{"id":22326,"date":"2018-04-27T14:15:27","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T20:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=22326"},"modified":"2018-04-28T22:36:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-29T04:36:16","slug":"sessions-in-billings-visit-talks-about-drug-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2018\/04\/sessions-in-billings-visit-talks-about-drug-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Sessions, in Billings visit, talks about drug crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jeff\"<\/a>

This is not a photo of Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaking in Billings.<\/p><\/div>\n

I had intended to cover the speech today by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but inasmuch as I am typing this while he still speaks, according to the schedule, I guess you can tell I didn’t make it.<\/p>\n

Sessions was scheduled to speak on “the drug crisis in America” at the Rimrock Foundation, starting at 1:15, for an audience of law enforcement personnel, drug-treatment professionals and media representatives.<\/p>\n

So, why didn’t I go? It was a beautiful, blue-sky day in Billings for one thing. And if I had brought my camera, which I would have done, I would have had to be there an hour early, at 12:15, to submit my gear to “a K9 sweep,” according to an email from the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

For another, I’ve covered my share of government-bigwig dog-and-pony shows, and I find that few reportorial tasks are less agreeable. In this case, there were to be no questions from the press \u2014 just a canned speech and a photo op.<\/p>\n

I also figured the speech would be covered by the Billings Gazette, the Associated Press, KTVQ, KULR, Yellowstone Public Radio and, for all I knew, the Yellowstone County News and the Laurel Outlook. Were my services as an auxiliary stenographer really needed?<\/p>\n

I decided, no.<\/p>\n

What cemented my decision was my recollection that the DOJ had promised to send the complete text of Sessions’s remarks after the speech started. And sure enough, it did. So, I offer you the speech in full, unfiltered by the biased media, with just two notes of explanation inserted:<\/p>\n

The Sessions Speech<\/h4>\n

Thank you, Kurt (Alme, U.S. attorney for Montana<\/em>) for that kind introduction.\u00a0 Thank you for your seven years of service to the Department of Justice and for your leadership now as United States Attorney.

I want to thank Lenette (Kosovich, CEO of Rimrock<\/em>) for hosting us here today.\u00a0 And thank you for all of the work that you do to help people walk the difficult road to recovery.\u00a0 And thank you to the other compassionate treatment providers who are here.

It is an honor to be with you all.\u00a0 I am here today to discuss some of the actions that the Department of Justice has taken to help end our nation\u2019s drug crisis\u2014actions that I believe benefit us all.

But before I do that, I want to say thank you to everyone here who helps us fight the drug epidemic\u2014especially our fabulous law enforcement officers.

I want to thank Tim McDermott of the DEA, Acting U.S. Marshal Rod Ostermiller, Ian Blair with the Secret Service, Supervisory Probation Officers Marty Hylland and Brian Farren, Steven Osborne of the IRS, Greg Kosiarek with our Postal Inspectors, Michael Stewart of Customs and Border Protection, Montana Chief Deputy Attorney General Jon Bennion, and Colonel Tom Butler of the Montana Highway Patrol.\u00a0 Thank you for your service.

There can be no doubt that this is the deadliest drug crisis in American history.\u00a0 Approximately 64,000 Americans lost their lives to drug overdoses in 2016 \u2013 the highest drug death toll and the fastest increase in that death toll in American history.

That\u2019s nearly the population of Missoula\u2014dead\u00a0in one year<\/span><\/span>\u00a0from drug overdoses.

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>Preliminary data show another\u2014but what appears to be a smaller\u2014increase for 2017.\u00a0 Amazingly, for Americans under the age of 50, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death.

We recognize that the drug crisis is taking a toll on our Native American tribes.\u00a0 According to one report, Native Americans had the highest drug overdose death rates in 2015.\u00a0 I know that Kurt and his team have prosecuted a number of drug trafficking cases affecting Indian country here.\u00a0 I heard about Operation Glacier Melt, for example.\u00a0 The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office, FBI, IRS, BIA, and DEA formed Operation Glacier Melt, which was an OCDETF operation around the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.\u00a0 In that operation alone, you put 22 defendants in prison for drug trafficking and money laundering.

Here in the West, there is also the threat of methamphetamine.

In 2016, more than 7,500 Americans lost their lives to a methamphetamine overdose.\u00a0 And this number is a sharp increase as well.

Most of our DEA agents in the West tell us that methamphetamines are a bigger problem in their area than heroin is.

But both of these threats are growing.\u00a0 According to the Montana Department of Justice, methamphetamine violations in this state rose by more than 400 percent from 2010 to 2015.\u00a0 Meanwhile heroin violations increased 1,500 percent.

These are not just numbers.\u00a0 When we talk about drug abuse and addiction, we are talking about the lives of moms, dads, daughters, spouses, friends, and neighbors.\u00a0 We are talking about the lives of fellow Americans.

That includes Natalie Dietrich, a student at Montana State, who was given a synthetic opioid at a concert in Bozeman.\u00a0 She was an economics student.\u00a0 She had a promising life ahead of her, but now that is a future we will never see.

It includes Caden Fowler, from Hamilton, Montana, who was found dead at home of an opioid overdose at just 16 years old. \u00a0Caden\u2019s mom Brandi is an outspoken advocate who is working to prevent the spread of drug abuse, and I want to commend her for that.

And we also remember the story of Kenzley Olson, of Poplar, Montana.\u00a0 Kenzley was a 13-month old baby who was sick with the flu.\u00a0 She wouldn\u2019t stop crying.\u00a0 The woman who was watching her was high on methamphetamine and, in a fit of rage, beat her to death.

There are many stories like these\u2014stories that are heartbreaking.\u00a0But we are not going to accept the status quo.\u00a0 This is not business as usual.\u00a0Ending the drug crisis is a top priority for the Trump administration.\u00a0President Trump has a comprehensive plan to end this national public health emergency.

He wants to improve our prevention efforts by launching a national awareness campaign about the dangers of opioid abuse.\u00a0 He has set the ambitious goal of reducing opioid prescriptions in America by one-third\u00a0in three years<\/span><\/span>.

At the Department of Justice we embrace that goal.\u00a0 As a nation, we prescribe too many opioids.\u00a0 In 2015, for every 10 Montanans, there were nine opioid prescriptions.

Tomorrow<\/span><\/span>\u00a0the DEA will hold its semiannual National Drug Takeback Day.\u00a0 Last year\u2019s two events took more than 900 tons of potentially dangerous drugs off of our streets.\u00a0 And so I urge all Americans to participate in the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day\u00a0tomorrow<\/span><\/span>.

For example, early last year DEA, Homeland Security, and local law enforcement executed search warrants on the residence of an alleged drug trafficker in Great Falls, Montana.\u00a0 They seized numerous firearms, 15 pounds of methamphetamine, and nearly $250,000 in cash.\u00a0 Now that trafficker has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Back in August, DEA worked with state and local law enforcement to seize 17 pounds of methamphetamine that was on its way to Billings from the Southwest.

Just a week ago, DEA and Customs and Border Protection agents seized more than 85 pounds of suspected methamphetamine that was allegedly being trafficked by the Sinaloa Cartel.

But the number one killer drug in the United States as a whole is fentanyl.\u00a0 Synthetic opioids like fentanyl killed 20,000 Americans in 2016.

Most fentanyl doesn\u2019t come from here.\u00a0 The vast majority of it is made in China and then shipped here either through the mail or brought across our porous Southern border.

Fentanyl is 50 times more powerful than heroin.\u00a0 It\u2019s so strong that just a few grains\u2014the size of a pinch of salt\u2014can be fatal.

That\u2019s why this Department of Justice has had a special focus on fentanyl, tripling fentanyl prosecutions from 2016 to 2017.

In October, the Department announced the first-ever indictments of Chinese nationals for fentanyl trafficking in the United States.

And earlier today I announced the unsealing of two indictments charging 10 additional defendants, including four Chinese nationals and six defendants from the East Coast of the United States.\u00a0 In total, 32 defendants have been charged as part of this law enforcement operation.

The defendants allegedly sold fentanyl and fentanyl analogues in 11 states from coast to coast\u2014from Oregon to Ohio to Florida.

They and their co-conspirators allegedly shipped fentanyl and fentanyl analogues from China through the mail\u2014and it killed people in North Carolina, New Jersey, Oregon, and North Dakota.

While we have suffered the worst drug crisis in our history, we\u2019ve also seen violent crime on the rise.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a coincidence.

If you want to collect a drug debt, you collect it with the barrel of a gun. As surely as night follows day, violence and death follow drug trafficking.

From 1992 to 2014, crime declined in America. But from 2014 to 2016, however, the trends reversed.\u00a0 The violent crime rate went up by nearly seven percent.\u00a0 Robberies went up.\u00a0 Assaults went up nearly 10 percent.\u00a0 Rape went up by nearly 11 percent.\u00a0 Murder increased by more than 20 percent.

Here in Montana, the violent crime rate went up nearly 14 percent; rape increased nearly five percent; aggravated assault increased nearly 15 percent, and robbery increased by nearly 30 percent.

According to a Department of Justice study, nearly a quarter of the increase in homicides is the result of the increase in drug-related homicides.

That study\u2019s findings are reaffirmed by what Kurt tells me, that that methamphetamine trafficking is driving much of the crime here in Montana.

Some people will tell you that law enforcement doesn\u2019t make much of a difference. They think that crime is like the tides, going up and down and we just can\u2019t do anything about it.\u00a0

I utterly reject that view.

At the Department of Justice, we believe that through legal reforms, more sophisticated policing strategies, and investment in our officers, we can reduce crime in America.

The day I was sworn in as Attorney General, President Trump sent me an Executive Order that directs us to reduce crime in America\u2014not to preside over ever-increasing levels of crime.

The centerpiece of our crime reduction strategy is a tested and proven strategy called Project Safe Neighborhoods.

Here\u2019s how it works.\u00a0 First of all, I\u2019ve ordered Kurt and our other United States Attorneys to target and prioritize prosecutions on the most violent people in the most violent areas.\u00a0

Second, I\u2019ve ordered them to engage with a wide variety of stakeholders\u2014from police chiefs to mayors to community groups and victims\u2019 advocates\u2014in order to identify the needs specific to their communities and develop a customized violent crime reduction plan. This builds on another executive order from the President \u2013 Back the Blue.

PSN provides a framework that can be adapted to the situation on the ground in local communities across the country.

And, like I said, it has been proven to work.\u00a0 One study showed that, in its first seven years, PSN reduced violent crime overall by 4.1 percent, with case studies showing reductions in certain areas of up to 42 percent.\u00a0 There are Americans who are alive and well today because this program made a difference. We\u2019ve asked congress for $140 million for local grants to use for cooperative crime fighting initiatives.

I believe that it will work again\u2014including right here in Montana.\u00a0

When we invest in our law officers and work with local communities, we get results.

And so I want to close by reiterating my deep appreciation and profound thanks to all the women and men of law enforcement \u2013 federal, state, local, and tribal \u2013 as well as their families, for sacrificing so much and putting your lives on the line every day so that the rest of us may enjoy the safety and security you provide.\u00a0 You do make a difference.\u00a0 You make a difference every day.

The work that you do is essential.\u00a0 I believe it.\u00a0 The Department of Justice believes it.\u00a0 And President Trump believes it.

You can be certain about this: we have your back and you have our thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had intended to cover the speech today by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but inasmuch as I am typing this while he still speaks, according to the schedule, I guess you can tell I didn’t make it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[6937,6093,4308],"class_list":["post-22326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-drug-crisis","tag-jeff-sessions","tag-rimrock-foundation","prominence-category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22326"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22335,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22326\/revisions\/22335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}