STOCKTON – Millions of dollars are going to fight drug trafficking in the Central Valley in the ongoing battle against fentanyl.
Fentynal has hit San Joaquin County hard. Just ask Sheriff Patrick Withrow.
“It’s just been an uphill battle that’s costing the lives of literally thousands of people in our community,” the sheriff said.
It’s a tough fight. Sheriff Withrow said the two biggest hurdles are soft crime laws and tools to prosecute criminals.
“Even though we’re taking thousands, hundreds of thousands of pills off the street, they just keep pouring in from all over the country,” he said.
Congressman Josh Harder, who represents the area, said fentanyl is a hug problem in his district.
To help, Rep. announced Tougher that $4.7 million in federal funding would go to agencies, such as the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, in the Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
So far this year, nearly 6 million fentanyl pills have been seized in the state. Yet many have taken to the streets and continue to kill.
“So many of these overdoses are accidental,” said Rep. Harder. “A kid buys what he thinks is Adderal from someone at school and it turns out to be laced with fentanyl, and they take too much and they die.”
This money will give departments like Sheriff Withrow the tools they need to identify the source of the drugs and work more closely with agencies like the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“That funding allows us to go up and down the state, out of the state, wherever our cases take us, to follow up on the people who are supplying the narcotics,” Sheriff Withrow said.
Both men say the funding is desperately needed, but admit more needs to be done to truly tackle this massive problem.
Rep. Harder said the reality is that Congress is not doing enough, but “this is an important first step.”
“We need strong laws and people need to be held accountable and put in jail for doing this to our families,” Withrow said.
Rep. Harder also said overdose deaths among 10-19 year olds in the Central Valley have doubled in the past two years.
