CANDIDATES SHARE METH-BEATING PLANS

Recently released state figures show a heartening drop in
methamphetamine labs in the state - part of a national trend that
could cut down on deadly explosions and help the environment.

But that progress in the fight against the dangerous, addictive drug
leaves state Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager and the three other
candidates for her job to debate another issue: how to fight the
out-of-state trafficking of the drug that now accounts for almost all
of the meth seized in Wisconsin.

That's making the struggle against meth more like the fight against
other drugs, such as cocaine and heroin - a campaign against
sophisticated, sometimes international, traffickers, experts said.

"There are, in fact, fewer meth labs popping up around the state, but
that's not the same as saying the meth abuse problem has gone away,"
said Mike Scott, director of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing
affiliated with UW- Madison. "As important as it is to reduce the
local production of meth, one likely consequence is there's going to
be more meth that's produced elsewhere and trafficked into the state
of Wisconsin."

An addictive stimulant with devastating effects on both users and
their communities, meth is found more in the northwest and western
parts of the state than in south-central areas such as Dane County.
But its frightening effects and the possibility of it spreading into
other areas have made it one of the key issues in the race for
attorney general, an office that supports local police in combating
drugs. State Department of Justice figures show a drop in the number
of in-state meth labs - often little more than a tiny operation
improvised in a bathtub or car trunk - broken up this year. In the
first half of 2006, authorities dismantled 22 meth labs in Wisconsin,
putting the state on track to come in below last year's total of 56
meth labs and possibly the fewest labs found since the 38 discovered
in 2000. Scott said the likely explanation for the drop in lab
discoveries is there are fewer of them to find since they peaked at
112 shut down in 2003.

Lautenschlager attributed the decrease in part to increased
enforcement. It may also be an effect of a new state law that makes
it more difficult to obtain the cold medication pseudophedrine, a key
chemical in the production of meth.

The drop is part of a national trend and has real benefits, since the
labs use toxic chemicals that can explode, poison or burn and pollute
the environment, said Scott, who's published a guide for law
enforcement on fighting the drug. But sophisticated labs in places
such as Mexico have taken up the slack with highly addictive forms of
meth, said Dean Roland, sheriff of Burnett County in northwest Wisconsin.

"The quality of methamphetamine that's coming out of Mexico is
higher, with no increase in cost," said Roland, a Republican. "Our
usage is still right up there. That hasn't diminished any, but our
(local) labs have."

State Crime Laboratory analysis of seized meth has shown the share of
the drug made outside Wisconsin has risen from about 85 percent to 95
percent, Lautenschlager said. Lautenschlager, a Democrat, is
optimistic about the effects of enforcement efforts, saying that
local law enforcement is seeing fewer new users in northwest
Wisconsin and that figures here compare well to those of other
states. She pointed to the number of meth cases handled by the crime
lab, which dropped from a record high 726 in 2005 to a projected 522
this year based on the first half of 2006.

"You see those areas where the numbers are going down are where we've
had the most intensive efforts on our meth initiative," she said. "I
think that's why we can be optimistic."

All three of Lautenschlager's challengers dispute that. They say
Lautenschlager hasn't done enough to fight meth use, which rose
rapidly during her first years as attorney general.

"It's not subsiding. It's changing," Dane County Executive Kathleen
Falk, a Democratic primary challenger, said of the problem.

Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, a Republican
candidate, agreed, saying he hears from sheriffs and district
attorneys in northwest Wisconsin that the problem is still daunting.

"I don't dispute the (Department of Justice) numbers. I dispute the
conclusion," he said. But the bigger dispute is over what to do about
meth trafficking and abuse.

Lautenschlager said her office has staff in regions with high levels
of meth abuse and has been working with and training local police and
social service agencies to make arrests, expand treatment and protect
children endangered by addicted parents.

Falk said the attorney general can do more, including lobbying the
federal government to designate western Wisconsin a federal
high-intensity drug-trafficking area, which would mean more federal
money for meth enforcement, and working to increase funding for
treatment programs.

"We need to hold (abusers) accountable and we need to provide
treatments so they don't reoffend," she said.

J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican candidate and former U.S. attorney for
the Western District of Wisconsin, said the federal drug-trafficking
designation carries with it more red tape than money and resources.

"A lot of money goes into bureaucracy," he said.

Van Hollen said he'd use his contacts as a former district attorney
and U.S. attorney to work with more local law enforcement groups and
states to fight trafficking into Wisconsin.

Van Hollen's Republican opponent Paul Bucher said he'd create a meth
task force in northwest Wisconsin and shift existing resources in the
department to assign three more agents to that area.

Bucher also wants to restore the Division of Narcotics enforcement
within the Department of Justice, which was made a bureau and folded
into another division by Lautenschlager as a cost-saving measure.

Ultimately, voters need to understand that fighting meth trafficking
is a federal and even international issue that goes beyond what state
officials can do on their own, Scott said.