METHAMPHETAMINE: THE REAL DRUG WAR

Washington state began facing up to its problems with methamphetamine
in the 1990s. Part of the other Washington is still in denial.

An awakening by the Bush administration is overdue.

The drug problem that was once largely confined to the West has
already devastated many rural parts of the Midwest. Eastern states
are joining the cry, too.

Now, much of the country is seeing the effects: rapid addiction to
the synthetic chemical concoction; desperate acts of crime to earn
money; family disintegration, and poisoned homes, motel rooms and
even park sites where the drug is cooked. As a result, Congress is
pushing enough that the administration's awakening to reality might
be hurried along.

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives gave a strong
bipartisan endorsement to a budget amendment adding $20 million to
federal funding for curbing meth, despite White House opposition.
U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, a Democrat whose southwest Washington district
has long battled the drug, said the vote could represent "a tipping
point" in congressional willingness to act.

With the administration intent on broadly shifting hundreds of
millions of dollars from local law enforcement to anti-terrorism
agencies, the victory was a minor one. But it could portend much
greater congressional action in the months ahead.

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Lake Stevens, new Rep. Dave Reichert, the
Eastside Republican, Sen. Maria Cantwell and other Washington state
members of Congress have worked together on the issue. They're
gaining allies, as reflected in the growing membership of
Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control Methamphetamine.

Last week, local law enforcement officials from much of the country
ranked methamphetamine as the most serious drug problem they face. A
survey by the National Association of Counties showed 58 percent of
500 law enforcement agencies ranked methamphetamine as their biggest
challenge. No other drug was even close. In the Northwest, 75 percent
named methamphetamine as the worst.

Larsen, who succeeded Baird as a co-chairman of the congressional
meth caucus, expressed disappointment that a key White House official
reacted by saying there was a problem but not an epidemic. But the
momentum for addressing meth has always come from the ground up, from
those who have seen the effects.

Last month, Reichert, with his experience in the King County
Sheriff's Office, argued face to face with a powerful congressional
Republican during a floor fight to restore funding to help police
around the country. Reichert lost. A day later, however, Rep. Frank
Wolf, R-Va., came back and said he had found a way to protect some of
the police funding the administration wanted to cut.

Larsen said a bipartisan group of members is exploring the
possibility of comprehensive legislation. The aim would be to support
local agencies, push international efforts to control the ingredients
and widen controls on sales of legal meth ingredients already adopted
by Washington and some other states.

Congress has a vital role to play. Republicans and Democrats must
push the White House to join the drug war, the real one against
methamphetamine that is raging from Miami to Seattle.