DEA CHIEF IN SLC TO PUSH MESSAGE OF METH DANGER

Last year, Asa Hutchinson's teenage son asked if he could go to a rave
party -- purportedly drug-free -- in Little Rock, Ark.

So Hutchinson, who would later become the director of the Drug Enforcement
Administration, called a friend in the police department and learned the
organizer of the party was going to be arrested that night for dealing
1,000 Ecstasy pills.

"The average parent doesn't have a law enforcement connection," said
Hutchinson, who was in Salt Lake City on Tuesday as part of a multistate
"Meth in America: Not in Our Town Tour" drug awareness tour. "I learned it
is important to get accurate information out to parents and teens about drugs."

Hutchinson said that while locking drug offenders up is important, money
for treatment and education is equally critical in the drug war.

"In his latest budget, President Bush has set aside a record amount for
treatment programs," Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson praised Utah law enforcement officers and the community for
helping to reduce the number of meth labs for two consecutive years.

"There's good news in Utah," Hutchinson said. "Utah has a right to be
applauded for extraordinary leadership -- in law enforcement, prevention
and drug courts. I will point to Utah as a model."

Still, he said the No.1 drug problem in rural America and Utah remains
methamphetamine. He said the drug comes into Utah mostly from out of state
instead of from home-cook meth labs.

To combat the problem, the DEA has trained 150 state and local officers and
provided about $300,000 in equipment, Hutchinson said.

"Methamphetamine is still an ongoing problem in our society," he said,
adding that drug usage overall has dropped 50 percent in the last two decades.