W/B HIDTA Receives Over $16,263,000 in Funds to Support Its Comprehensive Approach to Addressing the Washington/Baltimore Region’s Drug Problem

According to a press release sent this week, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has awarded the largest-ever award of baseline funding for its High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program, including $16,263,000 for the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA (W/B HIDTA).

Funding for the National HIDTA Program includes a historic expansion of the innovative Overdose Response Strategy (ORS), which is designed to reduce drug overdoses by fostering interventions tailored to the communities they serve. These include law enforcement-led linkages to care, harnessing data to alert and respond to overdose spikes, and ensuring access to naloxone.

“With COVID-19 accelerating the rate of overdoses in the United States, public safety and public health leaders are facing increasing burdens,” said Acting Director of National Drug Control Policy Regina LaBelle.“As the Biden-Harris administration works to enhance and expand access to evidence-based prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery services, this funding will strengthen law enforcement efforts to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations and create critical opportunities for collaboration between public health and public safety leaders at the local level.”

Since its designation as a HIDTA in 1994, the W/B HIDTA has served as an example of a multi-pronged, comprehensive approach to addressing the region’s drug problem. Specifically, funding from ONDCP will continue to support innovative, cost-effective, and successful drug enforcement, treatment, and prevention efforts; and provide best-in-class intelligence and case support through its Investigative Support Center. For more information on the W/B HIDTA’s activities, including its Annual Report, visit www.hidta.org; and subscribe on the homepage to its monthly e-newsletter, The W/B HIDTA Monthly Journal.