WE NEED AID IN DRUG FIGHT, COUNTY LEADERS TELL CANTWELL

EVERETT - There always will be some illegal drug imported from some
country peddled by some dealer.

And someone always will be in the business of providing consumers
with illegal drugs.

"We're never going to stop drugs, but what we can do is educate
people so they can make informed decisions," said Pat Slack,
commander of the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force.

Slack and other community leaders met with U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell,
D-Wash., on Friday at the Greater Trinity Christian Learning Center
in south Everett.

The meeting was one of five Cantwell convened around the state to
discuss the rise in gang activity and possible ties to
methamphetamine trafficking.

Earlier this week, she asked the U.S. attorney general to investigate
the possible connection.

Local leaders spoke less about potential links and more about the
need for federal partnerships to support drug prevention and
rehabilitation efforts in Snohomish County.

More than once, they told Cantwell that it is crucial to take a
holistic approach to the community's drug problem and address the
demand for drugs -not just spend money to arrest and lock up people.

Police and county officials called for fixed federal funding for
education and prevention programs as well as treatment and special
drug courts for addicts.

The funding needs to be provided in a way that doesn't pit one
service agency against another, officials said.

"We're in a fight. It's a constant battle every year to pay for what
you're doing," said Slack, who manages 50 different funding sources
to run the area's largest drug task force.

Cantwell told Friday's group that she is working to toughen anti-gang
laws, boost anti-meth initiatives and reverse President Bush's
proposed cuts to federal funding for local law enforcement.

The federal funding has been "the backbone law enforcement uses to
fight" local drug crime, she said.

The group, which included County Executive Aaron Reardon and Sheriff
Rick Bart, thanked Cantwell for pushing through funding for police
and new laws to fight drugs, especially meth.

They noted that the state has seen a significant decline in the
number of local meth labs.

Instead, meth has turned into a big business, with greater control
from organized criminal groups. Superlabs in Mexico are churning out
a purer form of the drug.

The majority of the meth here now is coming from the same
international drug trafficking organizations that have been supplying
the county with cocaine, marijuana and other illicit drugs for years,
Bart said.

"As we all know, drugs are the fuel that allow gangs to root in our
communities and flourish," said David Dongilli with the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.

The gangs, however, don't simply deal in one drug, police said.

"Once they're rooted, look at a gang like a corner store. They don't
specialize in any one thing other than criminal activity," Slack said.

Snohomish County has seen a spike in robberies, assaults and
homicides involving people connected to gangs, police said.

It is a development being seen across the state and nation. Gangs are
locating in the suburbs and rural areas, and they bring with them
drugs and violent crime, said Snohomish County sheriff's detective Steve Haley.

Haley has been tracking gangs for about a year. He has identified
about 250 members in more than 30 known criminal street and outlaw biker gangs.

Sheriff Bart said more community partnerships are needed to reach
young people and encourage them to avoid drugs and gangs.

"I hate to see kids go to jail. If we can get to them before that,
we're doing our jobs," Bart said.

Winnie Corral, program manager for the South Everett Neighborhood
Center and Familias Unidas, asked for more support for
community-based programs.

"We're trying to stem a pipeline when another one will open," Corral
said. "We need to create a community where people feel they belong
and a school system where kids want to be in school. We have to pay
close attention to prevention."