ARKANSAS DELEGATION SEEKS DRUG DESIGNATION

WASHINGTON -- Arkansas lawmakers urged a top Bush administration official
Thursday to designate the state for a special anti-drug effort that would
increase federal funding for local law enforcers to battle narcotics.

In a letter to White House "drug czar" John Walters, the six-member
congressional delegation called Arkansas an "ideal setting for illegal drug
manufacturing and perfectly situated for trafficking.

""Illegal drug makers favor Arkansas because it is sparsely populated with
remote, rural areas, and has a high rate of poverty, joblessness and low per
capita income," lawmakers told Walters, who heads the Office of National
Drug Control Policy.

Arkansans said Walters soon will decide whether to add Arkansas to the High
Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program. A call to ONDCP was not returned
Thursday. Earlier efforts by the Arkansas delegation to secure a HIDTA
designation have been rejected in favor of larger states.

Sens. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Reps. Marion
Berry, D-Gillett, Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, Mike Ross, D-Prescott, and John
Boozman, R-Rogers, signed the letter. Arkansan Asa Hutchinson, who heads the
Drug Enforcement Administration, also has lobbied Walters to give the state
a federal designation.

"I'm assured that Arkansas will be under serious consideration, and it's
under the review process and no decision has been made," said Asa
Hutchinson, whose agency helped the Arkansas State Police draft the state's
application.

"I know talking to the White House that funds are limited for new HIDTAs,
and there are substantially more requests than there are resources,"
Hutchinson said.

In its application to the White House, the state requests $5 million for
seven counties to track the movement of crack cocaine, methamphetamine
manufacturing and trafficking groups based in Mexico.

"Methamphetamine is the primary dangerous drug of concern within the state
of Arkansas," the application states. "The production, distribution and
abuse of both Mexican and locally produced methamphetamine continue to
rise."

Arkansas ranks No. 1 in the country on its per capita rate of
methamphetamine lab seizures, 896 labs in 2001, according to Sen.
Hutchinson's office. The state ranks third for overall lab seizures
nationwide behind California and Missouri.

The state's exploding methamphetamine production has got the attention of
the White House, according to Asa Hutchinson.

"We have a good game plan on how to impact the drug problem both inside the
state and how to impact the drug problem nationally," Hutchinson said. "I'm
encouraged there's going to be some help for Arkansas."

The counties that would be eligible for aid include Sebastian, Benton,
Craighead, Jefferson, Miller, Pulaski and Washington counties, according to
the application.

"While drug dealers have made Arkansas their base, they export the addiction
and crime their products bring to the entire nation," Arkansas lawmakers say
in their letter. "The rise of the pernicious industry in our home state is
directly dependent on the national demand for drugs, something your office
is working to reduce. Arkansas needs strong federal assistance to overcome
this national problem."