Drug Awareness in Southwest Virginia
March 17, 2022
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Zoom Webinar
Drug Awareness in Southwest Virginia
This webinar will cover methamphetamine and why it is the “Alpha Drug” in our communities. Fentanyl and heroin will be covered and if time allows, dimethyltryptamine will also be presented as well. Discussions of how heroin was utilized to introduce fentanyl into our communities and the dangers it poses to the citizens of the Commonwealth. Finally, the best options to protect yourself from potential exposure to these dangerous substances will be offered.
Continuing Education Credits are not available for this webinar.
About Our Presenter
Chuck Parsons
Drug Unit Supervisor
Virginia State Police
Chuck Parsons graduated from Radford University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 1995 and graduated from the Virginia State Police Academy in 1996. He was a member of the Virginia State Police Tactical Team while serving in the position of Trooper. He was promoted to the position of Special Agent in 2003.
Chuck is now a drug unit supervisor for the Virginia State Police and has worked in law enforcement for twenty six years. He has been assigned to narcotics investigations for the last eighteen years and has been investigating meth labs for the entire length of that time.
He is Clandestine Lab Certified and a Site Safety Officer. He has been directly involved in the investigation, seizure, and processing of over 500 meth labs in the last eighteen years. He is the former head of the Clandestine Lab Response Program for the Virginia State Police and co-authored the policy manual for the Virginia State Police for handling clan lab incidents. Additionally, he assisted in the development of the meth lab Best Practices Protocols that was approved by the General Assembly in 2005, which details policies and procedures for police and law enforcement agencies throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.
He is also jointly responsible for the development and institution of the policies and procedures currently utilized by the Department of State Police for fentanyl response. He has presented Meth and Drug Awareness training programs to hundreds of first responders across the Commonwealth. In his previous position as a Special Agent, he coordinated a multi-agency drug taskforce responsible for narcotics related investigations covering two Counties and one independent City in Southwest Virginia. During this assignment, Chuck coordinated the operational planning of enforcement actions with various Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. He is a DCJS certified general instructor and regularly provides law enforcement training at local criminal justice academies and the Virginia State Police Academy. Chuck also provides expert testimony and consultation for prosecutors throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia for Methamphetamine and other drug related prosecutions.