West Virginia lies in the middle of the drug trafficking routes of I-64, I-79, and I-77 between Louisville, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh, and any point south including Mexico. Cartels are passing through the state to reach the lucrative markets on the East Coast that place a premium on heroin, cocaine, and marijuana. Additionally, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has identified Mason, Logan, Lincoln, Boone, Cabell, Kanawha, McDowell, Mercer, Wayne, Putnam, and Mingo counties as being high-intensity drug trafficking areas (HIDTA), stemming from the Appalachian drug abuse problem.
DEA agents are addressing these issues on each front, from collaborations such as the West Virginia DEA HIDTA Task Force to prescription drug take-back programs organized in concert with local police departments and health officials. Prescription drug painkillers like Oxycodone are responsible for putting more West Virginia residents in drug treatment centers than all other drugs in combined.
How to Become a Part of the West Virginia DEA
West Virginia DEA jobs and careers require prospective agents to be highly skilled and intelligent. The requirements to join the ranks of the West Virginia DEA include either education in the following areas or previous experience in law enforcement related to drug enforcement:
- Law degree, LL.B. or J.D., Bachelor or Master’s degree with 2.95 GPA
OR
- Bachelor’s degree at minimum with no GPA requirement, plus experience in
- IT
- Engineering
- Accounting
- Law
- Foreign languages
- Spanish
- Balkan Languages
- Russian
- French
- Nigerian dialects
Those who make it through the rigorous application and screening process and are chosen for hire by the DEA will receive training in:
- Firearms, including shoulder-fired weapons and marksmanship
- Surveillance techniques
- Running undercover operations
- Physical stamina development and tactical defense maneuvers
- Vehicle stops and arrests
- Legal training
There are three field offices located in West Virginia where prospective agents can get their questions answered in person if DEA jobs in Virginia seem like an attractive career path. They are located in:
- Charleston
- Wheeling
- Clarksburg
West Virginia DEA in the News
- In a recent Charleston raid the DEA, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (MDENT), made a drug bust that seized a Cessna airplane, $750,000 in cash, 2,500 pounds of marijuana, and eight kilograms of cocaine.
- 24 suspects were arrested and charged in a multi-state DEA operation for involvement in an Oxycodone, heroin, and cocaine drug trafficking ring based out of Wheeling. The suspects may have to pay judgments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the DEA seized numerous vehicles including a Hummer H2.
- Residents of Chester and Newell may have noticed a recent drop in illegal drug activity thanks to a raid in which the DEA and other agencies nabbed 39 suspects in a major raid targeting distributors of methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin.
- In Huntington the DEA, working alongside the Huntington Police Department, busted a decade-old drug trafficking ring responsible for bringing crack cocaine, cocaine, and heroin from Detroit to the Huntington area for distribution. The bust also resulted in the seizure of several firearms.