ADOPT ONE METH PLAN

Lobbied heavily by a unified Washington state delegation, Congress has
agreed to double the amount of federal money to be spent next year to
ferret out and clean up methamphetamine labs.

It is to the credit of the entire delegation -- particularly Sen.
Patty Murray and Rep. Brian Baird -- that of the $50 million going
directly to state and local programs around the country, $4 million
will come to Olympia.

>From there it will be parceled out to 18 counties, the city of Spokane
and the Pierce County Alliance. Last year the alliance, a holistic,
multi-agency approach to attacking the meth scourge and treating its
victims, received an initial $2 million from Congress to launch the
Washington State Methamphetamine Initiative.

This time Congress didn't spell out how the money should be divvied
among the Pierce County Alliance and the many competing jurisdictions.
Although the pace of lab busts and cleanups has slowed slightly, it is
still expected that the year-end total will be significantly higher
than last year's 1,449 -- and probably enough for the state to rank
second again in the country.

It falls to the governor's office to equitably distribute these
helpful but limited funds. It's just as important that it bring the
competing agencies together to craft one cohesive plan, which should
help the congressional delegation win even more federal dollars.