REGION MAY BE NAMED DRUG HUB

Federal Designation Could Bring Millions

WASHINGTON -- White House officials stand on the brink of naming Northeast
Florida a major center of drug trafficking and money laundering, a federal
designation that could bring millions of dollars to beef up Jacksonville's
narcotics-fighting effort, state and federal officials said.

Drug czar Barry McCaffrey wants to select two new areas before he leaves
office on Jan. 6, said Bob Weiner, spokesman for the Office of National
Drug Control Policy.

If selected, the Jacksonville area would join the 26 existing
"high-intensity drug trafficking areas."

Among these drug-trafficking areas are cities such as New York, Los Angeles
and Houston. In addition to receiving money from the federal government,
the designation also entails an effort to build tighter cooperation among
local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, state and federal
officials said.

Jacksonville's convenience as a transportation and distribution hub plays
an important role in capturing the attention of state and federal drug
enforcement officials.

Drugs come to Northeast Florida through the port on shipping containers.
These illegal substances can be slipped secretly onto railroad cars and
vehicles riding along the interstate, said Jim McDonough, the director of
the state's Office of Drug Control.

Drug smugglers also use the area's postal and small package shipping
facilities to distribute their merchandise.

Such realities highlight the need to increase and improve law enforcement's
regional drug-fighting efforts.

"I'm optimistic that we are going to see the formation of a high-intensity
drug trafficking area in Northeast Florida," said Jim McDonough, Florida's
top drug-fighting official.

Being named a major center for drug trafficking would culminate a
three-year effort to get selected, said Assistant Chief George Lueders of
the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

Last spring, Gov. Jeb Bush visited the White House to lobby the national
drug policy office to pick Northeast Florida, McDonough said.

An application from Jacksonville and an eight-county surrounding area is
among the four or five finalist for the designation, Weiner said.

But McCaffrey has not made a final decision yet, Weiner said. Any
preliminary selection is also discussed with other federal and state
officials before the locality gets the final go-ahead, he said.

If designated, Northeast Florida would join two existing areas in the
state, in South and Central Florida.

The application envisions an area entailing Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, St.
Johns, Marion, Flagler and Putnam counties.

Each of the existing 26 areas receive from $500,000 to $15 million from
federal coffers to finance their efforts. Typically, a new area in its
first year receives a modest amount, intended to get the program off the
ground, Weiner said.

Jacksonville's commercial position as a shipping and transportation hub
makes the region a useful conduit for the international drug trade.

This fact should bolster the application's strength, Lueders said.

"Jacksonville is a gateway into Florida and we have one of the largest
shipping and United Parcel Service facilities here," he explained. "If you
reduce it [the drug trade] here, you reduce it in other areas of the country."

By having local law enforcement officials working more closely with the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol and
federal agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Agency and FBI, information
and policing efforts can be made more comprehensive, McDonough said.

Such cooperation proves especially helpful in tackling organized crime
rings, he said.

"You get a multiplier effect," McDonough said. "You get more money, but
you're also saving money in coordinating. You're getting a bigger bang for
the buck."