A DOUBLE-BARRELED ATTACK ON DRUGS

Years of trying to add Porter County to the Lake County High Intensity
Drug Trafficking Area finally succeeded in getting federal approval
for the newly expanded effort.

The federal government on Monday included Porter County among eight
areas around the nation added to the HIDTA program. That allows
federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in both counties to
work together to fight drug trafficking and its consequences.

It's a logical move.

The same attributes that make Northwest Indiana a great place for the
transportation, distribution and logistics industry make it an
important part of the illegal drug trade between Mexico and the
Chicago area as well as Detroit and beyond.

"Drug dealers and drug traffickers don't care about city boundaries or
county boundaries or state boundaries," said Gil Kerlikowske, director
of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, in an
interview with Times reporter Jeff Burton.

As with Lake County, Porter County has grappled with a serious drug
problem for years.

A 2005 report from Roosevelt University in Chicago ranked Porter
County among the top 10 in the nation for heroin-related deaths and
third in the nation for heroin-related emergency room visits by 18- to
25-year-olds.

And that's just one of many illegal drugs.

Porter County has taken steps on its own to address the drug problem,
doing things like creating a drug court and beefing up the Porter
County Drug Task Force.

Teaming up with Lake County on the HIDTA team makes sense. The drug
problem has already linked Porter and Lake counties. Drug users in
Porter County often make their purchases in Lake County. And Lake
County dealers and gangs are moving into Porter County as well.

The extra muscle Porter County can bring to the combined effort holds
promising in making additional progress in the war on drugs.