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White House awards grant for drug enforcement in Mahoning County
YOUNGSTOWN
The White House awarded grant funding to continue fighting heroin and prescription opioid abuse in Mahoning County and 12 other Ohio counties.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, announced that the Office of National Drug Control Policy is providing $265,000 for Ohio’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, which also includes Adams, Cuyahoga, Fairfield, Franklin, Greene, Hamilton, Lucas, Montgomery, Scioto, Stark, Summit and Warren counties.
Youngstown police Chief Robin Lees is attending an executive board meeting with HIDTA officials in Columbus today.
“We got the designation years ago,” he said.
The program, which operates from Brooklyn Heights, coordinates local, state and federal law enforcement agencies’ drug enforcement operations, he said. The program also provides funding for overtime, logistical, vehicle, surveillance and other operational needs to local task forces with multi-jurisdiction.
“HIDTA played a big role in coordinating the efforts,” said Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains.
The designation makes sense for the county because it’s located on an interstate system between Chicago and New York City, he said.
“We’ve got a big heroin problem here,” Gains added.
Lees said that most of the counties with the designation have urban areas.
“These are all factors,” he said.
Gains said the program helps agencies targeting the same mid- to high-level drug dealers work together.
But don’t expect the county’s drug problem to be gone in the near future, Lees said, adding that the situation could be an epidemic without the program.
“It’s going to be an ongoing battle,” he said.
On the other hand, the program has reduced the number of drug-related homicides in Mahoning County, he said.
Gains said education is the key to the eradication of the county’s drug problem, if at all possible.
Both Lees and Gains saw the designation as an important funding resource. The program is usually up for renewal each year, with the risk of funding to be dropped, Lees said.
“This program is always on the chopping block,” he said.
Ohio HIDTA will use these federal resources to implement prevention initiatives and improve the program’s operations.
“It’s something the area needs,” Boardman police Chief Jack Nichols said. “Our heroin problem is over the top.”
Nichols said some Boardman police officers are part of the Drug Enforcement Agency, which also receives funding from HIDTA.
But adequate funding is also needed for the judicial and treatment segments in addition to law enforcement, because all are needed to tackle drug abuse, he added.
“We can’t arrest our way out of this problem,” he said.
The program will receive a $70,000 award for prevention efforts, a $125,000 award to strengthen HIDTA infrastructure and operations and a $70,000 award for Operation Street Smart, a national program designed to provide current drug prevention education to community groups focused on the health and safety of youth and young adults.