State grants help in drug fight

By Staff
Drug dealers are not welcome in Madison and Morgan counties. Gov. Bob Riley has awarded $133,000 to the city of Huntsville to help make that message clear.
The Madison-Morgan County Strategic Counterdrug Team is the beneficiary of a state grant to help with the fight against illegal drugs.
The team, which investigates and prosecutes cases involving the manufacture, sale, use and trafficking of narcotics such as marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine, will receive $133,000 from the state.
The task force combines the resources of eight law enforcement agencies in the area to conduct more effective drug investigations. The team’s 13 agents come from the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, the district attorney’s office, the police departments of Decatur, Madison and Huntsville, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
In the first six months of 2006, the team arrested hundreds of offenders for distribution and possession of illegal drugs and the unit seized more than $150,000 in currency, according to officials.