DRUG TRAFFIC IS RISING, REPORT SAYS

Washington state faces many 'challenges'

From Mexican black tar heroin coming up Interstate 5 to potent "B.C. buds"
crossing the Canadian border and "Nazi" meth labs in Pierce and other
counties, a report released yesterday by the White House drug office
describes a complicated and growing threat from drugs in Washington state.

"I wouldn't say we are winning," said Dave Rodriguez, who heads the federal
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program in the state. "But we are much
better organized, we're doing multi-jurisdictional task forces and have
better communication. That's progress."

The White House report, which reviewed the anti-drug trafficking program in
Washington state and in 30 other areas nationwide, concluded that the region
"faces many drug manufacturing and trafficking challenges."

Mexican black tar heroin supplies, imported up the I-5 corridor, remain at
"high levels" and led to a record number of heroin overdoses last year in
King County, the report said. Black tar heroin remains the heroin of choice
among the state's addicts, and its use led to 144 deaths in King County in
1998, up sharply from 111 in 1997.

The report said the number of methamphetamine labs dismantled by police this
year in Washington state could reach a record level. Small labs, known as
Nazi labs because the technique for producing methamphetamine was pioneered
by the Nazis during World War II, are "proliferating in apartments, motels
and vans."

"Projections are that nearly 500 labs will be dismantled by year's end,
creating a tremendous drain on law enforcement and environmental cleanup
agencies," the report said.

Rodriguez said Pierce County has been a hotbed of methamphetamine production
and ranks third nationally behind Bakersfield and Riverside counties in
California in the number of labs dismantled by police.

Rodriguez also said he was concerned about indications that larger meth labs
designed to produce quantities suitable for national distribution may be
appearing in Washington state. One such lab was recently dismantled in the
Yakima Valley, and two others were broken busted up in Oregon, he said.

The smaller labs usually found in the state can produce anywhere from two
ounces to eight ounces of meth in each run. A national-sized lab can "cook"
50 pounds at a time, Rodriguez said.

As for marijuana, the White House report said, there has been a "dramatic
increase" in the importation of Canadian grown marijuana and cross-border
smuggling.

Canadian law enforcement officials have estimated that the marijuana is
being grown indoors at more than 2,400 sites in British Columbia, Rodriguez
said, adding that each plant can produce more than three pounds of the
high-quality drug.

The White House report said the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have estimated
annual marijuana production in Canada at more than 800 tons and that
Italian- and Asian-based gangs made more than $12 billion from its sale.

In addition, the report said, the "Hells Angel Outlaw Motorcycle gang is
smuggling marijuana into the United States and it crosses nearly all land
border points."

So-called "mother ships" carrying tons of marijuana have been found in
Northwest waters. Last year, Rodriguez said, three vessels carrying 14 tons
of hashish were caught off the British Columbia coast in a case that
originated in Pierce County.

Even sea kayaks have been used to smuggle marijuana across the border from
Canada into the United States, he said.

The ports of Tacoma and Seattle may also be important entry points for
illegal drugs, the White House report said.

"Although limited data exists at the current time, it is believed that large
shipments of Asian heroin may transit through Puget Sound ports with
ultimate distribution in U.S. cities on the eastern seaboard," the report
said.

Rodriguez said it would be impossible to check the several million
containers that are shipped through Puget Sound ports annually, but law
enforcement officials have developed profiles of those they want to open
based on the container's place of origin and what its manifest says it
contains.

"If someone is sending salmon to the Northwest, it would raise some
eyebrows," he said.

Overall, the report said, law enforcement agencies have identified 60 drug
trafficking organizations that pose a criminal threat in the state's High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

Created in 1997, the area covers seven counties: Pierce, King, Snohomish,
Thurston, Skagit, Whatcom and Yakima.

With $4 million in funding, it helps coordinate law enforcement activities
and shares intelligence information and other support services with almost
40 federal, state and local agencies including the Pierce County Sheriff's
Office and the Tacoma Police Department.

The 31 areas nationwide were selected not just because of the flow of drugs
into their communities but because the drugs were shipped to other places.

The program has become one of the foundations of the White House's war on
drugs.

"This report gives you some insight into the perils they (law enforcement)
are facing," Barry McCaffrey, the White House drug czar, said at a news
conference.

While five years ago the emphasis was on cocaine and crack, McCaffrey said,
the drug trade has changed with heroin, meth and such designer drugs as
Ecstacy now having top priority.

"The threats change," he said.