Gov. Kay Ivey has awarded $1.6 million for a statewide effort to battle illegal drugs and drug-related crimes.

A grant of $200,00 was given to each the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the state’s seven regional drug task forces, which are made up of personnel from law enforcement agencies in the region.

The money will be used to cover overtime and operational equipment expenses.

“Illegal drugs are menaces that destroy lives, ruin families and lead to rampant crime,” Ivey said in a news release. “I commend these law enforcement officers for working to get this scourge off our streets and make our communities and neighborhoods safer.”

In fiscal year 2021-2022, the Baldwin County Coroner’s Office recorded that 65 people died because of drugs and increased to 75 in 2022-2023.

In a previous Gulf Coast Media article, Coroner Brian Pierce said overdose is the main unnatural cause of death in the county, superseding vehicle accidents, homicides and other causes of death.

"Nearly all the additional deaths we see now above the 20s are going to be from fentanyl,” Pierce previously told GCM.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, from May 2022 to May 2023, 112,000 people died from overdosing in the United States.

In 2022, the Alabama Drug Enforcement Task Force, which was created in 2018, worked with federal and state law enforcement officers to make 656 drug-related arrests that involved 1,121 drug-related cases. Nearly 715,000 pounds of marijuana, 183,994 grams of methamphetamine, 46,000 grams of cocaine and 38,734 grams of heroin were sized. Over $946,954 was confiscated in currency-related drug crimes.

The grant, which is from the U.S. Department of Justice, will be administered by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA).

“ADECA joins with Gov. Ivey in lauding these task forces and officers who are committed to taking drugs off the streets,” ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell said. “And arresting those who dare to profit from the tragedies they create.”