Randolph County has been added to a regional effort to fight drug trafficking.
Randolph is the 24th West Virginia county to be designated as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
The designation brings the county into a partnership of federal, state and local officials to curb drug trafficking, drug overdoses and drug use.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, federal drug czar Dr. Rahul Gupta and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia William Ihlenfeld announced the designation in Elkins on Wednesday.
Ihlenfeld is chairman of the board of the Baltimore-Washington High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and was previously chairman of the Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
Gupta was West Virginia’s Chief Health Officer before joining the White House as the first doctor to lead the Office of National Drug Control Policy.