The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is making progress in the war against illegal drugs, a DEA agent told the members of the Whitehall Township Crime Watch.

DEA Agent and Public Information Officer John Hamrick spoke to the crime watch at its July 29 meeting.

Prior to the talk, Hamrick showed a short video tracing the history of the DEA back to 1973 when former President Richard Nixon created the organization. The DEA was intended to create a single source whereby individuals using and distributing illegal drugs are prosecuted and their illegal assets lawfully seized.

If children and young adults stay drug free until the age of 21, there is a high probability they will never use illegal substances, said Hamrick, who works out of Philadelphia and previously worked in California, Africa and France.

"Just the fact it's illegal, 50 percent of the kids don't do drugs," Hamrick said. "I think that's a really good message. I think it's sending a message, a strong message."

Hamrick said assets seized during a drug raid and search are placed into an asset forfeiture fund. Multiple agencies can pull from the funds to pay for law enforcement projects and essentials. When a local agency assists the DEA with a drug seizure, that agency receives monetary compensation for its efforts from the fund, he said.

According to Hamrick, a huge issue for the DEA at the moment is the illegal distribution and usage of pharmaceutical drugs.

"That seems to be the biggest threat right now," Hamrick said. "Teenagers think because it's prescribed by a doctor it's OK,."

He also cautioned community members to refrain from ordering and using pharmaceutical drugs through the Internet.

Hamrick did not provide a definitive answer whether legalized drug use would decrease crime in the states.

"This is a discussion going on all over our country," Hamrick said. "That is a discussion for our administration."

He referred those in attendance to a position paper concerning the legalization of marijuana found on the DEA website at http://www.justice.gov/dea/index.shtml.

DEA agent Michael Caffrey who works out of the Allentown office, spoke at the end of the meeting, emphasizing the proliferation of drugs in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding area.

"This is a busy little city," Caffrey said of Allentown. "And Reading is very busy."