Chester County District Attorney Christopher L. de Barrena-Sarobe, along with Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, have joined forces to advocate for increased funding to combat fentanyl trafficking. The group this week voiced their support for the HIDTA Enhancement Act of 2024, a federal bill aimed at bolstering resources for investigating and prosecuting fentanyl traffickers.
The proposed legislation, introduced Sept. 26, seeks to reauthorize and increase funding for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Program until 2030. This program plays a crucial role in providing intelligence, funding and enhanced partnerships between state and federal law enforcement agencies, enabling them to investigate drug trafficking organizations across state and county lines.
The district attorneys emphasized the severity of the fentanyl crisis in southeastern Pennsylvania and across the nation. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 106,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2023, with approximately 74,000 of those deaths attributed to fentanyl.
Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties are part of the Liberty Mid-Atlantic HIDTA serving Philadelphia. The district attorneys highlighted the program’s vital contribution to their efforts in combating drug trafficking.
“The partnership established through HIDTA and the funding it provides has been invaluable in combatting the trafficking of poisonous drugs like fentanyl,” said Schorn. “This reauthorization of funding is the best weapon in our arsenal in the fight against these drug traffickers.”
“Collaboration is absolutely essential to our efforts to combat the opioid epidemic,” added Stollsteimer. “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.”
The HIDTA Enhancement Act of 2024, sponsored by U.S. senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), aims to provide a critical tool in addressing the ongoing opioid overdose crisis by strengthening the ability of law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute fentanyl traffickers.
This local news story was reported with generative AI assistance.
