August 17, 2016

Manchin applauds crucial funding for HIDTA and Heroin Response Strategy Program in West Virginia

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) today applauded the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) for granting $17 million in additional funding for designated High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTAs) to address the recent surge in prescription drug, fentanyl and heroin trafficking.

There are 19 counties in West Virginia that are currently designated as HIDTAs: Berkeley, Boone, Brooke, Cabell, Hancock, Harrison, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Marshall, Mason, McDowell, Mercer, Mingo, Ohio, Putnam, Raleigh, Wayne and Wyoming.

“The heroin response strategy program is imperative to ending the drug abuse epidemic and protecting the health and safety of our families and communities,” Senator Manchin. “This program fosters important partnerships between 15 states that are being devastated by the rising heroin epidemic, and it will focus on the growing number of heroin overdoses and drug trafficking cases. I am committed to doing everything I can to curb this devastating trend in our state and our communities.”

Background on the HIDTA Heroin Response Strategy:

In August 2015, the Office of National Drug Control Policy announced an unprecedented partnership among regional HIDTA programs to address the heroin threat facing those communities through public health-public safety partnerships. The HIDTA Heroin Response Strategy now covers 20 States in eight HIDTAs: Appalachia, Atlanta/Carolinas, Michigan, Ohio, New England, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia/Camden, and Washington/Baltimore. This HIDTA Heroin Response Strategy is fostering a collaborative network of public health-public safety partnerships to address the heroin and opioid epidemic from multiple perspectives.

Background on the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program (HIDTA):

Through the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program (HIDTA), the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) provides support and financial resources to law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions of the United States. There are currently 28 HIDTAs located in 48 states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia.

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