Pubdate: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 Source: Desert Sun (CA) Copyright: 2001 The Desert Sun Contact: http://www.thedesertsun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1112 Author: Jake Henshaw LAWMAKERS STRUGGLE TO FUND DRUG WAR SACRAMENTO There's a tug-of-war in the Capitol between legislators from the Central Valley and Southern California over funds to combat methamphetamine. In the recently approved state budget, there is $30 million to find and shut down laboratories producing the illegal drug in the Central Valley. "By all accounts, the Central Valley has seen a dramatic rise in the methamphetamine production and distribution, especially in the form of super-sized dangerous clandestine laboratories," Sen. Charles Poochigian, R-Fresno, wrote recently in defending the need for the new funding. His letter was addressed to Assemblyman Carl Washington, D-Paramount, who is trying to siphon off $10 million from the Central Valley funds for an existing program in seven counties, including Riverside County, to help children endangered by methamphetamine. "We can't have a war on methamphetamine without a war to rescue innocent children placed in harm's way by criminally negligent parents," Washington said. Caught in the middle:The conflict has particularly upset Central Valley lawmakers like Poochigian and Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes, D- Fresno, because they both have supported the children's program, but insist it needs to find another source of money. At this point, the odds seem to favor the Central Valley because the governor is the one who proposed boosting the anti-methamphetamine campaign there from $1.5 million to $30 million. But legislators are wary of the delegation from the Los Angeles Basin, by far the largest in the Capitol. Office of Criminal Justice Planning officials said the Los Angeles region is the beneficiary of a host of state and federal law enforcement activities to combat illegal drugs, from $10.5 million in federal money specifically for anti-meth work to helicopters, federal agents, and other resources. Methamphetaminecan cause a range of health problems from hallucinations to heart trouble and tissue deterioration. The chemical is produced by small-time criminals and by major drug dealers in farmhouses, suburban homes, warehouse and other hidden locations throughout the state. Cracking down: In the Coachella and Imperial valleys, arrests have run the gamut from busts at small, rural labs to large-scale operations such as one shut down in Mecca in May. In that bust, Riverside County Sheriff's deputies arrested four peopleand seized a suspected methamphetamine lab capable of producing $500,000 worth of the drug. Also in May, border agents at the Calexico Port of Entry arrested a 16-year-old Mexicali girl after they seized 35 pounds -- or $322,000 worth - -- of methamphetamine. At the heart of the legislative conflict is the struggle to ramp up law enforcement efforts to keep up with the meth producers. Statewide in 1999, investigators discovered more than 2,000 meth labs, nearly double the number found five years earlier, according to the state Office of Criminal Justice Planning. California produced 80 percent of the nation's supply. As evidence of the drug's demand, OCJP said more than a third of all state prison parolees tested positive for meth use, more than any other illegal drug. "The popularity of methamphetamine in the prison population underscores the growing popularity of the drug in the general population," the OCJP said in a report. By far, the largest number of labs were found in the Los Angeles region, 979 in 2000 compared to 193 in the Central Valley. This Los Angeles edge includes the so-called super labs, which produce 20 pounds or more of meth. The actual total volume produced by all labs in the two regions is unclear. To Washington and the Los Angeles district attorney's office, which is lobbying hard for the lawmaker's measure, Assembly Bill 41, this justifies tapping the $30 million pot for their program, which is losing federal support. " AB 41 gives us an opportunity to conduct a complete war on methamphetamines" by meeting the needs of children living in houses where the drug is produced, Washington said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth