MORE DRUG DEALERS IN PRISON

Law enforcement officers in the Valley and across the country are putting
more and more drug dealers out of business and those convicted of
drug-related offenses are spending more time in prison, according to a
report released Sunday by the Department of Justice.

In Arizona, the U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted 968 drug cases last year,
372 more than in 1999. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office filed drug
charges against more than 10,000 people in 1998. Across the nation, more
than 29,000 people were charged with federal drug offenses, compared with
11,854 in 1984.

Although those numbers are on the rise, public safety officials say the
drug problem they face remains immense.

Examining the situation with cocaine alone is telling.

Phoenix police Cmdr. Ken Tims explained that 1 kilogram of cocaine can
provide enough "hits" for about 4,000 people. The Drug Enforcement
Administration reported that more than 50,000 kilos of cocaine were seized
in 2000, accounting for about 10 percent of the total supply. That means
there was enough cocaine last year for 2 trillion uses - more than seven
times the U.S. population.

"We see it on a daily basis," said Tims, who heads Phoenix's Drug
Enforcement Bureau. "Right now, the drugs we see most often are crack
cocaine and methamphetamines. But we are also seeing an awful lot more
Ecstasy."

It's a problem they attacked on many fronts.

"We go after the street-level drug dealers distributing drugs in our
neighborhoods through undercover investigations, informants, surveillance
and routine police work," he said. "We take enforcement action and hope to
. . . make the streets safe for kids."

Because violent crimes are closely linked to drug trafficking, Tims said
the Drug Homicide Task Force was created to address the problem.

"It seems like no matter what type of investigation, drugs are always
involved," he said. "A lot of people commit crimes to facilitate their drug
addiction."

John Scalia, a Justice Department statistician, attributes the increase in
prosecutions to a much more zealous approach by law enforcement officials.

"I think it hearkens back to the war on drugs the federal government has
been waging for the past 15 years," he said.

The Justice Department outlines some other strides being made at a federal
level in curbing drugs and their dealers. The report was compiled by the
department's Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Of the more than 29,000 defendants in 1999, nearly 90 percent were
convicted, a majority of those for drug trafficking.

Changes in federal laws also have increased the length of prison time drug
offenders can expect to serve by 36 months, jumping to 66 months from about
30 since 1986, the report stated.

But Tims says it will take more than the efforts of law enforcement and
prosecutors to eradicate the drug problem.

"The whole problem is so huge, it's going to take everyone coming together,
working as a cooperative effort," he said. "Right now we have a small
Band-Aid on something that needs a large tourniquet. It's not easy, but we
have to address it on three fronts: enforcement, education and treatment
for the abusers."