Law Enforcement

Coalitions across the country have another opportunity to contribute to the fight against prescription drug abuse by participating in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s third National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Saturday.

Violent crime could be reduced significantly if policymakers at the local level limit the number of neighborhood liquor stores and ban the sale of single-serve containers of alcoholic beverages, according to separate studies led by University of California, Riverside researchers.

This week, the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) released the National Drug Threat Assessment 2011 detailing drug trafficking and abuse trends within the United States.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will launch a campaign to crack down on impaired driving and reduce roadway fatalities from Aug. 19 to Sept. 5. The annual, nationwide enforcement effort is supported by $14 million in paid national advertising campaign to help put motorists on notice that if they are caught driving while impaired, they will be arrested. The national ads, produced by NHTSA in English and Spanish, are targeted at young male drivers (ages 21-34) and motorcycle riders, who are the most common perpetrators of impaired driving.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had made available its promotional planner for coalitions to use to prevent impaired driving on and around Independence Day.

CADCA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will host a webinar at 3 p.m. EST May 26 on the department's counternarcotics policy and operations called the “Impact of Drug-Trafficking on Local Communities.”

This Saturday, the Drug Enforcement Administration and coalitions around the country will give the public an opportunity to prevent medicine abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs on the second annual National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Labor Day weekend Impaired Driving Crackdown is in the planning process and coalitions are encouraged to partner with their local law enforcement agencies to help them reduce impaired driving.

In order to prevent drug use, we need to know what's out there and what's coming next. We know methamphetamine, marijuana, and prescription drugs are problems, but what about K2, heroin, bath salts, and ecstasy? There are always new threats to learn about and some older drugs are making a comeback. During an upcoming CADCA TV broadcast "Emerging Drug Trends," see what's going on now, and what's on the horizon from people in-the-know. The show airs Feb. 24 from 1-2 p.m. EST. It can be viewed on demand anytime beginning Feb. 24th.

A coalition in a Tampa, Fla. suburb will give their local police department a grant to help curb the sale of alcohol to minors. A $5,000 grant from the Hernando County Community Anti-Drug Coalition will allow the Brooksville Police Department to double the number of undercover operations it conducts to enforce compliance with state laws for purchasing alcohol. Thanks to this funding, the coalition will hire teens to conduct unannounced compliance checks with police officers. Officers will arrest employees at stores, bars and restaurants who are caught selling alcohol to minors.

With the advent of mobile devices and the internet, people don't send as many letters as they used to. During the holiday season, organizations might send out an appeal letter asking for a special donation. Children send letters to Santa Claus. This year, a Tennessee coalition and its police chief wrote letters to more than 100 retailers asking them to save lives.

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood launched a nationwide impaired driving crackdown Monday in Arlington, Va. to cover the Christmas and New Year's Eve holidays, when crashes and fatalities tend to increase. The crackdown will continue until Jan. 3.

While accounts of smuggling across the U.S.-Mexican border and organized cartels and street gangs may be no more than news headlines to some people, substance abuse and substance abuse-related violence remain a harsh reality for many communities along the southern border regions of the United States. To help provide community coalitions and health service providers with the tools they need to address these problems, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy will partner with CADCA and the Mexican government to provide two collaborative, cross-border trainings to this region.

Highly visible cooperative projects, in which colleges and their surrounding communities target off-campus drinking settings, can reduce alcohol use among college students, according to a report by researchers supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, part of the National Institutes of Health.