$50 MILLION TO FIGHT METH

High-powered Officials Will Attend A Summit In Fresno Next Week.

The people in the trenches of the Central Valley's battle against
methamphetamine said Friday that they were heartened by Gov. Davis' goal to
spend $50 million to attack California's illegal drug labs.

"It really exceeded our expectations," said Rick Hill, a Fresno County
sheriff's sergeant and a supervisor for the Central Valley's High Intensity
Drug Trafficking Area task force.

Bill Ruzzamenti, director of the Central Valley HIDTA, said the state money
will be particularly helpful to small-town and rural police agencies that
are underfunded and often overmatched in trying to deal with meth labs and
sales.

"We are obviously at ground zero in the meth battle here in Fresno," he
said, "and any resources that we can get will be greatly appreciated."

Drug agents say California's methamphetamine labs account for 80% of the
nation's meth production under conditions that pose risks to human health
and the environment.

The $50 million in the 2001 state budget, which must be approved by the
Legislature, would be divided between $40 million in grants for equipment
and other law enforcement support and $10.5 million to supplant federal
funding of the statewide California Methamphetamine Strategy, a coordinated
effort focusing on the drug.

The $40 million would be targeted at 34 counties where meth production is
heavy, Assembly Member Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, said Friday in a meeting
with Fresno Bee editors.

Assembly Member Dean Florez, D-Shafter, said at the meeting that
methamphetamine enforcement programs would have considerably more money to
work with than they've had in the recent past.

"This is more in one year than we've done in the last 10 years," Florez said.

Next week, federal and state lawmakers will hold a historic summit in
Fresno to develop a strategy for attacking the Central Valley's
methamphetamine problem.

Scheduled to attend the Tuesday gathering are both of California's U.S.
senators, three San Joaquin Valley congressmen, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante,
state Attorney General Bill Lockyer and numerous officials from federal,
state and local law enforcement, social services and environmental agencies.

An aide to Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford, said the summit will focus on how
the federal government can support law enforcement's efforts.

"It's geared toward getting those who are on the front lines of the meth
battle together to say what they need to fight that battle over the next
two years," Dooley staff member Adam Kovacevich said.

The summit will be held from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Fresno at the Downtown
Club, 2120 Kern St., and is open to the public, although no testimony will
be taken.

Instead, the program will consist of a series of round-table discussions
that are supposed to focus on specific solutions to the meth problem.

Besides Dooley, Bustamante and Lockyer, the list of scheduled participants
includes Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both Democrats; Rep.
Gary Condit, D-Ceres; and Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa.

Hill said 24 meth "super labs" were broken up last year in Fresno County alone.

A super lab can cook 10 pounds of meth or more with a street value of as
much as $8,000 a pound. The cost to cook 10 pounds is only a few thousand
dollars, Hill said.

Hill said he has one more wish: "Now that we have the money, maybe we can
get some legislation that can help us, maybe some sentencing enhancements."

Staff writer Marc Benjamin contributed to this story.