Blogger's Note: Nearly all of us have been touched in some way by the scourge of fentanyl-related drug overdose deaths. I know several families who have lost sons and daughters who died after unknowingly ingesting this killer, which is 50-100 times more powerful than morphine.
From Northampton County DA Terry Houck: As District Attorney of Northampton County, I am pleased to announce the implementation of the first Northampton County full-time Drug Task Force, effective immediately.
Our county cannot standby as the nationwide spike in fentanyl-related drug overdose deaths infiltrates our communities. While we’ve operated with a part-time task force for the past 20 years, I am certain it is now more imperative than ever to form a full-time drug task force, where officers can fully dedicate themselves to eradicating illegal drug trafficking in Northampton County. The ultimate mission of this task force is to save lives.
The CDC estimated more than 107,000 people nationwide died as a result of a drug overdose in the last year, and 66 percent of those overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl. This is an alarming percentage as a nation, and the numbers only continue to climb. Our office has witnessed far too many drug overdoses in our county alone, and the impact drug deliveries resulting in death can have on families, and the community at large.
The Northampton County full-time drug task force is comprised of police officers from various departments throughout the county. These officers will have the opportunity to receive specialized training and experience, which will ultimately benefit not only their individual departments, but neighboring departments as well.
The drug task force will utilize in large part the seized monies of drug dealers to fund its operations. We will turn the dealers’ illicit profits against them, as the implementation of a fulltime drug task force should not, and will not, impact the pockets of local and county taxpayers.
These seized funds will permit our officers to execute more comprehensive investigations, allowing us to ultimately remove drug dealers’ resources and help put an end to their illegal operations that plague our community.
The focused training of our full-time drug task force officers will vastly improve our ability to investigate the illegal distribution of drugs and the complex cases involving drug deliveries resulting in death. Our officers will now be able to go beyond the boundaries of their local jurisdiction and continue investigations throughout the county. Complaints of drug dealing from areas within a community will now be investigated by full-time members who will be able to concentrate their efforts on a problem residence, hotel/motel, or area in a much more effective manner.
In addition, officers assigned to the full-time drug task force will be better able to form relationships with confidential informants, who provide valuable and critical information on drug activity.
I would like to thank Northampton County chiefs of police and local township board supervisors for their quick response and call to action in this matter. As the fentanyl epidemic continues to ravage our nation and infiltrate our communities, I am proud our team was able to implement the first full-time drug task force in the county’s history to combat the epidemic. I am confident our officers’ full-time dedication to investigating drug crimes will significantly benefit our Northampton County community.
Too many people do drugs. Car drivers should be tested immediately if they are in an accident just like truck drivers. If the car driver has any illegal drugs or prescriptions products which say you should not be driving they should immediately go to jail. And if they refuse they should lose their license for 6 months.
ReplyDeleteAlthough most are for safety, you're a little extreme there aren't you? There are how many types of accidents? How many different scenarios?
DeleteI was told once by a regional police chief that if drugs went away 50 to 60% of his force and staff would not be needed. Seems to me like there is a reason people might not want to fix the problem.
ReplyDeleteI have been told that exact same thing by many police officers since 1990. Some even said that the statistic is higher. It's bullshit. The 1980's called. They want your mentality back.
DeleteAnd, I've never done an illegal drug in my life.
Our southern border is a huge source of illegal drugs and the people to market them. Much more control is needed there.
ReplyDeleteAnother mental midget blaming all of America’s woes on “illegal” border crossings because god forbid you keep that same energy and tackle the real source that leads to drug use being the lower socioeconomic status caused by wealth inequity and capitalism.
DeleteBut no, let’s pick on the Mexicans because it’s easier to punch down than to punch up.
Asshole.
You Sir/Madam, are a blooming idiot. 🤪
DeleteBiden border policy is the major cause of these deaths.
ReplyDeleteIs it Election season already?
ReplyDelete10:51 Due Process?
ReplyDeleteWe should keep spending more and more money, time, and resources on this because it's worked so well so far.
ReplyDeleteExactly!
DeleteOn the surface, this looks good, but my cynical side thinks it’s more like keeping up with the Joneses. Martin has a full-time task force, so Houck wants one. Martin creates a PR position, so Houck follows. Drugs have been a problem for decades, yet we are soon going to introduce people to recreational marijuana. What happens when that no longer gives the user the high he/she wants?
ReplyDeleteStudies have shown that alcohol and tobacco are just as likely to be "gateway drugs" as those are typically experimented with first. Yes those are drugs in a sense, just legal ones. It seems to be what you are alluding to with your last comment, and that the majority of marijuana smokers don't wake up and decide, let's try meth, see how that works.
DeleteKnee jerk response. Get to the root of the problem (open borders, Democrat run cities and counties soft in crime and in favor of defunding the police). Terry’s a nice guy but not a strong DA.
ReplyDeleteNixon's failed war on drugs continues. The demographics are almost identical to 1970. It's a google search away. Either you get hooked or you dont. The only thing that has increased is the budget for these preventative actions. The DEA is up to 15 billion a year. The money would be better spent on treatment.
ReplyDeleteI correct myself
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dea.gov/data-and-statistics/staffing-and-budget
1:51
ReplyDeletePerfect response!
Also, let’s see some facts: How many death?, How many drug dealers arrested?, How many lives saved by these local drug sheriffs? How many of the drug users get proper health care funded by the illegal drug monies seized? Then maybe a 911 number for drug addiction assistance funded by the illegal drug monies seized? Tracked quarterly with a historical record starting from 2020. This would be a good start.
@12:01 & @1:47
ReplyDeleteSame should apply to anyone operating a car as a truck.
According to Section 382.303 of the FMCSA Code of Regulations, truck drivers must submit to drug and alcohol tests administered by their employers after most types of traffic accidents. There is a chart that is used to determine when an employer lawfully must test a truck driver after a crash. The chart creates the following rules:
Mandatory testing for a truck accident involving a human fatality, whether or not law enforcement issued a citation to the driver.
Mandatory testing for bodily injuries with immediate medical treatment away from the scene, but only if a citation is given to the driver.
Mandatory testing for disabling damage to any motor vehicle that requires a tow, unless no citation was given to the truck driver.
Federal law gives employers no more than 32 hours after a qualifying truck accident to administer a drug test to a truck driver. The employer only has 8 hours to perform an alcohol test. They should administer drug and alcohol tests as soon as is practical after the accident. If an employer fails to perform tests within the time limit, the company must give a reason why the test was not promptly administered.
Most employers have same policy. And accident with cars also test for drugs and alcohol
Delete@5:54. The root of the problem is the demand for drugs. No demand no drug problem so stop trying to stem the flow . Stem the demand. The use of drugs is too widely accepted and too widely ignored to ever stop the illegal trade for them.
ReplyDeleteExactly by “what authority “ are they then deputies of sheriff’s authority or does the DA have the constitutional powers in The Commonwealth? Interesting!
ReplyDeleteAll of the complaints about border policy are missing the point completely. Most illegal fentanyl comes from China! How would a border wall and ICE agents help with that?
ReplyDeleteDecades of tough on crime policy, bigger law enforcements budgets, and harsher sentences are what have led us into the current opioid crisis. Why would more of the same suddenly solve the problem?
The chief problem is demand. Everyone knows the sentences are harsh and the drugs are dangerous, yet they keep using. Clearly they have a strong motivation to continue, we need to address that cause or else the problem will never go away.
Houck should concentrate on winning trials. Setting up a unit like this is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic
ReplyDeleteMorale in the DA's office is worse than it has ever been. Bring back Johnny M!
ReplyDeleteGod Bless Morgs! We need him back as DA
ReplyDeleteHouk has more turnover (lawyers and secretaries) than any other department. Except maybe Gracedale. Council should ask around.
ReplyDeleteThis is true!
DeleteThe facts over the last 40 years or more are overwhelming and yet there are still those who will deny the insanity of the "Drug War" no matter how much it destroys our country, takes away our rights and harms our loved ones so the political hucksters can increase their power.
ReplyDeleteDecriminalization would help stop the overdoses in multiple ways.
1. Not only would it decrease the huge profit incentive for drug dealers to push their product on people, but medically established distributers would prevent overdose deaths.
2. Crime has been proven to drop with decriminalization which also means less gang activity. Since this is the core of their income, This would also mean less shooting and danger to your friends and loved ones.
3. Less chance of a DEA enforcing breaking into your house with a no-knock warrant to shoot you or your loved ones.
4. One of the huge reasons immigrants are fleeing their countries to come to the U.S. at the border is to escape the drug gangs that permeate their country which would be reduced or eliminated with decriminalization.
5. We might be able to stop being the country with the highest percentage of its own citizens in jail, mainly due to drug arrests.
More reasons for decriminalization could easily be found with a minimum of research. This retro-reaction by this DA will help no one.
11:11pm Due Process? that was aimed at your initial comment of if there are any illegal drugs or prescription drugs with warnings of vehicle operation comment at 10:51am. So, real world example for you. Husband was spiking his wife's morning coffee with meth without her knowledge. She only finds out after going to the Dr. for her "symptoms". By your reasoning, if she was involved in an accident she would be rotting in jail.
ReplyDeleteThere are reasons we have due process, you knob.
@9:33 God Bless Morgs!
ReplyDeleteI read this quickly and wow I went in an entirely different direction then the finishing sentence took me.
The border is wide open. Yes the fentanyl comes from China but flows through Mexico into the United States. In the past few weeks several huge loads of fentanyl have been seized at the border, but the majority of it slips through. The Border Patrol is completely overwhelmed at this point due to this current administrations policies. Drug overdose deaths were 107,000 last year, 5 times the 21,000 killed by gun violence when suicides are excluded. Yes, we need to take away the demand AND we need to secure the border to make this killer fentanyl harder to get.
ReplyDeleteTreatment should be available to everyone upon request regardless of insurance status. We need more treatment beds as well. As far as decriminalization, nobody is going to prison for possession of any kind of narcotic these days unless there's a gun involved, or you're dealing. Here in Northampton County we also have a drug court, which is an alternative to incarceration, that is really getting some great results with the people who are motivated to change, which is always the key of course.
I see the communist is on here @2;27PM. Inequality and capitalism lit the crack pipe and made me shoot the fentanyl LOL......this is what the 60K a year colleges are teaching these days. Crazy!
ReplyDelete1:35 Are you doping your wife? Sounds pretty easy for you to put that out there. Anyone in an accident should immediately be tested. Many insurance company's are wanting that to occur because it gives grounds. And so many people lie about what they have in their systems.
ReplyDeleteAlso if you want to play that game though then why should truck drivers be singled out regardless of if they are driving their truck or their personal vehicle?
This is eye opening on fentanyl.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-03/DEA_GOV_DIR-008-20%20Fentanyl%20Flow%20in%20the%20United%20States_0.pdf
9:19 - Nice deflection. Why are truck drivers singled out? How about 80.000 pounds. It is the same reason they have to keep logs to limit their driving hours. This shouldn't be that difficult to understand, without getting out the crayons.
ReplyDeleteIf a driver of an automobile is suspected of being impaired they are tested. Try reading a police blotter. Amazing how many accidents (of automobiles) end up with impairment charges for the driver.
8:00a May you starve, you lose everything you ever had that came on a truck and may you never ever get anything that has ever been on a truck. Car drivers should be immediately tested if they are in an accident. You probably have all kinds of crap running through your veins that is why you are against it. Do some digging and truck drivers are far safer drivers a then car drivers per mile and also many accidents are caused by cars in the truck versus cars. Truckers were the easy target for years. And people complain they cannot get stuff now and it is partially be causes their are fewer truck drivers. Why would anyone want to be singled out to be held to a higher level when there are shit for brains like you.
ReplyDelete8 am. In the trucking world you have to be tested regardless of showing any impairments at the time of an incident. It is MANDATORY. Based on the thread it seems that you were the one crying due process. Where is the dues process in that.
ReplyDeleteOH here we go with the nice deflection guy/girl again. Must be because your head is so empty things bounce around in it deflecting any real thought.
ReplyDeleteHey 8 PM to further your comment a truck driver is required to submit to testing after an incident even if it is caused by another vehicle. So a chemically impaired car driver can cause an accident with a truck and the truck driver must be tested but the car driver does not have to unless they show impairment. A driver in my team had this happen. Later during the lawsuit the car driver entered it was discovered that they were on prescription drugs which specifically called out they should not drive or operate equipment. If my teammate were on the same drug and been in an accident he would have lost his job and maybe his career or maybe have gone to jail. The car drivers only punishment ended up being his BS lawsuit was thrown out. Testing should be the same for both parties involved. And potential punishment should have been the same.
ReplyDelete7:58 I understand trucking very well and realize that they safer drivers, overall. Why are holders of a CDL safer? One, it's what puts food on the table and two, there is a barrier to entry that much more difficult than the class c. Especially if you're hauling propane, oxidizers, corrosive or even nuclear material! These goods are not traveling in cars, they are hauled by trucks that weigh up to 40 tons. So the point I was trying to make was the fact that the potential for really bad things to happen when an 80k truck is involved in an accident. Hypothetically speaking, would you rather face a car operated by sleep deprived speed freak or a sleep deprived speed freak hauling a couple thousand gallons of benzene?
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious you have an axe to grind and you are deflecting. Remember the truck driver on I70 in Denver? 85mph and no brakes? 28 cars destroyed, fires and 4 dead. Would there have been the same carnage with an F150?
Sorry about your buddy, but he was following the rules and by the graces of due process he was cleared! funny how that works.