Georgia's Resources
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The Council's mission is to
build healthy, stable communities by combating substance abuse, and
related problems, through prevention education, information and
advocacy.
The Council on Alcohol and Drug, Inc.
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Atlanta, GA 30303-1564
(404) 223-2480
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Georgia's Resources
Cherokee County Drug Endangered Children Committee is
a multi-agency response team focusing on preventing abuse to
children caused by the manufacture, distribution, sale and use
of drugs.
Cherokee is one of 26
counties that are now considered part of the Office
of National Drug Control Policy’s High Intensity Drug
Traffic Areas (HIDTA) program.
Feds name Cherokee
a HIDTA county
By Erika Neldner
Federal drug officials recently added Cherokee County
to a list of high drug trafficking areas, and the announcement
follows the culmination of the first official collaborative
investigation.
Cherokee is one of 26 counties
that are now considered part of the Office of National
Drug Control Policy’s High Intensity Drug Traffic Areas
(HIDTA) program.
“The
designation of new counties into the HIDTA program will
help leverage the important work already being done
at the state and local levels,” said ONDCP Director
John Walters. “The law enforcement professionals working
on the streets of our communities understand the unique
drug threats faced by their regions, and they are best
positioned to develop solutions that eliminate the harms
caused by the illegal drug trade. The collaborative
approach of the HIDTA program creates a system of shared
intelligence and resources, and helps disrupt and dismantle
criminal drug trafficking organizations operating in
the United States and abroad.”
Sheriff Roger
Garrison (Right) said while
the designation isn’t something a county always wants,
because it typically means there are a lot of illegal
drugs in the area, its affiliation with the program
will help improve already strong relations with federal
authorities, as well as shared communication of drug-related
activity in the area.
“It comes with mixed blessings,”
he said. “It’s not a distinction you want to be known
for, but 24 months ago, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)
named Atlanta as one of the larger drug hubs throughout
the U.S.”
Last October, a Cherokee Multi-Agency
Narcotics Squad (CMANS) agent was sent to HIDTA’s Atlanta
office.
Last month, CMANS and HIDTA conducted
an undercover operation that yielded two arrests for
trafficking cocaine.
The investigation also
had ties to Forsyth and Gwinnett counties, according
to CMANS spokesperson Lana Holcomb.
Agents with
HIDTA and CMANS arrested Ousmane Ndoye, 37, of Cumming,
and Oswaldo Balbuena-Mata, 38, of Duluth, for allegedly
attempting to buy a large amount of cocaine from undercover
agents, Holcomb said. HIDTA and the Forsyth County
drug task force arrested a third person, Norma Marston,
at her Forsyth County home.
All three were charged
with criminal attempt to traffic cocaine, and two vehicles
and $9,000 were seized as part of the operation, officials
said.
“That’s a prime example of having the resources
out there,” Garrison said. “We can’t be isolated here
in Cherokee County.”
Jack Killorin, the director
of HIDTA in Atlanta, said there are three main drugs
that really affect the metro Atlanta area.
“The
primary threat facing the Atlanta area is the activity
of the Mexican cartels that have established… for east
coast distribution of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana,”
Killorin said.
Officers in Cherokee say methamphetamine
has been a steady problem for years. The problems with
the drug even spurred the creation of support groups
including Mothers Against Methamphetamine.
Production
arrests (or meth lab arrests) slowed after the state
passed a law making it more difficult to buy products
containing pseudoephedrine, one of the key ingredients
in methamphetamine.
However, methamphetamine
still comes by cargo from Mexico, officials say.
In 2007, CMANS agents seized $193,142 in methamphetamine,
down from $226,900 in meth in 2006.
They seized
$219,245 in cocaine (including crack cocaine) in 2007
and $27,745 worth of cocaine in 2006.
Marijuana
was the top seizure for CMANS in both 2007 and 2006.
Agents took in $1,471,262 worth of marijuana in
2007, up from $1,408,868 in 2006.
“You can’t
tell by the numbers, but meth is still the drug of choice
here in Cherokee,” said CMANS Deputy Commander Tommy
Pinyan.
In 2007, CMANS made 324 total drug arrests,
down from 371 in 2006.
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