CANNON VOWS METH LEGISLATION

Rep. Chris Cannon drew attention to illegal methamphetamine use and
production Monday, promising to introduce a House companion bill this week
to accompany Sen. Orrin Hatch's plan.

The Republicans' identical legislation would spend more money to hire more
law enforcement agents, increase penalties and ban sharing information about
meth production on the Internet. Hatch and other senators introduced their
plan in late July.

"Methamphetamine is a powerful and dangerous drug," Cannon said at a press
conference in downtown Salt Lake City. "This meth drug is a threat to our
liberty and prosperity . . . We need to take some responsibility for the war
on drugs."

He stood beside two specially equipped trucks, a Humvee and a Ford F-350,
and a mannequin sporting a breathing mask and fire protective clothing that
the police use when busting up meth labs. There also were tables laden with
equipment -- glass beakers, an electric range, plastic bottles and drug
store ingredients -- to demonstrate how easy it is to make meth.

Frank Drew, head of the DEA's Clandestine Laboratory Training Unit, and one
of the unit's training instructors, Douglas Coleman, traveled from Quantico,
Va., to join Cannon at the press conference. Coleman demonstrated how to
make meth. "I didn't tell everything. I left out a few key steps," he said.

The bill would authorize spending another $27 million over five years to
hire about 100 more Drug Enforcement Agency personnel, including perhaps two
in Utah. The state has several dozen agents who either work solely in Utah
or in multi-state task forces, according to DEA officials.

"Due to the fact that Sen. Hatch and Chris Cannon are sponsoring this, we'll
probably reap some benefits," said Don Mendrala, the DEA's resident
agent-in-charge of the Salt Lake City office. He said 285 meth labs have
been busted this year, costing $600,000 to environmentally clean up and
properly dispose of the ingredients.

For 30 years, the nation has waged a "war" on drugs by spending more money
for enforcement and creating harsher penalties that require more prisons.
Methamphetamines, which are synthetic amphetamines or stimulants that are
cheap to produce and intensely addictive, are the latest crisis.

Mendrala defended the proposed spending as a solution to the problem. "This
one costs," he said. "We have to pay to solve the meth problem."

Provo Mayor Lewis Billings, after checking out the drug-making
paraphernalia, turned to Mendrala for special help in spreading the
anti-drug message. To the DEA boss, he said: "This is something that would
be great to put in a parade."