Pubdate: Mon, 04 Dec 2000
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 2000 Associated Press
Author: Scott Lindlaw, Associated Press Writer

DRUG BATTLE GROWS MORE REGIONAL

WASHINGTON (AP) - With cocaine use waning, authorities waged the war on 
drugs this year with strategies tailored to the regional battlegrounds: 
Marijuana in the Appalachian states, methamphetamine in the Rocky 
Mountains, cocaine in South Florida.

"There is no longer any one drug that consumes America as cocaine did in 
the 1980s," said Barry McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of 
National Drug Control Policy.

"We need to be ready to defend against emerging threats of a wide variety 
by region, as well as increasingly sophisticated changes in the operations 
of drug traffickers," he said.

McCaffrey's prepared remarks accompanied his annual report on drug threats 
and strategies, to be released Tuesday.

It outlines the government's war on drugs in 26 "High Intensity Drug 
Trafficking Areas," where drug manufacturing and sales flourish and where 
federal, state and local law enforcement agencies cooperate. HIDTA spent 
more than $191 million in fiscal year 2000, up from nearly $187 million the 
previous year.

McCaffrey reported that the cooperating agencies destroyed $787 million 
worth of marijuana in Kentucky last year, a value greater than the state's 
tobacco crop. Authorities eradicated another $700 million in Tennessee and 
West Virginia.

They also battled against "a general judicial sentiment within some of the 
state judicial circuits that trafficking marijuana was a less serious 
offense than trafficking other substances."

Marijuana is also the most prevalent illegal drug in the Atlanta area, but 
cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin are also widespread, the report said.

Heroin is the principal problem in central Florida, though the region is 
also favored by drug traffickers because of its air, land and sea 
transportation networks. Hawaii, Houston, Los Angeles New York and the Gulf 
Coast are other hot spots for drug smugglers.

The New England states are seeing "unprecedented" increases in 
heroin-related deaths and overdoses, according to the report.

The central California valleys are favorite locations for methamphetamine 
labs, which are proliferating at an "alarming" rate, the report warns. The 
region's two international airports, hundreds of private airstrips and 
interstate highways make it a clearinghouse for movement of all types of drugs.

Chicago, meanwhile, remains another "major distribution hub of narcotics 
and other controlled substances for the entire heartland of the United States."

Mexican, Colombian and Nigerian drug cartels distribute drugs throughout 
the city and the entire Midwest. Ecstasy and other "club drugs" are growing 
in popularity among suburban residents.

In the Northwest, heroin, marijuana and cocaine are growing threats, and 
methamphetamine labs are proliferating throughout the region, according to 
the report. Smuggling at the U.S.-Canadian border is on the rise.

While the use of crack and powder cocaine is declining nationwide, it 
remains the No. 1 problem in the Ohio region. Moreover, the report states, 
"marijuana is ubiquitous in Ohio."

McCaffrey, a retired Army general, will leave his post next month to teach 
national security at West Point and write books on drug policy and the Gulf 
War.
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