DEPUTY DRUG CZAR SAYS AGENCY MAY SHIFT MORE FOCUS TO METH

The White House official visits Portland, calling meth "the most
destructive, dangerous . . . drug that's come along in a long time"

On a two-day tour of Portland, Scott Burns, the White House deputy drug
czar, declared methamphetamine the nation's most insidious drug problem and
blamed it for destroying about 1.5 million lives.

Burns' visit follows the release Tuesday of results from a survey of 500
sheriff's departments in 45 states that denounced Washington's focus on
marijuana rather than enacting laws to target meth.

More than half of those interviewed for the National Association of Counties
survey considered meth the No. 1 drug problem in their counties.

"We've got something right in our laps that is absolutely the worst kind of
drug the nation has ever seen," Umatilla County Commissioner Bill Hansell
said in a statement Tuesday. "To not address it now would be a huge
mistake." Hansell is president-elect of the National Association of
Counties.

Burns' comments about meth are in contrast to his office's official position
that marijuana remains the nation's most substantial drug problem. Federal
estimates show there are 15 million marijuana users compared to the 1.5
million meth users.

But Burns said his agency's drug policies may be shifting.

"I think we would all agree methamphetamine is the most destructive,
dangerous, terrible drug that's come along in a long time," Burns told about
70 lawyers Wednesday at the Advanced Community Prosecution Workshop at the
Benson Hotel.

Burns said his agency is looking at ways to curb foreign manufacturing and
shipping of meth chemicals, including pseudoephedrine, to the United States.
He said the administration's National Synthetic Drugs Action Plan, released
in October, proposes using overseas authorities to track the production of
cold medicine from companies in Germany and Asia.

"We're in the initial stages of having discussions with 30 or 40 countries,"
Burns said. "Nothing is final."

Burns also said his agency's focus has shifted to monitoring Mexican
borders. In the past five years, Mexico's legal imports of pseudoephedrine,
the key ingredient in meth, have vaulted from 66 tons to 224 tons, an
investigation by The Oregonian revealed last month.

Nearly 90 percent of those interviewed in the National Association of
Counties survey reported increases in meth-related arrests in their counties
over the past three years, driving up jail costs and the demand for
treatment programs. The association of counties pointed out that the Bush
administration had proposed $804 million in budget cuts to local law
enforcement drug-fighting programs.

Burns said the proposed cuts, some of which have been restored, are "a
concern nationwide" among law enforcement.

Burns was scheduled to meet with Portland police, Mayor Tom Potter,
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Deits and members of the Oregon Partnership
during his visit Wednesday and today.