SEATTLE– DEA Acting Administrator D. Christopher Evans today announced the release of the 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment, DEA’s annual publication outlining the threats posed to the United States by domestic and international drug trafficking and the abuse of illicit drugs.

“This year’s report shows the harsh reality of the drug threats facing communities across the United States,” said Acting Administrator Evans. “While the COVID-19 pandemic plagues this nation, so, too, do transnational criminal organizations and violent street gangs, adjusting to pandemic restrictions to flood our communities with dangerous drugs. DEA and our local, state, and federal partners continue to adapt to the ever changing landscape, remaining focused on the current threats and looking to the horizon for emerging threats. We will always defend the American people against illicit substances that ruin lives, devastate families, and destroy communities.”

DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino said, “The DEA Seattle Field Division, which includes the Pacific North West states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska is primarily focused on the opioid threat, more specifically the illicit manufactured fentanyl that many drug trafficking and transnational criminal organizations are smuggling into our communities and selling to our citizens with dire consequences.” 

Drugs trends in the United States continue to evolve. While fentanyl and fentanyl analogues from China have decreased substantially following the DEA’s 2018 emergency scheduling action of fentanyl related substances and China’s enactment of fentanyl-class controls in May 2019, the opioid threat remains at epidemic levels, affecting large portions of the country. Meanwhile, the stimulant threat, including methamphetamine and cocaine, is worsening both in volume and reach, with traffickers selling increasing amounts outside of traditional markets.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 83,000 people lost their lives to drug-related overdoses in the twelve-month period ending in July of 2020, a significant increase from 2019, when more than 70,000 people died of overdoses.       

2020 NDTA findings of note:

·Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) remain the greatest criminal drug threat in the United States.

·Illicit fentanyl is one of the primary drugs fueling the epidemic of overdose deaths in the United States, while heroin and prescription opioids remain significant challenges to public health and law enforcement.

·Mexican cartels are increasingly responsible for producing and supplying fentanyl to the U.S. market. China remains a key source of supply for the precursor chemicals that Mexican cartels use to produce the large amounts of fentanyl they are smuggling into the United States.  

·Drug-poisoning deaths and seizures involving methamphetamine have risen sharply as Mexican TCOs increase the drug’s availability and expand the domestic market.

·Constraints associated with the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic – daily travel restrictions, U.S. border closings, closure of nonessential businesses, and broad shelter-in-place orders – temporarily posed new challenges to criminal organizations’ movement of drugs during the first half of 2020. 

The Pacific Northwest of the United States is under siege by the Mexican based Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) cartel who is flooding the region with clandestine produced synthetic opioids in the form of prescriptions pills.  This transnational criminal organization (TCO) is taking advantage of the readily available and extremely dangerous, in fact lethal, synesthetic opioid; Fentanyl. These transnational criminal organizations, specifically CJNG are mixing illegally and clandestinely made fentanyl into most illicit narcotics, to include cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and pills, resulting in a significant increase in non-fatal and fatal overdose deaths.  

The National Drug Threat Assessment provides a yearly assessment of the challenges communities face related to drug abuse and drug trafficking. Highlights in the report include usage and trafficking trends for drugs such as prescription drugs, heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and hundreds of synthetic drugs. New to this year’s report is the effect of COVID-19 during the first part of 2020.

The assessment gathers information from many data sources such as drug investigations and seizures, drug purity, laboratory analysis, information on transnational and domestic criminal groups, and U.S. government drug cultivation and production estimates.

The National Drug Threat Assessment is available at www.dea.gov/documents/2021/03/02/2020-national-drug-threat-assessment.

SEATTLE – With opioid overdose deaths increasing during the pandemic, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced its 20th Take Back Day scheduled for s://3">April 24, 2021.  At its last Take Back Day in October, DEA collected a record-high amount of expired, unused prescription medications, with the public turning in close to 500 tons of unwanted drugs. Over the 10-year span of Take Back Day, DEA has brought in more than 6,800 tons of prescription drugs. With studies indicating a majority of abused prescription drugs come from family and friends, including from home medicine cabinets, clearing out unused medicine is essential.

“The DEA Take Back is a safe, convenient, and responsible program to dispose of prescription drugs and keeping your family and our communities safe,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino.  “This initiative is more vital now than ever before due to the alarming spike in overdose deaths throughout our nation.  I hope to see record breaking participation this April, which will contribute to the safety of all our citizens and the communities.”

Last October, residents of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington turned in an all-time record for the Pacific Northwest of 40,517 pounds at 150 collection sites. In addition, Alaska and Idaho had all-time record collections.  Collection numbers by state are as follows:

Alaska, 4,598 pounds at 16 collection sites.

Idaho, 10,526 pounds at 42 collection sites.

Oregon, 11,551 pounds at 45 collection sites.

Washington, 13,842 pounds at 56 collection sites.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. has seen an increase in overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 83,544 Americans overdosing during the 12-month period ending July 1, 2020, the most ever recorded in a 12-month period. The increase in drug overdose deaths appeared to begin prior to the COVID-19 health emergency, but accelerated significantly during the first months of the pandemic.

The public can drop off potentially dangerous prescription medications at collection sites which will adhere to local COVID-19 guidelines and regulations in order to maintain the safety of all participants and local law enforcement.

DEA and its partners will collect tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription drugs. Liquids (including intravenous solutions), syringes and other sharps, and illegal drugs will not be accepted. DEA will continue to accept vaping devices and cartridges at its drop off locations provided lithium batteries are removed.

Helping people dispose of potentially harmful prescription drugs is just one way DEA is working to reduce addiction and stem overdose deaths. 

Learn more about the event at www.deatakeback.com, or by calling 800-882-9539.

News from the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, February 2021:

Upper Columbia Tribes gather experts to strategize about accelerating the attack on Northern Pike

Emerging trends for the Northwest power system: Reducing carbon will transform it

Report: Mid-Columbia PUDs are meeting salmon and steelhead mitigation requirements for dam impacts

Umatilla Tribes’ project improves habitat and river conditions for fish in the Upper Grande Ronde River

Clarkston, WA--Molly Williams, a graduating senior at Clarkston High School, has been named a Career and Technical Education candidate as part of the 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. The Career and Technical Education candidates were nominated by their Chief State School Officers based on their accomplishments in career and technical education fields.

The U.S. Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964 by Executive Order of the President to recognize some of our nation’s most distinguished graduating seniors for their accomplishments in many areas: academic success, leadership, and service to school and community. It was expanded in 1979 to recognize students demonstrating exceptional scholarship and talent in the visual, creative, and performing arts. In 2015, the program was expanded once again to recognize students who demonstrate ability and accomplishment in career and technical fields. Annually, up to 161 U.S. Presidential Scholars are chosen from among that year’s senior class, representing excellence in education and the promise of greatness in America’s youth. If circumstances permit, all Scholars are invited to Washington, DC in June for the National Recognition Program, featuring various events and enrichment activities and culminating in the presentation of the Presidential Scholars Medallion during a White House-sponsored ceremony.

The Commission on Presidential Scholars, a group of up to 32 eminent citizens appointed by the President, will select the finalists, and the U.S. Department of Education will announce the 161 Scholars in May. Of these, up to 20 will be selected as U.S. Presidential Scholars in Career and Technical Education.

If circumstances permit, scholars will be invited to Washington, DC, for several days in June to receive the Presidential Scholars Medallion at a recognition ceremony and to participate in events and activities.

For more information about the U.S. Presidential Scholars program, parents and students can call the Presidential Scholars Office at 507.931.8345, or send an e-mail to PSP@scholarshipamerica.org.

###