State officials say a series of recent successes in Vermont’s ongoing fight against illegal drugs could be jeopardized by proposed cuts in federal funding.
Officials displayed at state police headquarters yesterday $176,000 worth of illegal drugs as well as firearms and ammunition that was seized in operations in Washington and Addison counties.
And the officials said that on Wednesday, 11 suspected street level drug dealers were arrested as part of a national drug sweep called “Operation Byrne Blitz, 2008.” Two others suspects remain at large from that operation.
Attorney General William Sorrell says such successes could be jeopardized by a 60 percent cut in federal funding for police drug programs, known as Byrne Grants, which pay for much of Vermont’s anti-drug efforts.