Pubdate: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 ##################### MAP #################### Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Copyright: 1999 Los Angeles Times. Contact: (213) 237-4712 Website: http://www.latimes.com/ Forum: http://www.latimes.com/home/discuss/ Source: Seattle Times (WA) Copyright: 1999 The Seattle Times Company Contact: http://www.seattletimes.com/ METH-TRADE ZONES DRAW FEDERAL NOTICE WASHINGTON - California's sprawling Central Valley, long renowned for its agriculture business, earned a new and more dubious distinction yesterday from federal authorities: the "epicenter" of the United States' growing methamphetamine industry. Mexican-controlled methamphetamine "super labs" have grown so prevalent in the valley that the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has named the nine-county region as one of five "high-intensity" meth-trafficking zones in need of special attention. The designation means that the valley could receive as much as $2.5 million a year in federal funds, plus extra law-enforcement tools. Other drug-trafficking zones announced yesterday were Hawaii, a frequent stopover for high-grade heroin and other drugs from Asia; New England, a popular pipeline for East Coast drug smugglers; Ohio, infiltrated by violent street gangs and cocaine dealers in the state's "Rust Belt"; and Oregon, where methamphetamine has become the "drug of choice." All will share in the new federal funding. The meth trade was once dominated by biker gangs, but Mexican drug cartels have emerged in recent years to take control of the region, establishing laboratories in abandoned farmhouses, boarded-up homes and other remote rural sites, authorities said. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea