BY STEPHEN DEERE
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Methamphetamine poses the greatest challenge to Arkansas’
drug enforcement agents.
U.S. drug policy has enjoyed phenomenal success in recent years.
And doctors needn’t be concerned about drug enforcement
authorities’ investigations into physicians who overprescribe pain relievers.
That was the three-part message U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Director
Asa Hutchinson brought to Little Rock on Thursday.
The U.S. drug czar spoke to about 150 doctors at the Annual Scientific
Assembly of the Arkansas chapter of the Academy of Family Physicians.
Hutchinson said the biggest problem the DEA faces is the frustration and
cynicism of the American public toward U.S. drug policy. The DEA, he said, has allowed
proponents of drug legalization to promote a dubious message and failed to make people
aware of the government’s successes.
"I believe we have a story to tell that is one of success," he
said. "We need to get it out to the public." ARKANSAS’
BATTLE
The number of methamphetamine labs in Arkansas has steadily risen for the past decade. In
1996, authorities seized 72 labs. They busted 366 labs in 2001. Still, drug enforcement
authorities say the majority of the drug found in the state comes from outside Arkansas
— specifically from "super labs" in California, Hutchinson said.
Arkansas DEA agents often seize 10- and 15-pound shipments of the drug from
traffickers on the state’s highways and from other meth caches, said Sue Tischler,
assistant special agent in charge at Little Rock’s DEA office.
Super labs are capable of producing 10 to 20 pounds of methamphetamine per
batch, while most labs in Arkansas manufacture only an ounce, Tischler said.
But Tischler couldn’t say how much of the drug that the DEA seizes from
out-of-state shipments is for users here or on its way to another state.
"I hesitate to say on that," she said, but added that a significant
amount is stays in the state.
"You have a significant user population here," she said.
"Especially in Northwest Arkansas, methamphetamine is the drug of choice."
The large shipments are such a concern that DEA agents have focused on
uncovering them and not on the smaller labs in the state.
"The DEA itself has kind of extricated itself from responding to these
small toxic labs and is trying to work the major investigations," Tischler said.
"We train state and local officers so that they can respond."
Hutchinson said the meth problem is compounded by a United States’
neighbor.
Although the United States has regulated the amount of pseudoephedrine —
the key component in making meth found in many over-the-counter cold medications — a
person can buy, Canada hasn’t.
That allows meth producers to smuggle vast amounts of the compound over the
border, Hutchinson said.
"We are pushing Canada to regulate [pseudoephedrine purchasing ],"
Hutchinson said.
U.S. DRUG POLICY SUCCESS
Those who favor the legalization of drugs argue that the country’s drug policy is
ineffective. That is not the case, Hutchinson said.
He offered the following DEA statistics: Overall drug use has dropped by 50
percent in the past 20 years.
Cocaine use has dwindled 75 percent in the past 15 years.
Only 5 percent of the U.S. population uses illegal drugs.
"That reflects a hugely successful policy," Hutchinson said.
Most who espouse legalizing drugs are mainly speaking of marijuana. While not
the highest DEA priority, Hutchinson said that the drug still poses dangers.
Roughly 45,000 Americans receive treatment for marijuana abuse each year, he
said, adding that many young people favor the drug.
Alaska experimented with legalizing marijuana in the 1970s and had a number
of problems, especially in the educational system, Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson also said no evidence exists that smoking marijuana has any
medicinal value.
But Glen Schwarz, president of the Arkansas chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, disagreed with Hutchinson.
The government arrests about 750,000 people a year for marijuana related
offenses, Schwarz said.
"So he’s going to bust 750,000 people to keep these 45,000 from
using," Schwarz said.
Schwarz called Hutchinson’s statement about marijuana’s medicinal
value an "outright lie."
He said there is a host of evidence the herbal drug has medical value and
many cancer patients testify to its benefits.
FOCUSING ON PHYSICIANS
Arkansas doctors have a role to play in the drug war as well, Hutchinson said.
Many drug abusers in the state are illegally obtaining Oxy-Contin, a
prescription painkiller used by cancer patients.
According to the DEA’s Web site, OxyContin is being abused in epidemic
proportions in Arkansas.
Hutchinson told physicians not to be intimidated by those trying to obtain
prescriptions for legal drugs when they don’t have a legitimate need for them, and to
report those individuals to authorities.
He also urged them not to be overly concerned with the DEA’s efforts to
curtail illegal prescriptions.
"Most any investigation of a doctor is the result of a specific
report," he said, adding that such reports could come from police reports or a
pharmacist.
"The DEA does not want to intimidate anyone," he said.
However, someone in the audience took issue with that statement, saying that
DEA agents "come into your office like the Gestapo on hearsay."
Hutchinson said such activity should be reported.
"If there is an instant like that, please let us know," Hutchinson
responded. |