6 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: JULY 2017 H ere’s the prob- lem with the biggest pub- lic health cri- sis since the AIDS epidemic – the opioid crisis that’s killing more Americans than any single other cause. The fact is that it’s a new kind of crisis that requires new kinds of thinking and new approaches. And that’s not exactly the DEA’s strong suit. This is an agency that actually says that there’s no differ- ence between cannabis and Oxycontin from a public health or law enforcement perspective. Frustrated with what they say is a rather alarming lack of action on the opioid epidemic, Senate Commit- tee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson (R- WI) and ranking member Claire McCaskill (D-MO), have done what politicians do when they want to look like something’s happening. They sent a letter. Johnson and McCaskill wrote to DEA Acting Ad- ministrator Charles Rosen- berg requesting information regarding “anti-diversion investigations” conducted by the agency since 2011 in the wake of the opioid crisis. One of the things the DEA is supposed to do is to prevent and investigate the diversion of controlled pharmaceuticals from both government and private facilities. In other words part of the DEA’s job is to find out how pills get from the manufactur- ers to the street. Here’s some excerpts from the letter: “In 2015, when the com- mittee examined allegations of opioid abuse at a VA facility in Tomah, Wisconsin, we learned that the DEA had been investi- gating allegations of diversion relating to the facility since at least 2009. Two years after news broke of the tragedies — and eight years since the DEA began its investigation — we are unaware of any administrative or criminal charges stemming from the tragedies at the Tomah VA facility,” the lawmakers wrote. “According to news reports the DEA has also been slow to target private pharmaceutical distributors. When DEA agents ‘began to target wholesale com- panies that distributed hundreds of millions of highly addictive pills to the corrupt pharmacies and pill mills that illegally sold the drugs for street use,’ DEA officials at headquarters ‘began delaying and blocking enforce- ment actions.’ “According to a report from Homeland Security Today, the lawmakers wrote that “begin- ning in 2013, DEA attorneys ‘started requiring a higher standard of proof’ before civil cases could move forward. According to former officials, DEA leadership changed the burden of proof that investi- gators needed to meet before proceeding with administrative cases from a ‘preponderance of evidence’ to ‘beyond a reason- able doubt.’ Is this assertion accurate? If so, please explain the reasoning behind this change and provide supporting mate- rial.” The deadline to submit the info from the DEA was two months ago. It’s unclear if it was ever provided. In Ohio, the Stark County coroner in Canton had a “cold storage mass casualty trailer” brought in to handle the volume of dead bodies due to ODs and other causes. “We’re up 20 percent this year,” he said. “Our suicide rate is also up. The new thing this month is mixing meth with carfentanil. It’s an animal tranquilizer 100 times more powerful than fentanyl,” he said. “It’s used on big animals like elephants and tigers. It’s crazy.” Stuck in the past Senators want to know why the DEA isn’t concerned about the opioid crisis As predicted, many of the religious passages, slogans and even stickers of the logo of the comic book vigilante “The Punisher” that have been plastered all over official govern- ment vehicles (otherwise known as police cars) are in many cases being removed after lawsuits, complaints and all kinds of questions about compliance with the U.S. Constitution. See page 26 for more details. Badges Insignia Medals Awards Collar Insignia Nameplates Challenge Coins Pins Accessories Contact@SmithWarren.com Ph: 914.948.4619 Fax: 914.948.1627 Design your badge online /smithandwarren @SmithnWarren To learn more, visit your local Smith & Warren dealer or visit www.SmithWarren.com Breast Cancer Awareness Badges 10% OF PROCEEDS FROM EVERY PINK BADGE SOLD IS DONATED TO GO PINK!