Overdoses down 3%, WH unveils traffic reduction plan

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Dr. Rahul Gupta announced more than $276 million in new funding for the Drug Trafficking Zones Program. high-intensity drug (HIDTA).

The HIDTA program supports federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies operating in areas considered to be drug trafficking hotspots in the United States.

This new funding will help support law enforcement agencies that seize illicit drugs like fentanyl, prevent and reduce gun violence and other violent crimes associated with drug trafficking, improve interdiction efforts through better data sharing and targeting, and to dismantle illicit financial transactions.

“There is hardly any family or community that has not been affected by this,” said Dr. Rahul Gupta.

Gupta says drug trafficking affects far too many people.

“We know we lose an American every 5 minutes,” Gupta said.

The White House is providing more than $276 million to law enforcement to combat the overdose epidemic.

The focus areas: taking drugs like fentanyl off the streets, reducing drug-related gun violence and dismantling money laundering operations.

But West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito says the Biden administration has failed to prosecute many of these crimes.

“From drug dealer to car thief,” Moore Capito said.

New preliminary data from the CDC shows overdose deaths decreased 3% last year. He did not give reasons for this drop.

Gupta thanks President Biden and Congress for making life-saving tools like Naloxon more accessible.

“We want to make sure that every life that we can save, we work to save, because every life is precious,” Gupta said.

Moore Capito says she supports any effort to reduce overdose deaths, but says it starts with educating young people about the dangers of drugs.

“We need to start teaching our children in kindergarten that just one pill can kill,” Moore Capito added.

The White House's money to fight the opioid epidemic will cover all 50 states. The distribution of expenses can be seen in this graph: