National HIDTA ProgramHigh Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas

Presenters:• Shannon Kelly, MA, Deputy Director, National HIDTA

Program, Office of National Drug Control Policy

• James F. Bohn, JD, Director, Wisconsin HIDTA

• Jack Killorin, Director, Atlanta-Carolinas HIDTA

Federal Track

Moderator: Sarah T. Melton, PharmD, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, Gatton College of Pharmacy, East Tennessee State University

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the HIDTA program.2. Identify potential areas for collaboration in

drug-trafficking responses in various regions of the country.

3. Describe innovative HIDTA operations and initiatives.

High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA)

March 30, 2016

Office of National Drug Control Policy

• Part of the Executive Office of the President

• Coordinates drug-control activities and related funding across the Federal Government

• Produces the annual National Drug Control Strategy

• Administers two national grant programs: High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) and Drug-Free Communities

• Provides assistance to Federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in critical drug trafficking regions of the United States.

• Fiscal Year 2016 funding level of $250 million.

• 28 regional HIDTAs in 48 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, D.C.

• Achieves its purpose by:– Facilitates cooperation among Federal, state, local, and tribal law

enforcement to share intelligence and implement enforcement activities.– Supports coordinated law enforcement strategies to reduce the supply of

illegal drugs in the United States.

High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program and Purpose

• The HIDTA program is not an agency: it is a partnership of Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies

• Each HIDTA program has an executive board that: – Has an equal number of Federal, state, and local members– Has discretion to decide what is funded and where funds are spent– Identifies regional and local threats– Develops a strategy to address threats– Requests funding for HIDTA initiatives to implement the strategy– Measures and reports performance– Hires a HIDTA director to administer HIDTA functions

HIDTA Program Structure

HIDTA requirements:– Area is a significant center of illegal drug production,

manufacturing, importation, or distribution;– State, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies have

committed resources to respond to drug trafficking in the area, this indicates willingness to address the issue;

– Drug-related activities in the area have a significant harmful impact in the area and in other areas of the country; and

– Federal resources are necessary to respond adequately to drug related activities in the area.

Criteria for HIDTA Designation

HIDTA Program Accomplishments

In 2015, the HIDTA Program:

• 2,500 drug trafficking or money laundering organizations disrupted or dismantled.

• $18.6 billion (wholesale) removed from the marketplace .

• 36,000 fugitives apprehended.

• 31,000 leads provided to law enforcement agencies across the country.

• 98,000 officers, agents, analysts, and support staff trained on drug-related topics.

HIDTA Program Participants

The HIDTA Program brings together:

• 737 initiatives in 28 regional programs

• 7,400 Federal agents and analysts

• 15,700 state, local, and tribal officers, analysts, and other representatives

• 500 agencies, including public health agencies to coordinate and collaborate with HIDTA task forces

• 59 intelligence and investigative support centers/information sharing initiatives

The HIDTA Program employs a three-pronged approach to address the trafficking and use of heroin and other opioids:

– Law enforcement initiatives and task forces that target the diversion and trafficking of heroin, fentanyl and other opioids

– Public health and prevention efforts to reduce heroin and nonmedical opioid use and its consequences

– HIDTA-sponsored law enforcement training courses that address heroin and other opioid trafficking

HIDTA Program Efforts to Address the Nation’s Heroin & Opioid Epidemic

HIDTA Law Enforcement Efforts

• Targeting large-scale heroin trafficking – Southwest Border HIDTA – New Mexico Region

• Dismantling a heroin- and fentanyl-trafficking organization – New England HIDTA

• Dismantling a multi-state oxycodone trafficking organization – Northwest HIDTA

• Dismantling a Dilaudid-trafficking organization – Gulf Coast HIDTA

HIDTA Public Health & Prevention Efforts

• Naloxone use by law enforcement officers – Multiple regional HIDTA programs

• No More NAS (Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome) Initiative – Appalachia HIDTA

• Snohomish County Opiate Project – Northwest HIDTA

• Heroin: Not Even Once Initiative – Midwest HIDTA

• SCOPE of Pain Initiative – New England HIDTA

• Safe & Sound Initiative – Wisconsin HIDTA

HIDTA Training Efforts

Each year, regional HIDTA programs sponsor training courses that address the diversion and use of heroin and other opioids.

Examples include:

• HIDTA Heroin Symposium – Philadelphia/Camden HIDTA

• Meeting the Opiate Challenge – Wisconsin HIDTA

• Investigating Heroin-Trafficking Organizations – Ohio HIDTA

• Investigating Prescription Drug Crimes – New England HIDTA

• Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations and Heroin Awareness for Law Enforcement – Los Angeles HIDTA

HIDTA Heroin Response Strategy

• ONDCP has committed $2.5 million in HIDTA funds to develop a strategy to respond to the Nation’s heroin epidemic.

• Three main goals:

– Enhance the Drug Intelligence Officer Network

– Foster critical public health-public safety partnerships through a State of the Region Symposium

– Educate and raise awareness through an online initiative and further prevention efforts in collaboration with the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Contact Information

Michael K. GottliebDirector, National HIDTA ProgramAssistant Deputy Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy(202) 395-4868mgottlieb@ondcp.eop.gov

Shannon KellyDeputy Director, National HIDTA Program(202) 395-5872skelly@ondcp.eop.gov