STATE LEADERS WANT FEDERAL GUIDANCE, MONEY TO FIGHT METH

WASHINGTON -- Despite nationwide concern about methamphetamine,
Congress still is not providing enough resources for enforcing
anti-drug laws or cleaning up former 'meth' labs, Arkansas officials say.

A bill requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to create
national guidelines for decontaminating residences where
methamphetamine was "cooked" failed to pass in Congress this month.

"A lot of people were waiting on that and it would've given us some
guidance," said Norman Kemper, a forensic chemist for the state
Crime Laboratory's Illicit Lab Section.

But Arkansas is moving forward on its own.

A task force of environmental, health and law enforcement experts
looked into ways Arkansas can clean up the residual toxic chemicals
that disperse inside dwellings during the manufacture of "meth," a
highly addictive stimulant.

The group recommended the Arkansas Department of Environmental
Quality oversee contractor licensing for decontaminating former meth labs.

It also pushed for a statewide database to help potential home
buyers avoid purchasing contaminated property.

Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, and state Rep. Frank Glidewell,
R-Fort Smith, plan to introduce a measure based on those
recommendations during the next state legislative session beginning
in January.

But federal money still is needed at the state level, Broadway said.

"We'd like to see the feds setting aside money to help those who
can't afford to have their home cleaned," he said.

Legislation setting aside money to clean up private property whose
owners were unaware of previous methamphetamine activity died in the
Senate Judiciary Committee.

More than 1,200 meth laboratories were discovered in Arkansas in
2003 and 2004.

This year, 430 had been discovered by police tasks force between
Jan. 1 through Dec. 7, said Chris Harrison, chief chemist for the
state Crime Laboratory's Illicit Lab Section.

The decrease could be attributed to fewer labs, and to the passage
of laws making it more difficult to obtain pseudoephedrine, a key
ingredient. But it is also caused by fewer police enforcing meth
laws in rural areas, Harrison said.

"I can't stress enough how the decrease in funding from the federal
government has impaired enforcement," Harrison said.

The failed federal legislation for meth cleanup guidelines would
have required the EPA to work with the National Institute of
Standards and Technology to create new meth lab detection methods.

It would also have required EPA collaboration with the National
Academy of Sciences to research what effects exposure to meth lab
chemicals might have on children and first responders.

"The science for detecting (meth labs) is developing, the test
procedures are fairly new, there is no dependable study of the long
term effects of low-dose exposure," said Shirley Louie, the Arkansas
Department of Health and Human Services chief environmental
epidemiologist. "It's a complicated process; this would've been a
step forward."

In 2004, the Arkansas legislature commissioned the Department of
Health and Human Services to create cleanup guidelines for
homeowners and owners of hotels and apartments where toxic chemical
residue has made the dwelling unsafe. Louie drafted the guidelines.

"There's no other place yet where a homeowner can get the question
answered, 'What do I do now,'" Louie said.

It is not uncommon for drug programs to feel federal funding
pinches, said Arkansas Drug Director Keith Rutledge.

Not enough money is being put toward prevention of drug use, even
though it is a lead strategy against methamphetamine, Rutledge said.

Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., acknowledged anti-meth efforts remain underfunded.

"The Congress we're finishing now has a spotty record with
methamphetamine," said Pryor, who co-sponsored the Combat Meth Act,
the only major anti-meth legislation that was passed.

The Combat Meth Act placed medication with the meth-base ingredient,
pseudoephedrine, behind pharmacy counters.

Pryor said Congress restored funding for community anti-drug
programs to $411 million, rejecting deeper cuts proposed by President Bush.

"Quite frankly, I'd rather see it in the $500 million or $600
million range," Pryor said.