DRUG CZAR PRAISES CENTRAL CALIFORNIA'S WAR ON METH

Calling The Valley 'a Drug-producing Nation,' Gen. Barry McCaffrey Urges
The Region To Keep Up The Fight.

Retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey, twice decorated with the
Distinguished Service Cross for combat valor, Saturday cheered Central
California's war against the powerful illegal stimulant methamphetamine.

McCaffrey, director of the National Drug Control Policy, believes the
Central Valley needs tenacious enforcement.

He called the area "a drug-producing nation" because of the many major
"meth labs" operating here.

"This part of California is the home of the super labs," said McCaffrey,
who helped obtain $1.4 million for the area this year to battle
methamphetamine production. "We need to continue the fine law enforcement
efforts here."

McCaffrey, the Clinton administration's so-called drug czar, was in Fresno
Saturday to discuss the successes of the Central Valley High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area, a law enforcement consortium formed last year to disrupt
methamphetamine production in the area.

The group has busted 36 meth labs in the Valley this year, including one in
Merced County Friday.

McCaffrey also toured the Legion of Valor Museum in downtown Fresno and
addressed veterans later in the evening at the Piccadilly Inn University.

About 200 people there gave him a standing ovation. Mayor Jim Patterson
praised McCaffrey and veterans in the room for keeping America free.

"He is now serving his country in one of the most difficult warfares,"
Patterson said of McCaffrey. "He is fighting for a drug-free America."

McCaffrey told jokes and stories about his military experience. He said of
Patterson: "What a friend of this organization."

Using first names, he pointed to a number of people in the audience who he
said had made the Legion of Valor a strong organization.

He also remembered the soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines who died in
the line of duty.

Even though he spent much of his life as a soldier, McCaffrey doesn't see
the fight against methamphetamine as a war.

He said he considers the drug to be more like a cancer spreading through
America.

"Methamphetamines are the worst drug that ever hit America," said
McCaffrey. "They are ferociously addictive, and their impact on humans is
unbelievable. You see users turn into emaciated people with rotted teeth
and criminal records."

The drug can be easily manufactured from cheap ingredients. Sometimes
inexperienced or uninformed "chemists" can cause deadly explosions and
environmental contamination.

Hundreds of pounds of the drug can be quickly produced at the major labs in
California. Called "speed," "meth" and "chalk," methamphetamine can be
smoked, snorted, injected or eaten.

In just a few years, it has spread from California across the country,
federal officials said.

Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford, who attended McCaffrey's address Saturday, said
he wants to see the Valley get more of the $192 million devoted annually to
law enforcement in high drug trafficking areas.

Compared with the $1.4 million the Central Valley received this year, the
Rocky Mountain region received $8.5 million, south Florida got $13.9
million and the southwest border states (Arizona, California, New Mexico
and Texas) received $46 million.

Authorities have better statistics on heroin and other drug use than they
do on methamphetamine at this point, federal officials said.

But they believe meth is particularly dangerous because it is often used in
combination with other drugs.

"Young, white males use it, thinking they're improving athletic ability,"
said McCaffrey. "The woman who has two jobs uses it to stay up with her
work. We need to get into the media and educate the young people about this."