New Communication Tools to Combat Heroin

For the first time, state attorneys general in the Northeast are banding together to fight what they describe as a rising heroin problem. They say the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Heroin Task Force will serve to create formal secure channels about drug-related issues. The attorneys general of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts have all signed on. Over 98% of major heroin trafficking cases that go through the New York Attorney General’s Office have involved heroin flowing between New York and the other neighboring states in the coalition.

“For too long, drug organizations have tried to outmaneuver law-enforcement agencies by crossing state lines,” says New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. “This task force will ensure that our borders do not become our boundaries … By joining together, we can prevent defendants from using state borders as a shield from law-enforcement and allow us to shut down the pipelines and cut off the heroin supply.”

Officials say more states are expected to join the coalition by the end of the year.