Sullivan County has the highest per capita overdose death rate in New York, and because of that, is now going to get federal resources to crack down on trafficking and help residents obtain addiction treatment. 

Sen. Charles Schumer joined White House Director of National Drug Control Policy Dr. Rahul Gupta and other leaders Thursday on the steps of the Sullivan County Courthouse in Monticello to announce that the county is now designated as a high intensity drug trafficking area under a federal program called HIDTA. 

“Today is the day the tide turns in our war against drug overdoses and drugs in Sullivan County," said Sen. Schumer. 

The program gives the county federal resources, both funds and extra law enforcement, to stop the flow of opiates and narcotics into local communities, arrest traffickers and get people who need help into addition treatment. 

"You are seeing growing levels of drug crimes, especially drug trafficking along Route 17 and that’s why coordination of resources is important," said Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "We have to get this problem under control. This is where this designation becomes important.”

Sullivan county had 218 overdoses and 24 drug fatalities last year. Despite that statistic, up until now, it was the only Hudson Valley community that didn’t have the HIDTA designation.