HUTCHINSON BACKS METH BILL

WASHINGTON - Drug Enforcement Agency chief Asa Hutchinson endorsed a
bill Wednesday seeking more than $60 million for the clean-up of waste
left by methamphetamine laboratories.

Hutchinson, who authored similar legislation when he represented
northwest Arkansas in the House from 1997 until last year, said his
home state is plagued not only by local methamphetamine labs, but also
large amounts of the drug from California.

"The super labs that are out there (in California) that make in the
20-pound quantity of methamphetamine at a batch - that's being
brought into Arkansas and other states and being sold," Hutchinson
said.

William Hollenbeck, a captain with the Sebastian County Sheriff's
Department who heads the 12th Judicial Drug Task Force, said in a
phone interview that Interstate 40 is a meth pipeline to Arkansas from
California.

"We see a lot of transient drug smugglers on I-40 and this is
causing a lot of problems in Arkansas," Hollenbeck said.
"Methamphetamine is the primary drug we deal with. I've been here
11 years, and the problem is gradually becoming bigger and bigger."

Methamphetamine is a powerfully addictive stimulant that dramatically
affects the central nervous system. The drug can be made cheaply and
easily in makeshift laboratories with relatively inexpensive
over-the-counter ingredients.

Initially, methamphetamine addiction was confined to a few urban areas
in the Southwest. But in recent years, several major Western cities
and Hawaii have seen dramatic increases in methamphetamine use, and
rural areas throughout the country are becoming more affected by the
drug.

Hutchinson joined seven members of the House at a Capitol Hill news
conference Wednesday for the unveiling of new anti-methamphetamine
legislation by Rep. Doug Ose, R-Calif.

Besides calling for $60 million for environmental cleanup of
methamphetamine labs, Ose's bill also would authorize $31 million in
education, prevention and treatment.

A third provision of the bill would add an unspecified amount to the
budget of the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Justice
"to neutralize, abolish and upset production" of methamphetamine.

The Drug Enforcement Agency's budget of $1.6 billion this year
includes about $30.1 million for cleanup of methamphetamine labs,
according to DEA spokesman Will Glaspy.

"(The Ose bill) allows (cleanup of) a meth lab to qualify for some
grant money that was not previously available, so it fills a gap,"
Hutchinson said.

Ose's bill has 42 co-sponsors.

Joining Hutchinson and Ose at Wednesday's news conference were Reps.
Brian Baird, D-Wash.; Bob Barr, R-Ga.; Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa; Chris
Cannon, R-Utah; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; and Zach Wamp, R-Tenn.

Cannon said he can always tell methamphetamine addicts when he shakes
hands at parades back home. "They are filthy, immodest. ... They
have a vacant look in their eyes," Cannon said.

Wamp said the money in Ose's bill is desperately needed by local
communities that don't have $5,000 or so needed to clean up meth
sites.

"If we weren't in the war on terrorism, this would be front-page
news," Wamp said.

Hutchinson said there is no evidence linking methamphetamine money
with terrorism in the Middle East. But he noted there are violent
gangs in Mexico engaged in methamphetamine trafficking.