Sometimes it takes one month. At times, up to a year. Occasionally it will be a four-year-long endeavor.

That's the nature of drug investigations in Centre County. When an arrest happens, there's often months or even years of work behind it.

A 12-person Ecstasy ring suspected of operating in 1998 and 1999 was initially brought down in January. A multimillion-dollar marijuana ring that allegedly ran partly out of an East Beaver Avenue store was busted in March. Two residents in their 20s who reportedly sold up to $150,000 of heroin were arraigned last week.

"We've shut down some fairly significant distribution networks this semester," Scott Merrill, coordinator of the Centre County Drug Task Force said.

The number of drug arrests within the past few months seems higher than what the department normally handles, Merrill said.

"We've had a lot of independent cases ... that have come together," he said.

Merrill is the only investigator permanently assigned to the local drug task force, which is an agency commissioned by the state Attorney General's Office. About 30 officers from local agencies are assigned to the drug task force, Merrill said.

In State College, 12 officers work with the task force, Police Chief Tom King said. Police and local investigators use equipment such as wire taps, surveillance equipment and cameras, he said.

The task force also has access to aircraft and both covert and overt cameras, Merrill said.

"We have the full gamut -- video, audio and surveillance equipment," Merrill said.

The Centre County Drug Tip Line is also a source of information for the task force.

"We seem to be getting a lot of support, a lot of calls on the drug tip line," Merrill said.

Sometimes, he said, residents will not see the results of their calls until a year after they place a report.

But in general, he said community members are supportive of the task force and alert investigators to suspicious behavior in their neighborhoods.

"There's been a lot of good publicity in the past three to four months," Merrill said of the recent drug arrests.

The Ecstasy investigation, which involved former Penn State students and members of the fraternity system, has "opened some doors for new and current investigations," he said.

In State College, Ecstasy use has been rising over the past two years, King said.

"It's really growing significantly, particularly among the college population," King said.

University Police Director Thomas Harmon agreed that club drugs are emerging locally. On campus, however, most drug arrests involve marijuana.

"There've been very few incidents of those kinds of drugs, so-called club drugs, on campus," Harmon said.

For the task force, club drugs are only one type of drug that investigators are concerned with. Other drugs such as heroin have presented threats to the community recently.

"It's kind of a roll of the dice as to what we get and when we get it," Merrill said.

In February, the task force reported five suspected heroin overdoses, one of which was linked to the death of a 17-year-old boy.

"The heroin got a lot of attention because there was a death associated with heroin use," King sad.

By April, a 22-year-old State College resident and a Penn State student were arrested after a search warrant was executed at their South Allen residence, according to police reports.

The search yielded 31 bags of "Super Fly" heroin and several hypodermic needles, according to the report.

"We've been able to infiltrate a couple of large heroin rings in the area," Merrill said.

University spokesperson Tysen Kendig said Penn State takes student drug abuse very seriously in its Judicial Affairs process.

"It's a problem that seems to have surfaced with some intensity, particularly in this past year," Kendig said.

At the university, students caught for marijuana use on campus are subject to an intervention program, Chris Owens, community health educator at Penn State said.

"In our marijuana intervention program there's a section that we do address club drugs," Owens said.

Harmon said the Penn State Police Services mainly deal with drug arrest for "small amounts of marijuana" on campus.

Penn State Police are not formal members of the Centre County Drug Task Force, but work in cooperation with them when necessary, Harmon said.

The relationship between the university and the task force is a positive one, Merrill said.

"I can't say that we've had anything but support from the university," he said.

Just recently, he addressed Penn State students in a forum for new fraternity members. He talked about Ecstasy use, which he said was "tough" considering the association with fraternities and some of the arrests this semester.

As for it future, Merrill said the task force has plenty of investigations underway.

"We've got way more than we've got people to do them," Merrill said.