COUNTY GETS FUNDS BOOST TO FIGHT DRUG TRAFFICKING

The U.S. Office of Drug Control Policy has identified Clark County as one
of the nation's top spots for narcotics trafficking.

As a result, the county is the nation's latest region to receive funding as
a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA.

That means the five local law enforcement drug task forces investigating
trafficking in the county will get hundreds of thousands of dollars to
coordinate investigations.

In its first five years, the program funded only law enforcement efforts
along the Southwest border and in Los Angeles, New York City, Southern
Florida and Houston.

Since 1995, however, the HIDTA program's budget has expanded to $191
million, and now funds go to Iowa, Indiana and the Appalachian Mountains in
Kentucky and West Virginia.