In the News

TAZEWELL, VA. — Local lawmakers and law enforcement officials are disappointed that three local counties were not among recently announced recipients of a federal drug task force designation.

In February, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., requested that 14 southwestern Virginia counties  — including Tazewell, Bland and Buchanan — be incorporated into the Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas, providing resources to law enforcement outlets to deal with drug abuse in the region. Friday, the National Drug Control Policy Center announced that Lee, Scott and Wise counties would be the first Virginia counties included in the Appalachian HIDTA.

Tazewell County Commonwealth Attorney Dennis Lee said he hopes Tazewell is one of many more counties in southwestern Virginia that could benefit from federal funds through the HIDTA program.

“It’s very disappointing to hear,” Lee said. “I think certainly Tazewell County as well as most of our surrounding counties need the additional resources that the HIDTA program could provide us. I hope our legislators will continue to push for this, especially with the influx of methamphetamine we are seeing recently as a result of the shake-and-bake method.”

Lee said the recent influx of methamphetamine into Tazewell County as well as the nearly twenty-year prescription pill epidemic in the area need could be better prevented and addressed through HIDTA resources.

“I think it is imperative we get in front of this issue more so than we did with the prescription pill crisis 10 to 20 years ago,” Lee said. “Starting with Oxycotin in the late 1990s, it has been a constant battle throughout southwestern Virginia, southern West Virginia, Kentucky and the entire Appalachian region. I certainly hope this is just the first of many HIDTA announcements to come. This could open up funding and law enforcement resources that would be of a great benefits to help our small communities deal with these problems.”

Buchanan County Sheriff Ray Foster said he was also disappointed that the county did not receive the HIDTA designation.

“We are going to continue to push for it,” Foster said. “We are going to apply for it again as soon as it is offered to us again. I would truly like to have it to help fight our drug problem. It’s been an ongoing problem here.”

Foster said Buchanan County’s location makes it an ideal place for drug traffickers.

“We’ve got quite a bit of drugs coming through our area,” Foster said. “I’ve got 15 miles to the West Virginia state line and 10 miles to the Kentucky state line. Grundy is a hub because it is bordered on two sides by two states, making it so easy to run drugs through here. We do not have a major interstate, but we do have that close proximity.”

Foster said methamphetamine has not made a major impact on Buchanan County yet, but his deputies still see evidence of meth usage and the decades-old illegal prescription pill trade in the county.

“We haven’t seen a whole lot of meth yet,” he said. “The issue is still mainly prescription drugs. We do see remnants of meth labs crop up every once in a while. The single-pot method is what we mainly run across. It would really help us to have this designation. “

U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., said he is looking to see what else can be done to include Tazewell, Bland, Buchanan and several other southwestern Virginia counties under the HIDTA designation.

“Regrettably, there is a need for more counties in Southwest Virginia to be included in this designation,” Griffith said. “The manufacturing, trafficking and abuse of illegal drugs have become causes for great concern throughout our area. Drug abuse impacts a person’s physical and mental health and also has serious legal, social and financial consequences. We know that there are a number of other jurisdictions in the district seeking this designation. We are making inquiries to see how we can assist. I have also spoken with Virginia’s Secretary of Public Safety, Marla Decker, about the issue and she has indicated her office is willing to help in any way they can.”

The HIDTA program was created by the U.S. Congress in 1988 to provide assistance to federal, state, local and tribal enforcement agencies with operating in areas determined to be critical drug trafficking regions. The HIDTA designation helps organizations assess drug-trafficking problems and design specific initiatives to decrease the production, transportation, distribution and chronic use of drugs. There are currently 28 HIDTAs across the country including 16 percent of all U.S. counties across 46 states.