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SALEM, Ore. – Running through California, Oregon, and Washington; Interstate 5 links Mexico to Canada, making it an almost unrivaled route for drug tariffing – not only on the west coast but to other states linked across the country. Caught in the crosshairs, Oregon – notoriously, finds itself as one of the principal states for the production and supply of Marijuana, and a distribution axis point of methamphetamines, cocaine, heroin, and prescription drugs.
To help battle against the threats of illicit drugs and the damage associated to the well-being of the community and the economic impact on the state – the National Guard helps “bridge the gaps” between the Department of Defense and federal, state, and local agencies across a full range of counterdrug operations.
“The National Guard Counterdrug Program (CDP), that started in the late 80’s, as part of the original “War on drugs”…the job was so overwhelming that they needed to incorporate the National Guard in with law enforcement, to help them with interdiction and the education pieces of the drug war,” said Oregon Air National Guard Col. James Mitchell, counterdrug coordinator for Oregon since 2016. “The program can only work ‘by, with or through,’ so there has to be a law enforcement coalition that counterdrug can partner with.”
In Oregon, nearly 25 National Guard Analysts combine their military skill-sets and civilian experience to help support the CDP. This provides direct support to law enforcement agencies, as well as community organizations – in turn, helping disrupt and deter drug production and the drug trafficking in the state and other regions.
This partnership resembles a ‘Joint Task Force’ approach, where various agencies work in concert together, benefiting from each area of expertise and distinct agency contribution. Created by Congress in 1988, HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) coordinates and assists Federal, State, Local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies to address regional drug threats with the purpose of reducing drug trafficking and drug production in the United States.
“A HIDTA team has to have collaboration of at least a city, a county, a state, and a federal law enforcement agency, so at least four agencies create a HIDTA Team,” Mitchell explained. “Most of our teams have many more than that, as you may have multiple cities in that county, and they accumulate pretty quickly – so some of these teams have upwards to a dozen agency partners, and currently in Oregon there are roughly 14 designated HIDTA task forces counties.”
For the past 17 years, Chris Gibson has been the director of the HIDTA for the Oregon-Idaho region. In assessing the impact made by members of the National Guard, he said that they are critical to the mission as a whole.
“The analysts are a force multiplier. Each of the task forces that have the luxury having an analyst that’s placed into the counter drug program makes them more effective and efficient in what they do.”
On the tactical side the work includes computer checks, backgrounds on suspects, ties to other cases and then helping wrap up the entire package of data for prosecutions.
“When it comes to the strategic side, the information they have in their files and that they can quickly recall is critical – being able to say that something that’s happening in southern Oregon is the same or different in Eastern Oregon plays a vital role in the overall mission,” he said. “They increase the amount of time that three to four investigators have to get back in the field by over 50 percent.”
Having seen the rise in fentanyl and methamphetamines over the past several years, Gibson said that the Counterdrug program has only seen improvement during the same period.
“There was a time when the Counterdrug program wasn’t as involved and the case work quality wasn’t as high as it is right now. We're in the best place I’ve ever seen the program.”
Integrating all forms of communication and technology is important. Remarking that the “success of conviction from prosecutions is extremely high,” Gibson stated, and that keeping abreast of the data and intelligence, “tells us how these cartels are communicating – technology is key to that, especially when we’re talking about fentanyl and xylazine that are being added to pills, getting those substance identified is a huge help.”
Fentanyl is an extremely powerful opiate painkiller. It affects the brain’s opioid receptors, changing the way your body experiences pain. Taken over long periods, it can be highly addictive. It’s estimated that $800 of chemicals can produce $800,000 worth of product when trafficked.
During a recent multi-agency drug mission in Portland, Oregon on August 9 and 10, 2023, officers and agents from local, state and federal organizations, including members of the National Guard’s counterdrug program, targeted organized fentanyl dealing in the city’s downtown core. In just two nights, over 14,000 counterfeit oxycodone pills and nearly 1.8 pounds of powder containing fentanyl were seized as evidence.
Additionally, two illegally possessed firearms and a stolen vehicle were recovered. In total, nine adults and four juveniles were arrested for drug dealing charges or weapons charges.
“This is not possible without the strong partnerships and collaboration between Central Precinct and our local, state and federal partners," said Captain Christopher Lindsey of the Portland Police Department’s central precinct. “I would like to thank everyone who came to assist us with combating fentanyl dealing in Downtown Portland.”
These types of operations, from the sharing of Intel to combining resources, are vital to the health of the community, Gibson said. “Every unit of drug seized has the potential for a saved life somewhere.”
In pointing to a recent CDC report over a 12-month period (Feb. of 2022 to Feb. of 2023), he noted that, “across the country, we’ve lost 109,000 people to fentanyl, and it's why we’re working so much with public health and safety, looking for trends and treatment options.”
But there is not an easy fix or instant solutions, especially with the highly addictive rise in fentanyl and methamphetamines across the country.
“For one, we are never going to arrest our way out of the problem, two – we’re never going to treat our way out of the problem, and three – we’re never going to prevent our way out of the problem, he said. “Yet by bringing all those resources together, we can come up with something that works.”
These sentiments are also shared by Drew Hubel, a detective with the Pendleton Police Department working on the Enforcement Narcotics Team. He’s seen the rise in the past two years of fentanyl trafficking and the impacts in the community.
“Some people say it’s an unwinnable work but for me, it’s some of the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done,” he said, explaining his perspective for long term solutions. “For me, at the end of the day, we are making our communities safer. This includes helping people re-engage in their lives, finding treatment programs as they try and find a purpose again.”
He credits the teamwork and support that comes with working with National Guard members and their level of expertise, especially as larger drug supplies continue to push east across the country.
“As these larger shipments move to other states, that’s where these cartels start to make real money," Hubel said. “It is phenomenal working with National Guard analysts, they are an irreplaceable part of our team. In our line of work, there’s a lot of balls in the air at the same time. Having a good analyst goes beyond file management and paperwork, anytime we’ve had analytical work done to build case investigations, it just lifts the pressure off the detectives for certain tasks that are detailed and time consuming."
While fentanyl, heroin and cocaine stem from drug cartels production facilities in Mexico, marijuana production in Oregon creates its own problem. In late November of 2021, officers with the Oregon State Police (OSP) seized roughly 500,000 pounds of processed marijuana in during a large-scale bust in southern Oregon, which was one of the largest raids on illegal marijuana farms in U.S. history. OSP Troopers also detained more than 100 people who were involved with the production process.
“A large percentage of our drug enforcement work at OSP takes place in southwest Oregon because of the nexus of Interstate 5 and Highway 97,” Lt. Brandon Boice of the Oregon State Police. “This is because producing and harvesting prime Marijuana is sought after all over the country. There is no better marijuana grown in the country than what’s produced in southern Oregon and northern California.”
The ‘Big Three’ uses of marijuana are produced for medical, recreational and hemp. Since October 1, 2015, marijuana became legal to recreational users when purchased at dispensaries. July and August are the biggest months for harvest and the busiest for combating illegal growing operations.
Illegal cannabis growth has climbed sharply since 2014, especially in southern Oregon counties of Jackson, Josephine, Klamath and Deschutes counties. The vast majority are on private land and during a recent bust in late July in Jackson County, three sites were all owned by one man from California, who bought the properties for illegal growing operations. Oregon State Police, the Southwest Region Drug Enforcement Team and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, and other agencies worked together, destroying over 7,500 marijuana plants.
Having served over 23 years with OSP, Boice said that the support from the Oregon Counterdrug program has made a tremendous impact on these and many other illegal marijuana growing operations.
“It is seamless because you have so many people within law enforcement that have served and are veterans,” he said. “We might have some different ‘jargon,’ but for the most part what’s critical is our communication and the relationships between all our law enforcement partners.”
For the past five years, Oregon Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Daniel Radford has been a counterdrug analyst working in southern Oregon and has been working with multiple law enforcement partners – combating the rise in illegal marijuana harvesting and trafficking.
“Marijuana is the ‘gasoline that fuels the cars’ of the cartels, Radford said. “It is still highly profitable to the cartels, even when we make large scale bust because it’s grown in numerous areas around southern Oregon.”
In his military profession Radford is a “35 Fox,” Intelligence Analyst, working in intelligence collection, analysis and record keeping, which correlates well with his work in counterdrug.
“You don’t have to have an Intel background to be a good counterdrug analyst, but you do have to have to be detail oriented and be a good teammate with the right personality.”
During his time in counterdrug, he’s become familiar with code enforcement county-by-county, property rights and environmental principles.
“In Josephine County, we can take down the ‘Hoop houses’ and plants, but in Jackson County we can only destroy the plants,” Radford said.
“There is a lot of job satisfaction because I see first-hand the results and I feel like an important part of the law enforcement team.”
Radford said that illegal marijuana growing operations also present environmental destruction issues that often go unnoticed by the public outside of southern Oregon.
“There are chemicals used to grow plants that are not legal in the U.S. and they get in the groundwater and streams,” he said, describing the ecological issues of illegal marijuana operations. “These large scale grow operations use a substantial amount of water which is a big issue in this region of water rights. We also see issues with exposed power lines that are a threat to wildfires.”
In many ways, National Guard counterdrug analysts leverage their unique military capabilities, playing a central role in shaping the nation's response to dangers associated with natural resources and transnational security threats.
“When you look at public safety, at least two-thirds of the crimes, statistically that happen in a given area, are drug related,” Mitchell said, describing the systemic magnitude of illegal drugs. “So you look at this objectively and ask, “Well how do I mitigate that?”…Instead of addressing the crimes themselves – the violent crime, the property crime, the theft, if you address the drug element, it would realistically diminish the subsequent crimes.”
When it comes to selecting and hiring new counterdrug analysts, Col. Mitchell said that stability is a key concern to help build these long term relationships with law enforcement agencies and other key governmental partners.
“This is a very high skill set that has to be developed over time as some cases are built over years at a time,” he said. “Then there are trust factors that show that we have the right type of personalities that can collaborate with our partners.”
As Mitchell prepares to retire from the military later this year, he will hand over the program to Oregon Army National Guard Lt. Col. Travis Lee. He reflected on the growth of the counterdrug program over the past seven years.
“We’ve incrementally grown from about six people when I first started to twenty-five people, placing an emphasis on stability and really invest in the people we hire, and in the process, become so much more of a professional program, because we’ve been armed with both the military and civilian training to make them better analyst.”
“This collaboration has become a real art-form,” Mitchell said. “With finding the right people, we’ve been able to make a big impact with our law enforcement partners in counterdrug operations.”
| Date Taken: | 09.21.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 09.21.2023 18:47 |
| Story ID: | 454014 |
| Location: | SALEM, OREGON, US |
| Web Views: | 762 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Oregon National Guard Counterdrug program helps combat illicit drug trade, by John Hughel, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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