BUSH BUDGET WOULD PUT PRESSURE ON LOCAL POLICE

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's war on drugs is retreating in its
battle against methamphetamine, an epidemic confronting law enforcement
agencies from California to New York.

President Bush has proposed gutting funding for some programs and slashing
spending for others, including programs that anti-meth forces deem vital to
their efforts.

"If it passes the way it is, it would put us completely out of business,"
said Billy Cook, director of the 14th Judicial District Drug Task Force in
Tennessee.

The state seized 1,259 illegal methamphetamine labs last year, the third
highest number of seizures in the country behind Iowa with 1,300 and
Missouri with 2,707.

Lt. Steve Dalton, supervisor of an anti-meth task force in southwest
Missouri, called the administration's proposed cuts "absolutely asinine."
The task force busted 101 meth labs in a seven-county area last year.

"It is the worst drug problem I've seen," Dalton said of the meth trade.
"And it continues to grow."

The president intends to eliminate a $634 million grant program for state
and local police departments and cut anti-drug spending in High Intensity
Drug Trafficking Areas from $226 million to $100 million.

He also would reduce spending on a Justice Department methamphetamine
initiative from $52.6 million to $20 million, a 60 percent cut.

Dalton said federal grants pay the salaries of three full-time officers
assigned to bust meth labs. Without the grants, he said, "We could last for
about a year and then we would have to shut our doors."

John Horton, associate deputy director for state and local affairs in the
Office of National Drug Policy, said the administration takes the
methamphetamine epidemic seriously, budget cuts notwithstanding.

"We've had to make some tough choices," Horton said. "If we had unlimited
money, it would be different."

He said the administration's strategy focuses on working with law
enforcement agencies in Asia to disrupt the illegal export of
pseudoephedrine, one of the main ingredients in meth.

"We think that's where the meth market is particularly vulnerable," Horton
said. "The most important thing we can do is to make sure the labs don't
get set up in the first place."

Overall, Bush plans to spend $12.4 billion on the drug war in fiscal 2006,
a 2.2 percent increase over current funding. But most of the additional
money is targeted toward intercepting drug shipments before they cross the
border and international programs, such as crop eradication.

Bush's budget would:

Eliminate grants to states under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and
Communities program, funded at $441 million this year.

Eliminate grants to states under the National Alliance for Model State Drug
Laws, an organization that has been instrumental in helping states draft
legislative responses to the methamphetamine crisis.

Eliminate Justice Assistance grants used to bolster multijurisdictional
anti-drug task forces.

The Justice Assistance grants "constitute the backbone of resources for
drug task forces in Iowa," said Dale Woolery, associate director of the
Iowa Office of Drug Control Policy. He said the task forces confiscated 268
pounds of methamphetamine last year.

Methamphetamine emerged 10 years ago as a West Coast problem. Since then,
the meth trade has marched eastward, becoming entrenched in rural
communities. There were nearly 16,000 methamphetamine lab seizures last
year, compared with 912 in 1995, according to the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

The nation's 1.5 million meth addicts represent only about 8 percent of the
nation's 19 million drug users. But meth is extremely addictive and creates
other special problems.

The drug, referred to on the street as crystal, speed, chalk and ice, is
manufactured using highly toxic chemicals that can poison the environment.
Cleaning up a meth lab can cost between $3,500 and $20,000.

In addition, meth often is made in homes where children are present. Those
children are more likely to be victims of abuse, neglect and domestic
violence. Some states have enacted laws for handling methamphetamine lab
cleanup and children found at contaminated sites.

"The consequences of (meth) addiction are being felt all across this
country in a complete drain of resources," said Sherry Green, director of
the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws.

Dalton, the anti-meth task force supervisor in Missouri, said federal
bureaucrats don't grasp the full range of the problems posed by meth.

"They've seen pictures but have never been to a meth lab bust," he said.
"Pictures ... don't show the tears running down the faces of children
because Mommy and Daddy are being hauled off to jail. Or the children are
being taken away for decontamination. This melts it into your heart."

The meth epidemic has hit some states so hard that Republican lawmakers
representing those states find themselves in the rare position of
criticizing the administration's proposed budget cuts.

Republican Sen. Jim Talent of Missouri predicted Congress would vote to
keep the funding for anti-meth efforts that the president has proposed cutting.

"These programs are important to many lawmakers," Talent said.

He and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., recently won Senate approval for
maintaining $160 million for cleaning up meth labs. But the House has yet
to take comparable action.

State officials across the country say they're facing their own budget
problems and can't afford to fight the meth war alone.

DeLynn Fudge, director of public programs for the Oklahoma District
Attorneys Council, said the 23 drug task forces battling meth in that state
rely heavily on Justice Assistance grants.

If Bush's proposed budget cuts are approved, she said, "I'm fearful of what
might happen. Half our task forces might be eliminated. The thought of it
is frightening for public safety."