SUMMIT FOCUSES ON METH TREATMENT

Police Take A Back Seat To Doctors, Social Experts At Fresno Event Next Month.

WASHINGTON -- The San Joaquin Valley is about to hold its second
methamphetamine summit, focusing this time on treatment.

Following up on an earlier meth summit that concentrated on law
enforcement, the new summit set for April18 will bring together some of the
Valley's medical and social experts. Cures, not cops, will be the emphasis
for the morning event at Fresno's DoubleTree Hotel.

"We're trying to reach people that have expertise in treatment and
rehabilitation, so we have a better idea of what's working and what's not
working," Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford, said Wednesday. Dooley is co-hosting
the event along with Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Both were among numerous state, local and federal officials attending the
original Jan.9 meth summit. That event was convened as a follow-up to an
18-page investigative report on meth's devastating Central Valley
consequences, published last October in the Fresno, Modesto and Sacramento
Bee newspapers.

"During that summit, there were people that indicated interest in
addressing, in addition to law enforcement, treatment," Dooley said.

"This will really focus on those people that are addicted to meth, the
impact it has on their families, and the need for additional treatment."

Luckily for the lawmakers, officials with the Fresno regional office of
California Endowment also attended the first meth summit.

The private foundation, based in Woodland Hills and established following
the sale of Blue Cross, distributes about $200 million a year in
health-related grants.

The California Endowment subsequently agreed to underwrite the costs of the
follow-up April 18 meth treatment summit.

"I can't say it's been a main strategic focus of ours. We haven't really
championed the cause per se," California Endowment vice president for
communications Peggy Hinz said Wednesday, "but certainly, many of our
grants go to drug treatment centers."

The summit comes as the Bush administration has yet to make final some of
its most important drug-policy decisions.

Though the federal government will spend about $18 billion this year on
drug-control efforts, the Bush administration's budget outline cautions
that officials must still "look closely at the relative emphasis on demand
reduction and supply reduction activities."

The president's proposed budget does identify $20 million for helping state
and local agencies clean up the mess from illegal meth labs, and $28
million for other federal anti-meth efforts.