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Federal program helps investigate, prosecute fentanyl traffickers
District Attorneys from all four Philadelphia suburban counties—Chester County’s Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe, Bucks County’s Jennifer Schorn, Montgomery County’s Kevin R. Steele and Delaware County’s Jack Stollsteimer—are speaking out in support of recently introduced federal legislation that would increase funding for the funding to investigate and prosecute fentanyl traffickers.
The legislation, the HIDTA Enhancement Act of 2024, reauthorizes the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Program through 2030 and increases HIDTA’s authorized funding to combat Fentanyl trafficking and aid federal prosecutors in fentanyl trafficking prosecutions. The bi-partisan legislation was introduced on Sept. 26, by Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).
Fentanyl is a significant problem in communities across Southeastern Pennsylvania and across the United States. In 2023, 106,876 people died from a drug overdose, with 74,088 of those deaths involving fentanyl, according to Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The opioid overdose crisis has torn apart countless communities and families across the country, and the prevalence and availability of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances in jurisdictions nationwide have perpetuated and exacerbated this deadly epidemic. The HIDTA Enhancement Act would help combat the ongoing opioid overdose crisis, which has tragically claimed so many lives and torn apart countless families and communities.
Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties are all members of the Liberty Mid-Atlantic HIDTA, which serves the greater Philadelphia area. HIDTA provides critical intelligence information, funding and enhanced partnerships with state and federal law enforcement that allow drug trafficking organizations to be investigated across county and state lines.
Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said, “Collaboration is absolutely essential to our efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. HIDTA is a critical catalyst to that collaboration by providing additional resources for enforcement initiatives, as well as support services such as training, information technology, and intelligence analysis. We enthusiastically support this bipartisan effort to reauthorize HIDTA and to increase its funding.”
For more information on the HIDTA Program for our region, please visit the Liberty Mid Atlantic HIDTA at https://lmahidta.org
