METH USE IS RISING

WASHINGTON - Federal officials believe methamphetamine production is
still growing as an epidemic, especially in rural areas where law
enforcers are outgunned by illegal narcotic makers, congressional
lawmakers were told Friday.

"The combination of demand, ease of production and a rural setting has
led to the explosion of small toxic labs ...," Rogelio Guevara, chief
of operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, told a House
Government Reform subcommittee.

"Meth," a synthetic, highly addictive stimulant that can be smoked,
snorted, injected or taken orally, is relatively easy to produce using
cold medications and other readily available ingredients.

In Hawaii, meth most commonly appears as "ice," a crystallized form
that is almost 90 percent pure.

"The scourge of ice is an absolute top priority in Hawaii's immediate
drug - elimination efforts," Rep. Ed Case, D - Hawaii, told the
subcommittee.

"Ice" - related deaths have almost doubled in two years, Case noted.
The drug can be directly linked to 44 percent of the state's homicides
and 90 percent of the child abuse cases, he said.

"The saddest and most alarming statistics are from the year 2000, when
6 percent of 12th graders, 5 percent of 10th graders, 2 percent of
eighth graders and 1 percent of sixth graders reported that they have
tried a form of methamphetamine at least once," Case said.

Case said additional federal resources and support were needed to
tackle the use and production of ice.

He called for the FBI and DEA to station a permanent agent on each
island that currently does not have a federal presence to focus
federal efforts and help coordinate with county police.

"General coordination efforts, which are indispensable, are severely
underfunded," Case said.

Nationwide, DEA meth cases have almost tripled from 1,171 in 1995 to
more than 3,000 last year, Guevara told lawmakers.

Guevara said the DEA is targeting Mexican traffickers who control the
majority of the meth produced and distributed in the United States.

The agency also is working with state and local law enforcement to
stop the small toxic labs. The DEA is taking steps to prevent the
spread of the chemicals used in meth production, including
pseudoephedrine, an ingredient found in common cold medication.

Case is among 113 lawmakers co - sponsoring legislation in the House
which authorizes grants for educational programs and for the treatment
of meth abuse. It provides grants to state and local law enforcement
for training and equipment.