Rep. Tom Graves applauded the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) announcement that Floyd County, Georgia will be designated as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), which will make more resources available for local law enforcement and local officials in their fight against drug trafficking and drug abuse. The HIDTA is our nation’s leading program designed to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking organizations. This designation means that Floyd County will be eligible for resources that local law enforcement is often unable to provide on its own. With these extra resources, there can be more collaboration around intelligence sharing and specialized training aimed to crack down on drug activity in our community.
Funding for the ONDCP is approved through the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee, of which Rep. Graves is the Republican leader. Last year, as Chairman of the Subcommittee, $417 million was provided for ONDCP in the annual funding bill. Within this amount, the bill provided $280 million for HIDTAs and $118 million for other federal drug control programs.
“By coordinating with federal officials to crack down on drug abuse and trafficking, we can save lives and keep Floyd County families safe. Drug abuse does not discriminate and it’s important that we have ‘all hands on deck’ to combat this threat. I thank President Trump and ONDCP Director Jim Carroll for their leadership and assistance in this effort to keep our community safe from dangerous drug activity,” Rep. Graves said.
In 2018, HIDTA Program initiative dismantled nearly 3,000 drug trafficking organizations, removed $16.5 billion in wholesale value of drugs from the street and made nearly 99,000 arrests.
You can see a map of all the HIDTA counties nationwide here.
The congressional district includes the following counties of Georgia:
- Catoosa County
- Chattooga County
- Dade County
- Floyd County
- Gordon County
- Haralson County
- Murray County
- Paulding County
- Pickens County (Partial)
- Polk County
- Walker County
- Whitfield County
Press release from Congressman Tom Graves, Representative of the 14th District of Georgia.
