Created by Congress in 1988, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program coordinates and assists federal, state, local, and Tribal law agencies to address regional drug threats with the purpose of reducing drug trafficking and drug production in the United States.
The HIDTA Program oversees 33 regional HIDTAs in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia. Nationwide, the program comprises more than 900 investigative, interdiction, and intelligence-sharing initiatives. Regional HIDTAs also collaborate closely with public health partners on innovative strategies to reduce fatal and non-fatal overdoses and substance use.
Since its inception in 1988, the HIDTA Program has helped public safety officials implement integrated operations against drug trafficking organizations and, with ONDCP’s leadership, has provided the American people with a cost-effective solution to address addiction and the overdose crisis.
HIDTA is well-known for its efforts to remove drugs from our streets through interdiction and seizures, as well as dismantling drug trafficking organizations.
However, HIDTA also has a robust drug prevention strategy of establishing alliances with public health, healthcare, education, recreation, and other relevant sectors, to create comprehensive community-based prevention efforts.
For example, the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA prevention initiatives are designed to prevent, identify, or mitigate substance use across the region by coordinating community and local government resources to foster protective factors, increase knowledge around substances, and link individuals to appropriate levels of care: https://www.hidta.org/initiatives/prevention-info/
In addition, the Hawaii HIDTA has a significant initiative on prevention in which they will be implementing the evidence-based SPORT Prevention Plus Wellness (PPW) program to high school, middle school and elementary school-aged youth and their parents.
The Hawaii HIDTA prevention initiative is currently finalizing customizing the SPORT PPW program PowerPoint slides to enhance their cultural diversity and they have translated the program implementation scripts into several languages spoken on the islands.
ONDCP accepts petitions for county-based HIDTA designation on an ongoing basis and reviews these applications at least once a year. Regional law enforcement agencies may petition ONDCP for designation as a HIDTA, but new applicants typically request to be admitted to the closest-established HIDTA.
Learn more: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/grant-programs/hidta/