Pubdate: Fri, 13 Mar 2015
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2015 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
Author: Alison Knezevich

DEA CHIEF DISCUSSES HEROIN PROBLEM IN MD.

Leonhart Tells Senators of Rising Number of Overdose Deaths, 
Baltimore Task Force

The chief of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration put a 
spotlight on Maryland's heroin problems during a congressional 
hearing Thursday.

DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart spoke of the state's rising number 
of overdose deaths in testimony before a Senate Appropriations 
subcommittee. She said a DEA task force focusing on heroin in 
Baltimore is a model for other communities.

"Maryland is the perfect example when we're talking about what it's 
going to take for our country to actually stem the flow of the rising 
heroin problem," Leonhart said.

Heroin deaths have been rising in Maryland since 2010 and are 
expected to exceed 500 in 2014 when statistics are finalized. Gov. 
Larry Hogan and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake have formed 
panels to address the problem.

Leonhart was responding to questions from Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, a 
Maryland Democrat, who said she is frustrated that government 
agencies are not coordinating enough to tackle the crisis. Last year, 
Mikulski secured $10 million in funding to create state anti-heroin 
task forces that fight the drug crisis in a comprehensive way, taking 
into account perspectives of experts in the law enforcement, medical, 
public health and education fields.

Gary Tuggle, who leads the DEA's Baltimore office, said the agency 
has operated a Baltimore heroin task force for about three decades. 
It includes members from law enforcement agencies. In recent years, 
agents have worked more with "nontraditional partners" such as health 
experts, Tuggle said. "In no way do we think that law enforcement is 
the only answer," he said. "Thirty years ago, we weren't doing this. 
. We were stuck in our own silo of just law enforcement."

He said law enforcement agencies have collaborated with health 
officials in an effort to determine sources of deadly fentanyl-laced heroin.

"We look historically at the medical records," Tuggle said. "We 
subpoena the autopsy reports. Once we determine that fentanyl was 
involved and caused the death, then we focus on the individual dealer."

At the Senate hearing on funding requests from law enforcement 
agencies, Leonhart spoke of the origins of the heroin being dealt in 
local communities. "It's almost all Western Hemisphere," she said. 
"But more and more of it is coming from Mexico and is being 
controlled by the same Mexican organizations and trafficking groups 
that we see all across the country, who've brought cocaine, meth and 
marijuana to our communities."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom