CARSON BILL WOULD SEEK FUNDS TO COMBAT METH

While state leaders crack down on methamphetamine by taking pseudoephedrine
off Oklahoma store shelves, a congressman is also rolling up his shirt
sleeves to rid rural Oklahoma of highly addictive meth.

Representatives for U.S. Rep. Brad Carson, D-Okla., said Wednesday he will
re-introduce a bill later this month asking federal lawmakers to provide
funding for rural law enforcement to combat meth and create more local meth
prevention and treatment programs.

Shane Jernigan, Carson's grant coordinator, spoke to law enforcement, tribal
environmental officials and even apartment complex managers -- all of whom
said they are affected by meth -- at a forum in Muskogee on Wednesday.

"Something has to move," Jernigan said of the growing meth problem. "This is
more than a drug, it's poison."

According to Carson's office, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency seized
only two meth labs in 1994 while more than 1,200 reportedly were seized in
2003.

In 2001, the DEA spent $1 million on meth lab clean-ups alone, but the state
spent $3.3 million on the same type of costs, his office reported.

Under Carson's proposed Rural Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act,
Congress would provide money for one year to staff a rural law enforcement
office to help seize meth labs.

Over the years, the current Community Oriented Policing Service program to
combat meth has been slashed by federal lawmakers by $1 billion, Jernigan
said.

Carson's proposed legislation also seeks to set aside funds for rural law
enforcement to buy forensic heavy equipment, improve 911 and create a pilot
program for community-based public and nonprofit agencies to start
methamphetamine treatment programs.

Another provision would help provide grants for cleanup of meth labs to
state, local and tribal governments.

Jernigan said there is a movement in Congress to slash Drug Enforcement
Agency funding for meth lab cleanups.

"Right now those labs cost about $2,000 to $5,000 (apiece) to clean and the
DEA pays those bills," Jernigan said.

The bill also asks for more training for state and local prosecutors and law
enforcement agents for methamphetamine crimes and asks to expand the meth
hot spot grant to rural communities.

Currently, Oklahoma City is the only city in the state designated as a hot
spot for the drugs and receiving that federal funding, Jernigan said.

He also said Carson applauded Oklahoma's effort Wednesday to become the
first state to ban store sales of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine.

But Jernigan said Carson worries about meth cookers now driving across state
lines to buy the cold pills, a key ingredient for making meth.

"In our congressional district, 10 out of 35 counties touch another state,"
Jernigan said. "They can easily buy it and bring it back."

He said Carson wants federal lawmakers to also create an Interstate Commerce
Law for those caught trafficking with several pounds of pseudoephedrine to
face steeper penalties.

So far, Carson's office has held 15 meth forums in Eastern Oklahoma to raise
awareness and get feedback from the community to take back to federal
lawmakers, Jernigan said.