HOUSE OKS $1.4 MILLION TO FIGHT METH

The U.S. House of Representatives approved another $1.4 million Wednesday
for anti-methamphetamine programs in Oklahoma. Under the House bill, the
Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control will receive $1
million to purchase and equip a mobile field command post to assist in meth
cleanup operations.

The Oklahoma City Police Department also is scheduled to receive $461,000
through the COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services) Methamphetamine Hot
Spots Program. The program assists local and state law enforcement with the
seizure and destruction of methamphetamine labs.

The effort to increase funding for Oklahoma's war on meth was led by U.S.
Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne.

"We've got to get Oklahoma off the top of the list of meth-producing
states," Lucas said. "This embarrassing statistic should be a wake-up call
to all of us that this issue won't go away unless we work now to tackle
this problem."

Lucas made the requests for the Oklahoma anti-methamphetamine funds along
with Rep. J.C. Watts, R- Norman.

The bill provides $70.5 million -- a $22.2 million increase -- for state
and local law enforcement programs nationally to combat methamphetamine
production and distribution.

The funding was included in an appropriations bill that passed the House on
Wednesday. The bill will now go to the Senate for a vote.