Impact of Drug-Trafficking on Local Communities

Yesterday I participated in CADCA's webinar on the impact of drug-trafficking on local communities.

Federal law enforcement officials say that drug smugglers are turning to teens to smuggle marijuana and other narcotics across the border from Mexico and Canada through various United States ports of entry. For example, The Yuma (Ariz.) Sun reported that during a recent visit to an area high school, Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection officers informally polled about 800 students and found that 10 percent had been approached by smugglers to carry across drugs on foot from Mexico.

To respond to this issue and a host of other-related ones, 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.”

Presenters from DHS will help coalitions understand the role of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in community-based prevention efforts. The workshop will inform participants of the connection between drug trafficking and their community’s local substance abuse problems and will provide coalitions an opportunity to partner with the Department of Homeland Security to increase homeland security through the prevention of illegal drug use.

You will hear from experts from the DHS Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Coast Guard.

Among the experts are: Border Patrol liaison to the DHS Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement, Assistant Chief Vaughn Horne; Matthew J. Scarpino, National Program Manager-Narcotics and Contraband Smuggling Unit U.S. ICE, Homeland Security Investigation; and Briana Kreibich, Policy Analyst for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement.

You can visit their website here to view the recorded webinar or download the powerpoint presentation.