SENATE PANEL BACKS FUNDS

WASHINGTON - A Senate committee added its voice Thursday to a
recommendation that the White House name Arkansas a drug trafficking region
so the state could qualify for additional antinarcotics funding, Arkansas
senators said.

The suggestion is part of the Senate's version of the 2002 Treasury, Postal
Service and General Government Appropriations Act, which passed the Senate
Appropriations Committee.

Sens. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., requested the
designation after failed attempts last year by the state to secure itself a
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, known as a HIDTA, through an
administrative application.

The Senate bill provides $20 million to create new HIDTA programs,
including one in Arkansas.

Neither the House nor the Senate bill require the administration to name
Arkansas a HIDTA but rather they "recommend" the White House make such a
designation.

Arkansas Senate aides said the Senate bill is stronger than the House
proposal because the Senate legislation includes statistics they say
justify the need for an Arkansas HIDTA.

In 1995 24 methamphetamine laboratories were seized in Arkansas and the
number has risen to 780 labs in 2000, according to a report that
accompanies the bill. So far, Arkansas authorities have seized 260 meth
labs, which at current levels could exceed 1,041 by the end of the year,
the report states.

Arkansas lawmakers for several years lobbied the administration to
designate the state a HIDTA, which they have said would enable them to tap
into an estimated $2 million in federal dollars to combat methamphetamine
manufacturing in the state.

"Arkansas' central location makes it a hotspot for the transport of illegal
drugs, and we need additional funds to combat this growing problem and to
keep our borders and communities safe," Lincoln said in a statement.

"The Committee has recognized the daunting challenges law enforcement
officials in Arkansas face in keeping their communities drug-free,"
Hutchinson stated.

Last year Gov. Mike Huckabee and the Arkansas congressional delegation met
with then-White House drug Czar Barry McCaffrey to request a state
designation. But the White House denied their request in January, saying
Arkansas' methamphetamine problems do not measure up to the drug
trafficking activities in places like Texas, California and New York.

Arkansas' application submitted last year selected Sebastian, Washington,
Jefferson, Pulaski, Craighead and Miller counties. However, it would be up
to the White House to choose the counties for a new HIDTA.

The House passed its version of the Treasury bill on Wednesday. When the
full Senate approves its legislation House and Senate negotiators will
hammer out a final bill to send to the president.