TROOPERS GET $1 MILLION MORE TO FIGHT DRUGS

State troopers will hit the streets Saturday armed with an extra $1
million to aid their ongoing efforts to stop illegal drug trafficking
in West Virginia.

Gov. Joe Manchin said Friday that the additional funding will bolster
efforts that have already seized more than $5.7 million worth of
crack cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and other illegal drugs
statewide in the past 18 months.

Speaking to reporters at State Police headquarters, Manchin stood
behind a table where troopers laid out a half-dozen recently seized
guns as well as bags of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. The
firearms included an AK-47 assault rifle, while the drugs had an
estimated street value of more than $800,000. - advertisement -

The governor said drug crime has reached "epidemic proportions" in
the state and touches the lives of nearly every West Virginian.

"We must win this war. We have to," Manchin said. "Our economic
success depends on it."

State Police Lt. D.L. Lemmon, who heads the department's narcotics
unit, said troopers have increased undercover buys of illegal
narcotics by 49 percent since January 2005.

The number of felony arrests also rose, he said. Between 2004 and
2005 federal felony drug arrests climbed 70 percent, while state
felony arrests jumped 144 percent.

"As the numbers indicate, the ongoing efforts by the West Virginia
State Police and their partners on the federal, state and local level
are producing significant results," the governor said.

But their work is not done, Manchin added.

The $1 million will help offset federal grant cuts of about 38
percent this year over last year from the State Police budget. It
will help cover salaries and benefits for 60 troopers who target
illegal drug crimes plus equipment and training. Lawmakers earmarked
the funding during this year's regular session, after Manchin
requested it in his State of the State address.

Lt. Col. S.C. Tucker said that with the remaining federal and state
funds, his agency has about $7 million this fiscal year to fight the
drug trade in the state.

Cocaine and methamphetamine are most prevalent in the southern part
of the state, while heroin is a problem in the Eastern and Northern
pandhandles, Lemmon said. Marijuana and crack cocaine plague the
entire state, he said.