Heroin use has skyrocketed 63 percent in the United States, sparing few towns, and now the administration is pushing to stop the flow of the drug across the U.S.-Mexico border.
In announcing a $13.4 million war on heroin Monday, the president’s drug czar said the administration will try to plug the holes in the border through which crime gangs pour drugs.
But only 10 percent of the budget will be used for that purpose, the rest send to the five biggest drug markets in the country.
AP Photo
Michael Botticelli, director of National Drug Control Policy, said $1.3 million will be spent on the border control effort. “These funds will be used to enhance investigative efforts against large-scale transnational criminal organizations, reduce the flow of dangerous drugs (including heroin and methamphetamine) across the border, and prevent drug use in border communities,” he said.
Heroin has reached epidemic levels in several areas around the country. In announcing the program, the drug czar’s office said that “drug that has emerged as a serious threat to multiple regions of the United States.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that an estimated 517,000 people used heroin in 2013, or had a heroin-related dependence, a 150 percent jump since 2007. And about 8,200 died of heroin-related overdose.
Much of the drug comes in from Mexico, also the source of the largest number of illegal immigrants every year. Just this month, the U.S. Coast Guard announced that it has seized 32 metric tons of cocaine and heroin worth $1 billion this year.
In addition to targeting smugglers, the effort will fund anti-drug efforts in five so-called “High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas,” Appalachia, New England, Philadelphia/Camden, New York/New Jersey, and Washington/Baltimore.
“The new Heroin Response Strategy demonstrates a strong commitment to address the heroin and prescription opioid epidemic as both a public health and a public safety issue,” said Botticelli.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
