SCHUMER: CONGRESS RESTORES DESPERATELY NEEDED FUNDING TO CRITICAL FEDERAL-LOCAL ANTI-DRUG PARTNERSHIP - ADMINISTRATION HAD PROPOSED SIGNIFICANT CUTS
Despite Rampant Teen Prescription Drug Abuse on SI, Administration Planned To Cut Drug Enforcement Program HIDTA- Provides Funding for Intelligence Centers, Databases, and Enforcement Task Forces
Earlier This Month, Schumer Called on Congress To Restore Cuts - Today's Release of Congressional Budget Bill Shows Funding Has Been Restored
Yesterday, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer said that Congress has restored funding for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Program (HIDTA) after the administration had proposed a huge cut earlier in the year. HIDTA is a critical program aimed at curbing drug trafficking, crime, sales, and abuse in every region in New York State. The proposed cut came in spite of an increasing amount of prescription drugs being used by Staten Island teens. According to the NYPD, there have been 2,000 arrests on Staten Island for narcotics sale or possession in 2010 alone. The Administration's budget had slashed the program by 12 percent which could translate to a loss of nearly $1.5 million for New York City area operations. Today the Appropriations Subcommittee for Financial Services and General Government released their budget bill, which restored full funding to the program.
"Even one teenager using drugs is one too many, but now on Staten Island, the rash of drug use, especially the use of prescription drugs, has touched dozens of neighborhoods in all corners of Staten Island," Schumer said. "Law enforcement officials are working around the clock to crack down on the criminals who sell this terrible drug to our kids. This critical funding provides invaluable resources to New York City law enforcement officials who are on the ground here on Staten Island in the war against drugs. It is tremendously important that Congress has restored the cuts that the administration had proposed to these very successful High Intensity Drug Traffic Areas, and I am truly grateful to my colleagues on the appropriations committee."
The HIDTA program was established by the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 to provide assistance to federal, state and local law enforcement entities operating in areas most adversely affected by drug trafficking. A central feature of the HIDTA program is the discretion granted to HIDTA Executive Boards to design a strategy to respond to the specific drug trafficking threats found in each HIDTA region and to develop initiatives to implement the strategy. This discretion ensures that each HIDTA Executive Board can tailor its strategy and initiatives closely to local conditions and can respond quickly to changes in those conditions.
In the Administrations Fiscal Year 2011 Budget, the Administration proposed cutting HIDTA funding by 13 percent from $239 million down to $210 million. Schumer said this would translate to an estimated cut of between $1.3 million to $2 million cut for the New York HIDTA that covers Staten Island. The New York HIDTA received $10 million last year.
In New York City, HIDTA provides agencies with equipment and technology, and additional resources to combat drug trafficking. Specifically, HIDTA funding has been used to provide funding for the Investigative Support Center (ISC), The Narcotics Intelligence Unit (NIU), the Hidden Trafficker Program, The Regional Gun Center, SAFETNET, New York OCDETF Strike Force, El Dorado Money Laundering Task Force, and the Regional Fugitive Task Force.
The prescription drug problem on Staten Island has been described as a teen epidemic. Over the course of the past few years, countless arrests and several teen deaths have been linked the prescription drug abuse. According to a study by the Columbia University center, prescription opiod abuse jumped 542 percent among 12 to 17 year olds between 1992 and 2002. Teens also have easy access to pills, according to a 2008 study from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, one in five teens said prescription drugs were easier to purchase than beer. And when teens who know prescription drug abusers were asked where their acquaintances get their drugs, 34 percent said from home, parents or the medicine cabinet, while another 31 percent said from their friends or classmates.
The NY/NJ HIDTA region is a national distribution center for illicit drugs, primarily cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. Multikilogram to metric ton quantities of these drugs are transported to the region from drug source and transit countries such as Canada, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico as well as from domestic locations such as Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and the Southwest Border area. Wholesale quantities of illicit drugs that enter the region are typically divided into smaller quantities for further distribution within the region or in drug markets throughout the Northeast, Southeast, and Midwest.
In response to these cuts, earlier this month, Schumer announced he was joining with a bi-partisan group of Senators to fight the cuts. He has made a direct appeal to the Chairman and Ranking members of the Senate budget committee asking them to restore the funding in the final Congressional budget.
Schumer added, "Right now New York's communities are outgunned in the fight against drugs and that just can't continue. I'm hopeful that this effort will get the ball rolling on a new approach and ensure that our law enforcement has the resources they need to combat this problem."
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