Lexington, KY – Congressman Andy Barr is pleased to announce that Clark County has been designated part of the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA). Today’s announcement will equip Clark County with additional federal resources and increased intelligence sharing and coordination between federal and state law enforcement partners with the County to curtail high level drug operations, trafficking and addiction that poisons our communities.
“Throughout my time in Congress, I have made it a priority to advocate for increased federal support to end the drug epidemic that is claiming too many lives here in the Commonwealth and throughout our country,” said Congressman Barr. “Clark County’s HIDTA designation is an important step to fight the drug epidemic, and I am confident that with the increased investment and collaboration from the federal level, Clark County’s drug enforcement and prevention efforts will be more formidable.”
Congressman Barr has had regular and continual engagement with the Clark County Sheriff Berl Perdue and the Appalachia HIDTA Executive Director Vic Brown since 2018 to advocate for Clark County’s HIDTA designation. Congressman Barr wrote letters in 2018, 2019 and 2020 to Appalachian HIDTA in support of Clark County’s HIDTA application and also assisted the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in coordinating with other law enforcement agencies to strengthen their HIDTA application.
Finally, Congressman Barr’s office has communicated with the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), which included a phone call in 2018 from Congressman Barr to Director Michael Gottlieb, who ultimately signs off on HIDTA designations to advocate for Clark County’s designation. Congressman Barr’s office has followed up since then with ONDCP to provide answers to any questions the County had for the ONDCP.
“The Clark County Sheriff’s Office is excited to have been included in the HIDTA Program,” said Clark County Sheriff Berl Perdue. “We have been working toward this designation for the past several years. With this designation and federal resources our Office will have the ability to better serve our citizens and county in battling the drug epidemic that has swept across our nation the last several years. Congressman Barr and Senator McConnell have a history of strongly supporting law enforcement and providing federal money and resources to assist both large and small law enforcement agencies. We are grateful to Congressman Barr for his efforts on our behalf and could not have achieved this designation without his support. We can’t thank him enough.”