Pubdate: Sat, 05 May 2001
Source: Charleston Gazette (WV)
Copyright: 2001 Charleston Gazette
Contact:  http://www.wvgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/77

NATIONAL GUARD ANTI-DRUG EFFORT'S ARRESTS, SEIZURES UP

The West Virginia National Guard Counterdrug Progam has recorded 154 
arrests and $5.7 million in seized drugs during the first half of this 
fiscal year -- numbers that appear to be growing from previous years.

The National Guard was involved in 255 arrests during the entire 2000 
fiscal year and 137 arrests during the 1999 fiscal year. The program seized 
approximately $778,215 worth of illegal drugs over the last fiscal year and 
$1,003 during the 1999 fiscal year.

Adj. Gen. Allen Tackett said strong anti-drug programs are essential.

"When I look at the statistics of how many young people are involved in 
drugs today, I know we need good drug demand interdiction," Tackett said. 
"I don't think we'll ever completely demolish drugs in this state, but we 
can make it difficult for young people to get them."

The current statistics were fueled by $10 million in federal money that 
will allow the National Guard to employ 55 full-time soldiers and purchase 
a support aircraft.

A "significant increase in prescription drug use" has also contributed, 
said Lt. Col. James Hoyer, deputy coordinator of the 6-year-old program.

Abuse of the prescription painkiller OxyContin has become a serious problem 
in parts of West Virginia, law enforcement officials have said. Twenty West 
Virginia deaths last year had ties to oxycodone, the sole ingredient in 
OxyContin, according to autopsy reports and an investigation by the state 
medical examiner's office.

Although the guardsmen have no arrest powers, they support law enforcement 
agencies in counterdrug missions in West Virginia.

Joseph Ciccarelli, head of the Charleston office of the FBI, said the 
National Guard makes its aircraft available for surveillance and helps with 
paperwork and transcription work.

"It's kind of a theme of law enforcement -- everyone is understaffed," 
Ciccarelli said. The National Guard Counterdrug Program is "certainly money 
well-spent, tax dollars well-spent," he said.

Meanwhile, civilian anti-drug groups also credit the National Guard with 
helping them.

"Anything we come up with, they're willing to do," said Debbie Trent of 
Stop Through Our Plan, or STOP, which targets teen-agers in Mingo County. 
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