Pubdate: Thu, 07 Feb 2002
Source: Modesto Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2002 The Modesto Bee
Contact:  http://www.modbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/271
Author: Michael Doyle and Jim Miller
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)

VALLEY ANTI-METH EFFORTS GET A LIFT FROM DEA, TV SPOTS

The nation's top drug fighter promised Wednesday to restore personnel 
to the Central Valley's anti-methamphetamine campaign.

In a brief Capitol Hill meeting with Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford, Drug 
Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson pledged to add four 
agents to the valley's meth task force.

Hutchinson, a former congressional colleague of Dooley's, said the 
agents would be added within a month. They will help fill in for FBI 
agents who have been pulled off the valley's High Intensity Drug 
Trafficking Area program to focus on anti-terrorism efforts.

"We've really made great strides in our fight against meth thanks to 
federal involvement, and it's important that we not lose that 
momentum after Sept. 11," Dooley said in a statement.

In another meth-related development Wednesday, Gov. Davis and valley 
law enforcement officials announced in Sacramento the start of 
television commercials to encourage residents to tell authorities 
about suspected methamphetamine labs.

"This campaign will educate the citizens of the Central Valley as to 
the dangers of methamphetamine and how they can provide information 
that can help law enforcement to successfully stamp out this threat 
to public safety and threat to the Central Valley's principal 
industry, which is agriculture," Davis said.

Dooley's meeting with Hutchinson stemmed from a letter signed by the 
congressman, other House members from the Central Valley, and 
Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

It was sent in early January, after it became public that the six 
agents assigned to the valley task force program had been reassigned 
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"The valley's methamphetamine labs supply much of the western United 
States and because of the wide extent of production, use of the drug 
has become far too prevalent," the letter states.

In his meeting with Dooley, Hutchinson said he would reassign four 
Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Fresno to the task force. 
In turn, Dooley spokesman Adam Kovacevich said, Hutchinson indicated 
that four other DEA agents would be brought in to fill in for those 
reassigned. Kovacevich estimated that the meeting lasted less than 15 
minutes.

The Central Valley High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area links state, 
federal and local officers in a nine-county region stretching from 
Sacramento to Kern. There are 28 such programs nationwide.

The Bush administration budget proposal released this week calls for 
a 10 percent reduction in HIDTA funding. This apparently will not 
affect the valley organization's existing $2.5 million budget, but it 
could undermine efforts to get more money.

California's anti-meth commercial began airing Wednesday on cable 
channels in Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Sacramento and several other 
counties.

The ad, the first to target meth specifically, shows a photo of a 
child as flames lick at the edges. A voice warns of the dangers of 
the drug. The commercial is being run in English and Spanish.

"The chemicals used in making meth are highly toxic and highly 
explosive, chemicals that can dissolve plastic or burn human lungs," 
the ad says. It continues: "If you know of anyone involved in making 
meth, call 1-866-METHLAB."

The 2001-02 state budget includes $30 million for anti-meth equipment 
and personnel in the Central Valley, and Davis' 2002-03 spending 
proposal calls for $15 million more.

The first run of anti-meth commercials will cost $250,000, officials 
said, with some TV stations donating time for the ads. They initially 
will not run in Merced and a few other valley counties, but there are 
plans to run the ads in those counties eventually.

"We want to see how it goes before we do a big buy (of advertisement 
time)," said Allen Sawyer, director of the state Office of Criminal 
Justice Planning.
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