DIRECTOR OF DRUG AGENCY MAKES HIS CASE FOR ADEQUATE FUNDING

THUMBS UP: To Don Strange, director of the state Bureau of Narcotics, who
didn't mince words Tuesday when discussing funding for his agency.

"I don't think you can cut almost $4 million out of the budget for drug
enforcement and have it not hurt," said Strange during the bureau's annual
meeting at the Hattiesburg Lake Terrace Convention Center. "The people of
Mississippi had better get their priorities straight on drug traffic."

The Mississippi Legislature has cut the bureau's funding by $2.6 million in
2000 and $1.1 million this year.

In recent months, the Bureau of Narcotics has made a number of big,
high-profile drug busts around the state.

If lawmakers continue to make cuts in the bureau's budget, the agency's
ability to enforce Mississippi's drug laws will be diminished.