finding solutions is why the Wichita Crime Commission hosted the drug summit the Douglas family attended to share Caleb's story. Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter led the summit, joined by many community leaders.

"If this community gets hit with the opioid epidemic taking place in other communities, plus meth, I don't know how we'll handle it," Easter says. "So we absolutely have to start thinking of different ways rather than just arresting people and throwing them in jail. It hasn't worked."

The Kansas attorney general says one drug in particular is terrorizing the state.

"Methamphetamine remains our number one driver of criminal conduct, and not just the crimes, but the other associated criminal misbehavior," Kansas AG Derek Schmidt says.

Schmidt says 900 guns have been stolen out of vehicles in the Wichita area, fueling drug violence that ends in tragedy.

Sedgwick County District Attorney says the

"The man who took his life was high out of his you know, high on meth and had been for some time, and what did he do? He stole a gun from a car," Bennett says.

In the face of lives lost, leaders are looking for solutions, from the education system to health care, to law enforcement and the community-at-large.

"I think it begins with the community. It starts with parents and the school," Bennett says. "I think if a problem is identified, there needs to be some sort of solution."