By Trish Svoboda
Representatives Sharice Davids and Emanuel Cleaver announced that the Midwest High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program will receive $15.9 million in funding to combat illegal drugs like fentanyl, reduce drug-related violent crime, and improve data collection in Kansas.
Davids, a member of the Fentanyl Prevention Caucus, has been working with Midwest HIDTA on fentanyl summits and advocating for opioid death prevention. After meeting with a Johnson County resident who lost her son to a counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl, Davids co-sponsored a bill that passed in the House to start a public awareness campaign about synthetic opioids.
The federal government has announced investments totaling $276 million for 33 HIDTA regions across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia. These programs, which include the Midwest HIDTA that covers counties in Kansas and six other states, work with various law enforcement agencies to assess local drug threats and develop strategies to enhance public health and safety.
In 2023, HIDTAs played a crucial role in disrupting and dismantling over 3,000 drug trafficking and money laundering organizations, seizing illegal drugs worth more than $17 billion. This effort resulted in the removal of $17.3 billion worth of illegal drugs from the market, including over 9,000 kilograms and more than 117 million pills of fentanyl, and the seizure of $641.9 million in U.S. currency from drug traffickers.
