$3 MILLION A YEAR SOUGHT TO FIGHT DRUGS

County Would Need Special Designation To Receive Federal Financing

By Katherine M. Skiba of the Journal Sentinel staff

Milwaukee County may receive an annual $3 million shot in the arm to fight
illegal drugs.

The money, from the federal government, hinges on the county being
designated as a "highintensity drug trafficking area."

Twentytwo regions from New York City to San Diego have the
designation, which is granted by the White House drug chief, Barry McCaffrey.

McCaffrey, a retired Army general, closed a conference in Washington, D.C.,
this week by saying the fight against drugs was "not a national problem,
but a series of regional epidemics."

His office hosted the conference that focused on highintensity drug
trafficking areas.

McCaffrey said more money is coming to help specific areas deal with
problems from methamphetamine sales in Kansas and neighboring states, to
drug murders in Gary, Ind., to the seizure of drugs and money along
Arizona's border with Mexico.

In Wisconsin, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration said he would
like the federal dollars used to target a growing heroin problem.

"An emerging trend is the appearance of highlevel heroin on the streets.
The purity levels are extremely high," Jack Riley, resident agent in charge
of the DEA, said Thursday. "If we really concentrate we can get ahold of
the problem so we're not playing catchup like we did with cocaine in the
'80s."

Other federal officials, though, said that if Milwaukee County wins the
designation the money would be used to fight illicit drugs in general.

Designating highintensity drug trafficking areas began in 1990 when five
regions were identified and $25 million handed out.

Now 22 regions share $129.6 million, and others, not yet specified, are
poised to accept an additional $32.4 million.

Thomas P. Schneider, the U.S. attorney for Wisconsin's Eastern District,
chairs the group of federal, state and local officials making the application.

He said Sen. Herb Kohl (DWis.) had led efforts to include a $3 million
annual appropriation for Milwaukee County from the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy.

Schneider, who attended McCaffrey's conference, said the money would not be
handed out without several approvals. The U.S. attorney general, the
secretaries of the treasury and health and human services and Gov. Tommy
Thompson also must approve, he said.

As part of the application, communities must complete a "threat assessment"
to list top problems and come up with strategies to fight them.

Communities list such items as the dominant drug; method of transportation;
dealers' tactics; the number of hardcore abusers, drug organizations and
moneylaundering organizations; and source of entry, said Bob Weiner, a
McCaffrey spokesman.

Talking about Milwaukee County's application, Weiner said:

"We know they have a very substantial and worthy need for a HIDTA
(highintensity drug trafficking area), but (we) have to see the
application and the basis of the threat and the strategy they have for
meeting that threat."

Riley, at the DEA, and Schneider, the federal prosecutor, said they with
were hopeful their operation could be funded in six months.

Riley, a 16year DEA veteran, said heroin is a major concern because the
purity levels found in Wisconsin are such that users no longer need to
inject it. Because they can smoke or snort it, the stigma attached to
needle use and accompanying threat of AIDS or hepatitis has virtually
disappeared.

"It's more glamour, it's more chic, it's the recreational thing to do," he
said. "Well, it's still heroin. It's extremely addictive. With the
exception of some of the pharmaceutical things out there, it will ruin your
life faster than anything."

Nigerians in Chicago are arranging for couriers to bring the drug here from
Asia, Riley said.

Other drugs he identified as problems: methamphetamines, some coming from
clandestine labs in northern Wisconsin; the socalled daterape drugs; and
LSD.

He is troubled, too, by a growing violence against law enforcement agents.
"Ten years ago, when we put our guns up and said, 'Stop, you're under
arrest,' people pretty much did what we told them to do. It's not that way
anymore. Our agents are at least armed with semiautomatic pistols and
submachine guns, because that's what the crooks are carrying.

"There's a lot of people in Milwaukee and the DEA Task Force (an existing
group) that routinely put their butts on the line for people. But I also
think we're making a difference in their town."

Weiner, McCaffrey's spokesman, said the conference highlighted successes
that the nation's highintensity drug trafficking areas had helped achieve:
the Miami group's work dismantling the Cali cocaine cartel, New York City's
attack on major moneylaundering groups and Baltimore's significant
reduction in crime.