Pubdate: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA) Copyright: 2000 The Modesto Bee Contact: http://www.modbee.com/help/letters.html Website: http://www.modbee.com/ Author: Michael Doyle VALLEY ASKING FOR FUNDING TO STOP METH WASHINGTON -- The Central Valley's new federal anti-drug task force is in line to get 75 percent more money. Though it only recently got its formal start with $800,000, the task force is being recommended for an immediate increase to $1.4 million. A formal decision on the funding increase, which is being recommended by the staff of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is expected within days. "We considered $800,000 to be significantly under-funded," said Bill Ruzzamenti, director of the valley's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program. "We have a real strong case that we need more money." The same case has also been made by members of Congress, who championed creation of the federal program to fight methamphetamine in nine counties spanning the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. Having secured the initial funding last year, the lawmakers have since been pushing for increases. "The national importance of targeting enforcement aid to the Central Valley is clear," Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford, advised drug czar Gen. Barry McCaffrey on Monday. "The valley's methamphetamine labs supply much of the western United States. ... By targeting more supply reduction aid in the Central Valley, we can help reduce the supply of meth across the nation." The requests are nonpartisan. Republican Reps. Doug Ose of Sacramento and George Radanovich of Mariposa have joined Democrats Dooley and Gary Condit of Ceres in urging congressional colleagues to approve a further increase to $2.5 million for next year. Congress eventually will decide whether to grant that increase as part of the overall fiscal 2001 budget that will be complete by October. The funding for the Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area is part of nationwide program that now costs $192 million and is supposed to focus federal anti-drug resources on 31 critical needy areas. The immediate $687,000 increase for the valley program now being recommended needs only McCaffrey's signature. The money would be used to build operations at the valley trafficking area's four offices in Sacramento, Modesto, Fresno and Bakersfield. "It allows us to actually get to work getting computers, building out space ... it makes things a lot better," Ruzzamenti said. "Right now, we have (officers) sitting in conference rooms." Ruzzamenti is a former Drug Enforcement Administration official who became the valley program's first director in January. Along with an assistant and a fiscal officer, he currently works out of the DEA's office in Fresno while new quarters are prepared on E Street for the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. The federal program, though, is not intended as a new cadre of federal agents. Rather, it's supposed to help coordinate and target the ongoing anti-drug efforts -- in particular, the anti-meth efforts -- of more than a dozen valley law enforcement agencies. For instance, earlier this month the agencies became hooked up to a Southern California computer system, so that various valley meth-fighting operations could avoid conflict. "We hit the ground running in January," Ruzzamenti said. "This is a target-rich environment." - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk