METH PANEL DEMANDS LEADERSHIP

Lawmakers Vent Their Frustration With The White House's Slow Response To
The Drug's Spread And Get Assurances Of Greater Efforts

WASHINGTON -- A predominantly Republican congressional committee thrashed
the White House drug czar's office Tuesday, saying it should scrap its
failed national drug control strategy and craft an emergency plan to halt
the epidemic spread of methamphetamine.

"This committee is trying desperately to say, 'Lead! You're the executive
branch," said Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., who led the hearing on the spread
of meth across the nation's heartland.

The hearing had been billed as a chance to take stock of federal resources
that can help local governments deal with meth and related crime. But
members vented their frustration with the Bush administration's slow
response to meth's rapid spread across the nation.

Souder led the chorus of complaints. The drug czar's office, known
officially as the Office of National Drug Control Policy, should develop a
comprehensive policy that addresses meth's unique potential to overwhelm
community police, hospitals and child services, he said.

"It's the most dangerous drug in America, and we want ONDCP to acknowledge
it," said Souder, who is chairman of the Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and
Human Resources subcommittee of Government Reform.

Last October, the drug czar's office issued its first strategy to combat
synthetic drugs including meth and ecstasy, and the abuse of prescription
medicines such as OxyContin.

The administration's lead witness, deputy drug czar Scott Burns, assured
the panel that the administration would redouble efforts to deal with meth
on a national level. He also told Souder he would relay members' concerns
to the White House. The drug czar's office is a branch of Executive Office
of the President.

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

Nevertheless, several members took issue with comments made earlier this
month by officials at the drug czar's office who downplayed the seriousness
of the meth problem. Those comments were in response to a national survey
of sheriffs, which said meth was their top drug problem.

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., berated Burns and other administration witnesses
for failing to acknowledge that the spread of meth into Midwestern and
Eastern states has reached epidemic proportions.

"The meth issue is totally out of hand," Mica said "We need a plan. I don't
hear anything that sounds like a plan. This needs to be done on an
emergency, expedited basis."

Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., formerly head football coach at the University of
Nebraska, said meth poses a greater threat to U.S. society than foreign
terrorists.

"Meth is the biggest threat to the United States, maybe even including
al-Qaida," Osborne said.

Under the Bush administration, the stated goal of the drug czar's office
has been to reduce rates of illegal drug use across society. Some critics
have said that strategy leads to an overemphasis on marijuana, even though
meth can exact a far costlier toll in crime, hospital admissions and abused
children.

Burns, formerly a prosecutor in rural Utah, was in Portland earlier this
month, telling a group of national and international prosecutors that
"methamphetamine is the most destructive, dangerous, terrible drug that's
come along in a long time."

But Tuesday, Burns said the drug czar's office owed it to the nation to
take a balanced approach to combating use of illegal drugs.

"We have to deal with the fact that there are more kids in treatment for
marijuana than for all other drugs combined," Burns said.

He added that law officers in the Northeast who struggle against heroin use
"would laugh if we told them there was a meth epidemic."

That comment sparked an exchange with Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. Cummings
said he objected to Burns' characterization. He said people in the
Northeast don't take drug addiction lightly and would be more likely to
empathize than laugh about meth.

Burns said he wasn't trying to make light of drug addiction. He told
Cummings that his 52-year-old brother died earlier this month after a
lifetime of abusing painkillers and alcohol after a mining accident.
"There's nothing funny about it," Burns said.

Met with caucus

Before the hearing, Burns met privately with Souder and other members of
the bipartisan House Meth Caucus, which has about 100 members. Rep. Brian
Baird, D-Wash., said Burns briefed the members on administration plans to
improve its approach to meth but offered few specifics and no firm timeline
for action.

Baird is not a member of the Government Reform panel, but he said he was
struck by the tone of complaints registered at the hearing, particularly
from Republicans who normally support the administration.

"To a certain degree, the administration has brought this on themselves by
their inaction in the past and their almost complete inattention to this
problem," Baird said. "I think they're finally getting it. In the past I
think they gave us short shrift."