Pubdate: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 Source: Columbian, The (WA) Copyright: 2005 The Columbian Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.columbian.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/92 Author: Kathie Durbin , Columbian Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John) DRUG OFFICIAL DEFENDS RESPONSE TO METH CRISIS A top federal drug official defended the Bush administration Wednesday against a growing chorus of charges that the White House has failed to respond to the methamphetamine crisis facing communities nationwide. On a visit to Vancouver, John Horton, assistant deputy for state and local affairs for the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, said the administration has made significant progress in eliminating meth "superlabs" on U.S. soil and in reducing meth use among young people age 12 to 18. "President Bush has requested more money for drug treatment than any other president," said Horton, a former Multnomah County prosecutor who went to work for the administration in 2002. For next year, Horton said, the administration is seeking $2.7 billion for federal grants that state and local governments could use to fund law enforcement, treatment and prevention programs to combat meth or other illegal drugs. That total includes $1.7 billion for substance-abuse block grants and smaller amounts to support drug courts, interagency drug enforcement programs and interdiction at the Mexican border. However, a breakdown provided by Horton's office Wednesday identified only $20 million specifically earmarked for methamphetamine enforcement and cleanup. Last week, an Indiana congressman who chairs the committee that oversees drug policy called for the resignation of a top aide to White House drug czar John Walters after the aide briefed lawmakers on the administration's anti-meth efforts. Republican Rep. Mark Souder called the presentation "pathetic" and "an embarrassment." U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., who helped found the Congressional Meth Caucus, said federal drug officials seemed out of touch with the magnitude of the problems local police and social service agencies face as they try to combat meth on the front line. Horton spoke at the statewide conference of the Washington Association of County Officials, held at the Vancouver Convention Center. The subject of meth dominated Wednesday's agenda. Attorney General Rob McKenna, who has launched his own anti-meth task force, and U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., also addressed the topic, and three members of a family that has lived with meth addiction told their story. The issue also came up in a briefing by state legislators Wednesday. Sen. Mark Doumit, D-Cathlamet, said Wahkiakum County will lose 30 percent of the federal grant that funds its meth task force next year. And though the 2005 Legislature gave local governments new taxing authority to raise money for fighting meth, voters in Cowlitz County narrowly defeated a proposed special levy for that purpose in the primary election, Doumit said. "I don't think we can count on enhanced revenue" to fight meth, he said. Horton didn't disagree. He stressed that the federal government cannot foot the entire bill for fighting meth, especially as it faces new obligations to pay for restoration of the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He told county officials the administration is not interested in fighting a defensive war against meth. "We cannot arrest our way out of this problem," he said. Instead, he said, the federal government is mounting an offense by working to reduce demand for the potent stimulant, especially among young people, and by trying to reduce the supply of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, key ingredients in the manufacture of meth, exported to the United States and Mexico by major producers, including China, India, Germany and Czech Republic. Horton declined to say whether President Bush would back the sweeping Methamphetamine Epidemic Elimination Act introduced in the U.S. House last month with bipartisan support. "Congress should send the president a bill," he said. Baird, a co-founder of the caucus and a national leader in the meth fight, helped draft the legislation, which drew 32 co-sponsors. The act would limit the amount of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine a person could purchase at one time to 3.6 grams and boost enforcement of environmental laws against meth cooks who pollute the environment by requiring them to pay restitution for cleanup costs on their own property. On the international front, it would require importers of meth precursor chemicals to disclose to federal regulators detailed information about the chain of distribution of those chemicals, from the manufacturer to the chemicals' arrival at the U.S. border, and authorize law enforcement assistance to Mexico, the largest exporter of methamphetamine into the United States. Horton said that even without legislation, the administration has made some progress in persuading China to better track its export of meth precursor chemicals. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D