MORE FEDERAL AID SOUGHT TO FIGHT EXPLOSION OF DRUGS IN NORTHWEST

WASHINGTON -- Pacific Northwest lawmakers, responding to an explosion
in illegal drug use in the region, are seeking to more than double
federal aid to crack down on methamphetamine, heroin, marijuana and
cocaine.

The lawmakers hope to convince congressional appropriators that the
problem has gotten so serious in Washington state and Oregon that they
need $12 million next year -- up from $5.1 million this year -- to
combat drugs in areas where trafficking is the worst.

They hope to use the additional money to have 16 more counties
declared high-intensity drug trafficking areas, which receive extra
federal aid. Ten counties in the two states are currently among such
federally declared areas.

In addition, Washington lawmakers are seeking a new federal grant of
$15 million for a statewide effort to combat methamphetamine, also
known as speed or crank.

"It really is very similar to an epidemic," said Rep. Brian Baird,
D-Wash. "Our local communities -- particularly our rural communities
- -- have been overwhelmed financially. Those people are absolutely at
their limit."

Lawmakers acknowledge that they face tough odds.

The Clinton administration has requested just a $730,000 increase next
year over the $191.2 million being spent this year for high-intensity
drug trafficking zones.

But the Northwest lawmakers' effort shows how serious they believe the
drug problem has become.

Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., said he would like to have all of Oregon
designated as a high-intensity drug trafficking area. "This stuff
moves around too easily. In order to interdict it, we have to be
everywhere," he said. "This is a war we cannot afford to lose."

Rep. Norm Dicks' Washington state district in Pierce County has seen
meth lab seizures double over the past year, and the county's meth use
rates are among the highest in the nation.

"It's a huge number," said Dicks, a Democrat. "This is a devastating
drug and the impact on families is very, very bad."

Statewide, Washington law enforcement seized more than 600
methamphetamine labs last year, up from about 25 six years ago, said
Dave Rodriguez, director of the Northwest High Intensity Drug
Trafficking Area. This year, Washington officials are on a pace to
seize 900 labs, he said.

Oregon set a record with 246 drug-related deaths in 1999, and 195 of
the overdoses were from heroin. The state recorded just 39
drug-related deaths in 1991, said Charles Karl, the executive director
of the Oregon High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

"Heroin . . . and methamphetamine are addicting very quickly," he
said.

Officials say they are fighting drugs on several fronts,
including:

Methamphetamine. The drugs are cheaper than cocaine and give a more
euphoric high that lasts a long time -- from one to three days. While
the drug is imported into the region, it is also widely manufactured
in the Pacific Northwest in apartments, motels and vans. Ingredients
are extracted from over-the-counter items.

Black tar heroin. Imported from Mexico and Central America, this is
the drug of choice of abusers in the Seattle area, accounting for
about 138 fatal overdoses in King County last year. Black tar is
cheaper and more potent than heroin of years past. First-time users
may smoke it, snort it or take the drug orally, but they eventually
resort to injecting it with a needle as the addiction grows.

Marijuana. The U.S. Border patrol in Spokane seized more than 4,000
pounds of pot in 1999, up from 2,845 two years earlier. So-called "BC
Bud" is imported from British Columbia; weed grown in Oregon is
popular, too. Marijuana is the most commonly abused illegal drug in
Oregon's high-intensity drug trafficking area, which includes Marion,
Deschutes and Jackson counties.

Cocaine. The drug is brought into Oregon by groups with links to
Mexico and Central America. During the first half of 1999, cocaine
overdoses in Oregon doubled from the first half of 1998. Cocaine was
the second-leading cause of drug-related deaths in the state in that
period, with 42 deaths.

Baird wants to add every county entirely or partially in his
southwestern Washington district to the high-intensity drug
trafficking area in his state, which already stretches from the
northern border to Olympia, Wash., and includes Yakima County.

Baird would add Grays Harbor, Pacific, Lewis, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz,
Clark, Skamania and Klickitat counties. Besides Yakima, the existing
drug area includes Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish, King, Pierce and
Thurston counties.

Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Wash., wants to add Spokane, Benton and
Franklin counties, encompassing Spokane and the Tri-Cities of Eastern
Washington, to the drug trafficking area.

To finance the additional areas, Washington state lawmakers are
seeking $5.5 million next year on top of the $4 million in federal aid
the drug area is receiving this year.

The $15 million the lawmakers are seeking would finance law
enforcement, education, prevention programs, rehabilitation, and
cleanup costs of meth labs.

Officials in Oregon want to add at least five counties -- Umatilla,
Klamath, Douglas, Lane and Clatsop -- to their existing three-county
drug trafficking area. To finance the additions, they hope to boost
funding from about $1.1 million this year to $2.5 million next year.