BUSH PROPOSAL TO FIGHT METH FALLS FLAT

Lawmakers Criticize Policy, Say It Doesn't Go Far Enough

WASHINGTON -- A federal anti-methamphetamine plan unveiled Thursday by the
Bush administration is yet another example of how the administration is
foundering in its efforts to combat the nation's top drug problem,
Republican members of Congress said.

"If this is a cohesive national policy, it is embarrassing," said GOP Rep.
Mark Souder of Indiana, the chairman of the House subcommittee that handles
national drug policy.

He suggested that the initiatives announced Thursday may be just a
public-relations ploy aimed at curbing congressional criticism of the
administration's lack of response to the meth problem. Indiana, like
Oregon, is one of the states that has been hardest hit by the drug.

Another Republican lawmaker from a meth-plagued state, Sen. Charles
Grassley of Iowa, said the meth proposals announced last week leave
administration officials with "egg on their face."

Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics
Control, promised to "jack up the pressure through more hearings" if the
administration fails to adopt a tougher meth policy.

The administration plan, unveiled Thursday in Nashville, Tenn., would limit
sales of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in
illicit meth.

"The scourge of methamphetamine demands unconventional thinking and
innovative solutions to fight the devastation it leaves behind," Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales said in announcing the administration's new meth
proposals.

But the proposals would not be tough enough to stop people from "cooking"
meth, lawmakers say.

The Bush plan also would not require that cold medicines be sold from
behind pharmacy counters, a key part of congressional legislation proposed
by Sen. Jim Talent, a Republican from Missouri, and Democratic Sen. Dianne
Feinstein of California.

Talent said the administration's plan would not keep meth manufacturers
from "smurfing," or buying large quantities of pseudoephedrine by making
multiple small purchases.

"Their plan is inadequate," Talent said. "If they are not in the dark
(about meth), they are in the twilight. They need to come up with a strategy."

Bush's Plan

The administration's announcement last week caps weeks of harsh criticism
from GOP lawmakers who say the administration does not have a comprehensive
strategy to deal with the costly environmental and social problems caused
by meth.

White House officials have focused more attention on marijuana.

"Methamphetamine causes much more destruction in a much shorter period of
time," said Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware and Iowa's Sen. Grassley,
in an Aug. 1 letter to national drug czar John Walters.

The Bush plan would limit consumers to 3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine -- the
equivalent of about 110 pills -- in a single purchase. The limit in the
Talent-Feinstein bill is 250 pills per month.

Grassley said the administration's plan shows that White House officials
are "listening more to Wal-Mart than to the economic and social problems"
caused by meth.

The administration plan also would provide $16.2 million for meth treatment
programs in seven states -- Oregon, California, Tennessee, Texas, Montana,
Georgia and New Mexico.

Another source of congressional anger is that President Bush's proposed
fiscal 2006 budget would substantially cut anti-meth programs.

House and Senate lawmakers began taking steps last month to maintain or
increase funding for meth-related programs that the Bush budget proposes
cutting.

[Sidebar]

Oregon

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt last week announced 11 new
three-year grants to provide treatment for methamphetamine abuse and other
emerging drugs for adults in rural communities. The grants total $5.4
million for the first year and approximately $16.2 million for all three years.

States receiving the grants are Oregon, California, Georgia, Montana, New
Mexico, Tennessee and Texas.

The Oregon grant: The Methamphetamine Expanded Treatment Program, Grants
Pass, received $500,000 per year for each of three years to reduce meth
abuse among adults in the county. The project will provide chemical
dependency treatment and case management. The program aims to serve 240
individuals over the course of the grant.

Web site

Anti-meth site with facts about meth:
(http://www.kci.org/meth_info/links.htm)www.kci.org/meth_info/links.htm