CNBNews

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Dr. Rahul Gupta, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), announced over $275 million for its High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program. The HIDTA program supports Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States. There are currently 33 HIDTAs, and HIDTA-designated counties are located in 50 states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia. The new FY2023 funds will support 33 regional HIDTAs across the country working to hold drug traffickers accountable, seize illicit drugs like fentanyl, prevent and reduce gun violence and other violent crime associated with drug trafficking, improve interdiction efforts through enhanced data sharing and targeting, and dismantle illicit finance operations.

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The funding, which advances President Biden’s National Drug Control Strategy, will also support public health and public safety partnerships like the Overdose Response Strategy – a partnership between the HIDTA program and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that works to reduce overdoses, and ODMAP – a surveillance tool used to track suspected drug overdoses in real time nationwide.

“Law enforcement plays a critical role in our Nation’s work to hold drug traffickers accountable and prevent overdoses and poisonings being driven by illicit fentanyl. In 2022 alone, HIDTAs across the country worked to dismantle nearly 3,000 drug trafficking operations and more than 100 money laundering organizations. HIDTAs also denied these organizations more than $22 billion by seizing substances that harm the health and safety of our communities and by seizing nearly $500 million in currency,” said Dr. Gupta. “This funding will support the continuation of their life-saving work and advance President Biden’s Strategy to beat the overdose epidemic.”

Background

The 33 HIDTAs coordinate Federal, state, local, and tribal drug enforcement efforts across the nation. Each year, HIDTAs assess the drug threats in their communities and develop strategies to address those threats and advance public health and public safety. In 2022, HIDTAs successfully disrupted and dismantled more than 3,000 drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and seized illicit drugs with a wholesale value of more than $22 billion, including more than 13,000 kilograms and more than 44 million dosage units of fentanyl.

The Biden-Harris Administration has taken significant actions to address addiction and substance use in the U.S. by expanding access to evidence-based prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support services and disrupting the supply of illicit drugs like the fentanyl-related substances driving the overdose epidemic. Read about those actions HERE.