EDITORIAL: HIDTA Designation -- Southwest Virginia Still Waiting

The failure of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy to act upon U.S. Sen. Jim Webb’s original request for an Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking area designation for 13 Southwest Virginia counties is baffling.

Webb, D-Va., is once again petitioning the White House to add the 13 counties, including Tazewell, Bland and Buchanan, to the federal HIDTA program.

The federal designation, approved just last week for Mercer County, would provide the Southwest Virginia counties with additional federal resources to help combat drug abuse and crime in the region.

Webb sent his first letter requesting that Southwest Virginia be included in the HIDTA corridor in February. The second letter urges officials to “expeditiously approve the designation in light of escalating drug-trafficking and related crime in the region.”

Why the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy failed to act upon Webb’s original request is perplexing. After all, the region is considered by many to be the birthplace of the OxyContin epidemic from just a few short years ago.

Today, the resources of local law enforcement officials in the 13 counties have been severely depleted as police and sheriff’s deputies combat an escalating amount of drug trafficking and related crime in the region, according to Webb.

The region has also seen an upsurge in the interstate trafficking of drugs, including methamphetamine, OxyContin, Viocodin and Xanax, Webb said. He points to Interstates 77 and 81, as well as major byways such as U.S. Route 19, as areas of concern for the trafficking of illicit drugs, along with the confirmed presence of Mexican drug cartels in the Galax area.

Local law enforcement officials say the federal designation is urgently needed.

“It would be a substantial benefit to us,” Major Chris Boyd, of the Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office said. “We have been working on this since former Congressman Rick Boucher was in office and now Sen. Webb has taken up the cause. It would be an enhancement to law enforcement operations in the area already being conducted”

At the moment, there are no southwestern Virginia counties included in the HIDTA designation.

That makes no sense. We believe the inclusion of the 13 Southwest Virginia counties into the HIDTA corridor is vital for law enforcement officials who continue to battle the drug war. We hope the White House approves this designation — sooner rather than later.