Feds launch strategy in deadly drug flight
Dayton selected for ‘360 Strategy’ in DEA opioid crisis battle.
Dayton is about to get some federal help at a time when fatal overdoses have skyrocketed locally and the city is regularly singled out by national news media as an epicenter of the opiate and heroin crisis.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has selected Dayton to be one of a handful of cities to participate in an initiative called the “360 Degree Strategy.”
The three-pronged strategy seeks to combat drug traffick
ing, violence and opiate abuse and addiction through enforcement, diversion actions and community outreach.
“The national strategy emphasizes prevention, treatment/recovery and law enforcement officials working together to combat the problem from all sides,” said Timothy Plancon, special agent in charge of the DEA Detroit Field Division.
The 360 Degree Strategy has been implemented in a small number of other cities, including Pittsburgh, Pa., Milwaukee, Wis., Louisville, Ky., and St. Louis, Mo., with a few others expected to take part soon. More people have died of drug
overdoses in Montgomery County this year than all of 2016, which in itself was a record year with 349 deaths.
Through last Friday, the county had 437 overdose deaths in 2017.
The 360 strategy used by the DEA has included law-enforcement actions specifi- cally targeting drug traffick-
ing organizations that supply opiates.
Law enforcement also arrange meetings and conversations with drug makers, wholesalers, physicians and pharmacists about the drug problem and the importance of the responsible prescrib- ing of opiate medications, officials said.
The initiative also seeks to strengthen educational programming and community awareness of the dangers of opiate use and help connect drug users to needed services.
The program will involve multiple agencies, including the Dayton Police Department, the Montgo mery County Sheriff ’s Office and the Montgomery County Drug Free Coalition.
The 360 strategy will bring together substance abuse and prevention experts to focus resources and programs on educating the youth and peo-
ple who are influential on them, like parents and teachers, about the harms of drug use, the DEA said.
Nearly 80 percent of heroin addicts start with prescription medicine, which are now among the most commonly abused drugs by 12- and 13-year-old people, according to the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids.
“The problem is real and it is serious,” the partnership said in a statement.
Additional details will be released today in a press conference involving the DEA and local agencies.