Washington, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senators Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Shelley Moore-Capito (R-W.V.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced the HIDTA Enhancement Act of 2024, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize and expand the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program. This bill will combat the nation’s fentanyl crisis by providing law enforcement with additional resources to target drug traffickers and prevent fentanyl and other drugs from flooding American communities.
“The HIDTA program does incredible work in communities across Nevada,” said Cortez Masto. “I’m working in a bipartisan way to increase funding and support for HIDTA’s efforts to reduce overdoses and keep drugs off our streets. Keeping families safe is my priority.”
“Senator Cortez Masto has always been a prominent supporter of the HIDTA Program,” said Keith Carter, Director of Nevada HIDTA. “The program supports collaboration among federal, state, and local law enforcement, providing much-needed funding to enhance technology, analytical support, overdose reduction efforts, and other critical programs, including prevention and collaborations with public health. This important bill ensures that the vital work of the HIDTA initiatives can continue and further enhance the program’s mission to serve the citizens of Nevada.”
The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, supports collaboration between federal, state, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies to reduce drug trafficking and misuse. There are 33 regional HIDTAs across the U.S., covering counties in all 50 states. HIDTA helps law enforcement share information, coordinate efforts, and pursue the most significant drug threats. In 2022 alone, HIDTAs seized an estimated $22 billion in illicit drugs and cash. Cortez Masto’s legislation reauthorizes the HIDTA program at $333 million annually through 2030, increasing support for law enforcement efforts to combat drug use and trafficking.
Click here to read the bill text.
As Nevada’s Attorney General, Senator Cortez Masto worked with law enforcement, Nevada’s Republican governor, and Mexican officials to combat the rise of methamphetamine manufacturing and cross-border drug trafficking. In the Senate, she has authored legislation to combat drug trafficking online that was signed into law, and passed critical legislation to address the opioid epidemic. She is leading bipartisan, bicameral legislation to combat the illicit use of xylazine, a highly dangerous sedative causing fatal overdoses nationwide. She recently passed key legislation to dismantle the networks of illicit financing that fund fentanyl trafficking.
###