New DEA teams in Cleveland and Cincinnati will combat flow of heroin and fentanyl

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/10/new_dea_teams_in_cleveland_and.html

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Friday that it is forming new enforcement teams in new enforcement teams in Cleveland and Cincinnati that will focus on eradicating the flow of heroin and fentanyl.that will focus on eradicating the flow of heroin and fentanyl.

The two enforcement teams are among six that the agency is forming across the U.S. to combat an opioid epidemic that claimed roughly 34,500 lives last year. The other four enforcement teams will be in New Bedford, Massachusetts; Long Island, New York; Charleston, West Virginia; and Raleigh, North Carolina, the agency said in a news release.

The DEA chose the six locations by studying data related to opioid overdose deaths and heroin and fentanyl seizures. The teams’ investigations will not be limited to the geographic areas near those cities, the agency said.

“The DEA’s top priority is addressing the opioid epidemic and pursuing the criminal organizations that distribute their poison to our neighborhoods,” the agency’s acting administrator, Robert W. Patterson, said in a news release. “These teams will enhance DEA’s ability to combat trafficking in heroin, fentanyl, and fentanyl analogues and the violence associated with drug trafficking.”

The agency’s fiscal year 2017 budget includes funding to establish the teams, which will be comprised of DEA special agents and state and local task force officers. The teams are part of a broader DEA strategy that also includes enforcement against international and domestic drug trafficking organizations, the agency said.

The teams are being established at a time when drug overdoses are the leading cause of injury-related death in the U.S. Nearly 54 percent of the country’s 64,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016 were caused by opioids, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show. 

In Ohio, more than 4,050 people died of unintentional drug overdoses in 2016, with many of those being caused by opioids. In Cuyahoga County, heroin and fentanyl killed more people last year than homicides, suicides and car crashes.

Officials in Cuyahoga County and statewide have taken steps to curb the opioid epidemic by addressing prescription drug abuse, which experts say is inextricably linked to heroin and fentanyl abuse.

On Friday, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley announced that his office is filing a lawsuit that accuses several major prescription drug companies of intentionally misleading the public about the dangers of painkillers as they raked in “blockbuster profits.”

Cuyahoga County files lawsuit accusing drug companies of racketeering, leading to opioid epidemic

The lawsuit is similar to one Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed over the summer against some of the same manufacturers.

Cuyahoga County officials are also urging residents to return unused and unnecessary prescription drugs Saturday during the annual Take Back Your Meds Day. The annual event, which is part of the DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, will feature more than 40 locations where people can return prescription drugs throughout the county.

The DEA being in charge of the war on drugs for some 43 years… are just now deciding to focus on new enforcement teams in Cleveland and Cincinnati that will focus on eradicating the flow of heroin and fentanyl in just SIX METRO AREAS  Cleveland, Cincinnati, New Bedford, Massachusetts; Long Island, New York; Charleston, West Virginia; and Raleigh, North Carolina

It is reported that we are up to 81 billion/yr in expenditures on the war on drugs and closing in on TWO TRILLION dollars expended since the Control Substance Act was signed into law in 1970… which started with at 43 million/yr budget and 1200-1500 agents.

Collectively, has the DEA had their head stuck up their ass for the last 47 years ? We how have the highest per-cent of our population in jail/prison than any other major country. Mostly for minor non-violent drug offenses.

I am sure that most know by now that we have FOR-PROFIT PRIVATE PRISONS Corrections http://www.cca.com/  is a major player… that lobby Congress for longer sentences for non-violent offenders… so that they make a profit for “baby-sitting” these inmates.

The only “social war” that we have been dealing with longer than the war on drugs is the “war on poverty” that started in 1965 and we have spent some 15 TRILLION on.

Filed under: General Problems