Pubdate: Fri, 01 Apr 2005 Source: Charleston Daily Mail (WV) Copyright: 2005 Charleston Daily Mail Contact: http://www.dailymail.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/76 Author: George Gannon, Mail staff Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) ROCKEFELLER GETS AN EARFUL ON METH LAB WORRIES Charleston Mayor Danny Jones set the tone for a roundtable discussion with Sen. Jay Rockefeller and law enforcement officials with a blunt assessment of recent federal cuts to grants that police agencies use to fight methamphetamines and other drugs. "I can't understand the thinking up there," Jones told the crowd gathered in a conference room at the West Virginia State Police Academy. "Do they think this is going to be solved in a vacuum?" Jones told a standing-room-only crowd Thursday that when crack cocaine hit the street in the 1980s, the federal government's aggressive reaction was a contrast to the current situation. Congress made the highly addictive derivative of cocaine a Class I narcotic and increased the mandatory sentencing guidelines for people caught using and selling the drug. Jones argued that Washington is still making the same demands on local police and prosecutors and expects them to operate even though the funding is being stripped away. Rockefeller, D-W.Va. discussed the federal funding and the effects of methamphetamines with local officials. He offered advice on the best way to get the funding restored. Rockefeller, who voted against the budget, said he can speak on the Senate floor about the damage the cuts will do, but it won't be as effective as law enforcement officers from 20 or 30 states demanding meetings at the White House and with congressional leaders. There were 222 meth lab drug busts in West Virginia in 2004, and there have been more than 140 already this year, said state Public Safety Secretary Jim Spears. Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford said his department alone has found 44 meth labs since Jan. 1. "We can't get anything done for the meth labs," Rutherford said. "It's one problem. We still have all the other drugs we've been dealing with for years they were extremely busy on anyway." Charleston Police Lt. Steve Neddo, commander of the Metro Drug Unit, said Congress should consider a law that limits the availability of cold medicines or other drugs containing pseudoephedrine -- the drug's main ingredient. State legislators are working to pass a similar law, but Neddo said it won't help border counties because addicts there could go into neighboring states and pick up the drug. Capt. Rick Woodyard, who heads the Parkersburg Narcotics Task Force, said when Oklahoma passed a law that put pseudoephedrine behind the counter, the number of labs police there busted dropped by 60 percent. He said the companies who manufacture cold medicine could make it in a liquid form that's just as effective for its intended use, but the ephedrine can't be isolated by meth lab operators. Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper said restoring the funding may not seem important to the general public because they might not understand how dire the situation could become. "This is going to be a clear moral issue when someone calls 911 and nobody comes. We'll have someone to answer the phone, but nobody will be able to respond," he said. The Associated Press contributed to this story. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin