DRUG CZAR MEETS WITH CONGRESSMAN, LAW ENFORCEMENT

John Walters, Director of White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, speaks at the press conference Tuesday morning as North
Carolina Representative Patrick McHenry looks on. Todd Huffman (The
News Herald)

Lenoir - John Walters, U.S. drug czar, joined Republican Congressman
Patrick McHenry, who represents the 10th District, Tuesday to sit down
with area law enforcement officials and talk about new ways to combat
drugs in the area.

"This area has been hard hit by meth," Walters says. Young adult use
appears to be declining, but use by young girls is rising, he says.

Talk on Tuesday centered on random student drug testing, peer
mediation and drug resistance education.

The biggest change in the way officials combat methamphetamine is
going to be education and treatment, officials say.

"Federal tax dollars are there to treat offenders in jail and it isn't
being used," McHenry says. "Treating addicts in jail just doesn't
work. The treatment needs to be on the street after addicts get out of
jail to keep them away from drugs for the first six months or year."

Officials say the new regulations surrounding ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine are helping bring down the number of meth labs and
meth arrests in the state.

According to numbers from the North Carolina State Bureau of
Investigation, police broke up 151 meth labs in North Carolina this
year. Last year at this time, 231 were busted. In all of last year,
officers shut down 328 meth labs, officials say.

Other solutions discussed on Tuesday were stricter border control and
working closely with nations whose people officials believe are
importing drugs into the United States.