METH NO LAUGHING MATTER TO LEGISLATORS

Souder: Drug Czar Lax On Near-Epidemic

WASHINGTON – People in the Northeast or Chicago "would laugh if you told
them there's a meth epidemic," a Bush administration anti-drug official
said Tuesday, contradicting the attorney general and prompting a stern
reaction from members of a House committee.

Rep. Mark Souder, R-3rd, scolded the Bush administration for not having a
plan to attack the spread of methamphetamine, which he said is on the cusp
of a nationwide epidemic "like we've never seen in America" because it is
beginning to spread from rural areas to cities.

"The attorney general says it's the most dangerous drug in America, and we
want ONDCP (the Office of the National Drug Control Policy) to acknowledge
it," Souder told the agency's deputy director, Scott Burns.

But at a hearing Tuesday, Burns said the drug czar's office "also has to
deal with heroin in the Northeast, where they would laugh if you told them
America has a meth epidemic. We have to deal with cocaine and gangs in
Chicago, where they would laugh if you told them there's a meth epidemic.
We have to deal with the fact that more kids are in treatment for marijuana
than for all other drugs combined and that 75 percent of the 19.5 million
(drug users) are using that drug. We have to be able to deal with all of
the drugs and all of the problems."

Members of Souder's committee – Democrats and Republicans alike –
castigated Burns for not having a specific strategy for tackling meth
production and use.

Souder complained that the drug czar's approach is "piecemeal" even though
meth "has been steadily moving across the country. … We see no national
coordinated meth strategy."

Burns said his agency is working on one.

Souder also complained that the Bush administration, "with the active
backing of ONDCP," proposed to cut the anti-drug budget for next year,
particularly in programs involved in local law enforcement, which deals
with meth problems. He said the House has largely restored the money.

"Is ONDCP and the administration ready to say, 'We were wrong,' and, as we
go to conference here, are they going to back us on the meth questions?" he
asked Burns, referring to the process used when the House and Senate
resolve the differences between the two chambers' differences in spending
bills.

"I'll deliver the message, congressman," Burns replied. "I hear you loud
and clear."

In a report issued three weeks ago, the National Association of Counties
said 58 percent of counties say meth is their No. 1 drug problem.

"Meth is the greatest threat to the United States, maybe including
al-Qaida," said Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb. He told Burns that members of
Congress "need specifics; we don't need generalities" about a nationwide
plan for attacking the spread of meth.