Washington – Colorado drug officers and Sen. Ken Salazar oppose a Bush administration plan to restructure a national anti-drug program, including its Denver branch, and cut its budget.
White House drug czar John P. Walters has proposed moving the national High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, or HIDTA, out of his Office of National Drug Control Policy and into the Justice Department.
“The Department of Justice manages all sorts of enforcement programs, including drug enforcement programs,” said Walters spokeswoman Jennifer deVallance. “It makes sense from a management perspective.”
The administration also has proposed cutting the national HIDTA budget from $226 million to $208 million.
Narcotics officers – led by Tom Gorman, who runs the Denver-based Rocky Mountain HIDTA – are fighting the move and the budget cuts.
“Why would you take something that works and move it?” Gorman said. “We’ve had locals say that if Justice runs it, they’ll pull out.”
Nationally, there are 28 HIDTA programs, which work with local and state law enforcement agencies to coordinate anti-drug efforts in their regions. They identify illegal drug threats, fund anti-drug task forces, provide analysts and intelligence, and train local officers.
The Rocky Mountain HIDTA has a $9.2 million annual budget. It serves Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Montana from an office in the Denver Tech Center, where 18 people work.
Gorman and his fellow officers spent time visiting congressional offices on Capitol Hill this week and found they have plenty of congressional support.
“HIDTA should stay in the Office of National Drug Control Policy where it has always been, and where it time and time again has proven its value,” said Salazar, D-Colo.
But the taxpayer group Citizens Against Government Waste attacked the program last year as an example of wasteful spending.
Staff writer Mike Soraghan can be reached at 202-662-8730 or msoraghan@denverpost.com.
