Leahy Secures $1.75 M.
To Continue And Expand
Vermont’s Anti-Heroin Initiative

. . . President Signs Bill Including Vermont Drug Task Force Funds

(WEDNESDAY, Dec. 8) – President Bush Wednesday signed a federal budget package into law that includes $1.75 million Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has secured for the Vermont Drug Task Force, the state’s only statewide anti-drug trafficking initiative.  Leahy, a senior member of the Senate panel that writes the federal appropriations bills, authored the Vermont Drug Task Force funding provision.

The new funds will help the Task Force maintain its five state troopers and one drug chemist at the Vermont Forensic Laboratory.  The Task Force also hopes to increase the scope of the program by funding undercover state troopers and undercover municipal officers in its battle against illegal drug use and trafficking. 

With funds secured by Leahy, the Vermont Drug Task Force began operation in 2003 to implement a three-pronged approach to fighting Vermont’s heroin and drug abuse problem:  stronger law enforcement, effective and available drug treatment, and drug prevention efforts.  Including 2005 funding for the Task Force, Leahy has secured more than $4 million for the Vermont Drug Task Force since its inception.

“It takes a highly organized effort to counter the increasingly organized efforts of drug dealers, and the Vermont Drug Task Force has brought new energy and a sharper focus to our battle against heroin,” said Leahy.  

Leahy is the Democratic leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the nation’s law enforcement and criminal justice programs, and he also is a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which funds them.

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