OFFICIALS PUT FOCUS ON METH ADDICTS

OLYMPIA -- After years of targeting home-based methamphetamine
laboratories, state and law enforcement officials are shifting focus,
taking aim at meth addicts themselves.

Attorney General Rob McKenna, along with the 26-member task force
"Operation: Allied Against Meth," is backing legislation that focuses
on longer prison sentences and emphasizes substance abuse treatment.

"Our jails and prisons are filling up with people who have been
convicted of meth offenses and offenses related to their meth
addiction," McKenna said, citing a Spokane survey that determined
that 93 percent of inmates convicted of felony property crimes were meth users.

The measure, targeting the consumers more than the producers of meth,
aired in a Senate committee Monday. It would lengthen the penalties
of meth offenders by requiring sentences to be served consecutively.
Longer sentences will allow the state adequate time to wean addicts
off of the highly addictive stimulant, McKenna said.

"It is harder to treat a meth addiction than it is to treat an
addiction for cocaine or heroin or other hard drugs," McKenna said.
"Someone who comes out of jail or prison addicted to meth will go
right back to their old behaviors. Therefore, treatment is an
essential component."

To provide care, the state will launch a treatment pilot project
specifically for meth users. About 100 new treatment beds would be established.

To target meth addicts in all facets of life, the bill would re-enact
Washington's Drug-Free Work Place standards, which expired in 2001.
That legislation compensates employers for keeping employees off drugs.

Additionally, the state will make rural counties a priority,
providing more than $1 million per year for drug enforcement. Meth
users are proportionally high in rural regions, and some Washington
counties don't have federally funded task forces.

"This helps to raise up those communities who have little to no money
for drug enforcement," said Grays Harbor County Sheriff Mike Whelan.

In total, McKenna's meth push will cost the state around $10 million
per year, said policy director Chris Johnson.

"The long-term savings are so far in excess than the money invested,"
said Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, the Senate bill's primary sponsor.
"I don't see it as a cost, I see it as an investment."

Hargrove pointed out that repeat offenders -- common for meth addicts
- -- are a burden to victims, the court system, the environment, the
state and law enforcement, while Mckenna noted that "meth is the
single largest driver of foster care cases in the state."

Gov. Christine Gregoire said Monday that any bill on meth that comes
out of the Legislature has to accomplish two things: "How do we make
sure that the Pacific Northwest is not a haven for the meth problem?
And how do we make sure that we get effective treatment so that these
individuals can go on and be good parents and so on?"

McKenna's proposals will also provide more tools to assist in the
cleanup of contaminated meth labs.

For years, Washington law enforcement officials targeted meth labs --
ranking near the top of the states for the number of meth kitchens
raided annually -- and the ingredients used to cook the drug in
homes. Meth ingredients -- pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and
phenylpropanoline -- are found in nonprescription cold and allergy medications.

Under a law that went into effect Oct. 1, stores must keep cold and
allergy medications behind the counter, and clerks must check
identification to ensure that customers are at least 18.

Since July, customers have been limited to purchasing two
meth-producing products in a 24-hour period. Since Jan. 1, clerks
have started keeping track of who is purchasing the products in order
to help law enforcement officials identify repeat buyers.

The number of reported meth labs has dropped by about 50 percent in
the last six years, McKenna said.

"But it's important to understand that reducing the number of meth
labs is not the same as reducing the amount of meth use," he added.

About 75 percent of Washington's meth comes from outside state
borders. To curb that trend, the attorney general is working with
Idaho and Oregon to establish a multistate initiative to target meth.