ASSISTANCE COMING IN METH WAR - VALLEY IS GETTING NEW FEDERAL FUNDS

WASHINGTON -- The San Joaquin Valley will be getting new federal funding to
fight methamphetamine, while the country will be getting a new drug czar to
oversee the efforts.

A massive end-of-year spending package expected to be signed by President
Clinton this week includes $500,000 for the anti-meth efforts undertaken by
the Fresno County Sheriff's Department. The money is relatively open-ended,
but could target either the production or distribution end of the illegal
speed business.

"I would hope they use it in conjunction with ongoing (anti-meth)
programs," Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford, said Monday. "This is important,
because the San Joaquin Valley remains one of the primary production areas
for methamphetamine."

The Fresno County funds, moreover, are only part of the boost being given
the nation's meth-fighters. The nation's High Intensity Drug Trafficking
Area (HIDTA) program is getting an 8 percent budget increase, some of which
will probably trickle down to the valley as well.

The Central Valley HIDTA, covering the area from Sacramento to Kern
counties, focuses federal funding and local law enforcement offices on the
industry thought responsible for producing 80 percent of the nation's
illegal meth. The Valley project is the only one of 31 HIDTA regions
nationwide to focus primarily on methamphetamine, although the drug's
spread has also caught the attention of the Midwest and other regions.

As part of the fiscal 2001 omnibus appropriations bill, finished 2 1/2
months after the start of the new fiscal year, Congress boosted nationwide
HIDTA funding to $206 million. The nine-county Valley region currently gets
$1.5 million of the total, which officials hope will grow to about $2.5
million with the newly approved funding.

The new anti-meth funding won't be affected by the scheduled Jan. 5
retirement of Barry McCaffrey, the former four-star Army general who has
led the Office of National Drug Control Policy since February 1996.

McCaffrey's pending retirement, though, is being closely watched because of
the larger changes it could portend for the drug czar's office.

High-profile candidates have not yet arisen as possible successors to
McCaffrey, who characterized meth as "the worst drug that has ever hit
America."