KOHL ASKS DEA TO HELP FIGHT METH IN WESTERN WISCONSIN

MILWAUKEE - Calling the state' s law enforcement resources "
woefully inadequate" to handle the growing number of methamphetamine
cases, U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl asked the Drug Enforcement Agency to send
at least 10 more federal agents to western Wisconsin.

In a letter to the head of the DEA, Kohl said the U.S. attorney' s
office in the state' s western district handled more than 45 " meth"
cases in 1999 -- 23 percent of all drug cases prosecuted by that office.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy reported that the number of
cases the State Crime Laboratory has seen that included
methamphetamine examination has quadrupled since the mid-1990s, Kohl
said.

Law enforcement officials in western Wisconsin said they would welcome
any federal help.

" We' ve see a big increase in the past couple of years with the meth
trash dumps and meth labs, " said Detective Sgt. Sharon Drees of the
Lafayette County Sheriff' s Department.

Drees said the drug is working its way into Wisconsin through
Iowa.

" It' s just coming across, and it' s just spreading, spreading,
spreading, " she said.

The state has taken several steps in the past year to fight
methamphetamine.

In April, a new law increased penalties for possessing, manufacturing
and trafficking methamphetamine, bringing meth violations into line
with those for heroin, which had been the only drug for which simple
possession was considered a felony.

Last August, the state received $1 million in federal funding to hire
more agents to combat the meth problem.