Dunn asking Congress to fund fight against methamphetamine

Published 2:37 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

CARNATION _ Cocaine and crack, the drugs of choice for the

late 1980s and early ’90s, have been replaced by a substance much

cheaper and easier to make. Using items found in convenience and grocery stores,

its makers can move quickly from city to city, neighborhood to neighborhood.

Possibly yours.

In the past few years, methamphetamine, also known as “crystal

meth,” “ice” and a variety of other names,

has become a major problem for Valley law enforcement officials and the

King County Sheriff’s Office. But a proposal currently before the U.S.

House of Representatives and the Senate could give Washington police

agencies more money to fight the rising tide of the drug’s popularity.

Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., is pushing for more than $40 million

to be spent on police methamphetamine programs in Washington and

across the country. In the version before the Senate, the Washington State

Methamphetamine Initiative could receive $3 million out of $41.7 million. The

program proposed in the House is similar, but has an overall allocation

of $45.7 million, with the amount allocated to Washington State to be

determined.

To learn more about the methamphetamine problem, Dunn rode

along with Officer Bill Brown of the Carnation Police Department. The city

has a contract with the Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement services.

“This whole issue has come into a lot of focus lately,” Dunn said

about methamphetamine use. But she added that not everyone is aware of the

problem, saying, “Until (people) realize that this exists in their

community, they don’t think about it at all.”

Brown has seen the problem firsthand. For users,

methamphetamine, which can be snorted, injected or

ingested, “is the drug of choice. It works fast and gives them a lot of

energy,” he said. He added that the drug can

be found in all segments of society.

“This can happen in any neighborhood _ nice neighborhoods and

bad neighborhoods,” Brown said.

Because over-the-counter medications and other items can be used

to make the drug, it doesn’t take a sophisticated production and

distribution system to get the drug to users.

“You don’t need to be a chemist to make it,” Brown said.

Methamphetamine labs have been found inside county homes and

cars transporting the items necessary to make the drug have been stopped

by sheriff’s officers. Instructions on how to manufacture the drug can be

found on Internet sites.

Making the drug is dangerous and potentially deadly. When a

methamphetamine lab is found, police don hazardous-materials protective suits

to prevent being exposed to the toxic chemicals.

“It can explode in a house,” Dunn said about the drug. “I think it’s a

very big community safety issue.

“When officers go to the house and find out it’s a meth lab, it’s a very

dangerous place to be.”

This year for the first time, King County sheriff’s officers

receiving training about methamphetamine and the labs and chemicals used to

make the drug. Brown said even though officers are more aware of the

drug, sometimes that knowledge isn’t enough to protect them.

“Before you know what happened, you’re infected,” he said of

officers beings exposed to the chemicals.

Dunn said a couple of things can be done to try and stem the flood

of methamphetamine use in communities and nationally.

“I think if there was a heavy pressure on people not to do drugs, I

think that would help at the national level,” she said. Another way to combat

the problem is to build on already-successful drug programs.

“Instead of saying we need 100,000 new policemen, we should

be funding some of these programs that work,” Dunn said.

Brown said any additional funding would be helpful.

“If there’s money for training, it’s going to help us all the way around.”