Federal Budget Cuts Hurt State's Meth Fight
By Carole Graves
Tennessee Town & City
April 25, 2005

Last month, Tennessee lawmakers gave state and local law enforcement agencies more tools to fight the war on methamphetamine by passing comprehensive anti-meth legislation. However, proposed cuts in federal funding to important drug enforcement programs have many Tennessee officials concerned that the decrease in grant dollars will impede some of the state's progress.

The Bush Administration has proposed to totally eliminate funding for the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (EBJAG), which was established in 2004 by combing the Byrne Grant program and the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant program.

Congress appropriated $634 million for the program last year with Tennessee receiving $7.7 million. The majority of the funds in each state is passed on to local and regional units of government for the creation and maintenance of multi-jurisdictional drug task forces.

The Southeastern Methamphetamine Task force, which includes 42 counties in East and Middle Tennessee, received $1 million last year from the Byrne program. The federal funds helped pay for overtime for local law enforcement officers, and training and purchasing specialized equipment needed to clean up toxic meth-producing "kitchens."

"Drug task forces in my district, as well as the entire state of Tennessee, rely heavily on EBJAG to fight the local war on drugs," said Congressman Lincoln Davis, who represents some of the hardest hit areas in the state in terms of meth abuse. "Methamphetamine destroys lives, families, property, the surrounding environment, and is an incredible burden on local communities and law enforcement officials. Now is the time to fight this illicit drug, and all illegal substances head-on with increased man power and funding."

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Drug Investigation Division, Tennessee law enforcement agencies seized more than 1,200 meth labs in 2004, ranking third nationally for meth arrests and seizures and accounting for 75 percent of meth-related arrests in the Southeast.

Davis, along with many state and national organizations, including the National Criminal Justice Association, the state of Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs, the International Chiefs of Police, and the Tennessee Narcotic Officers' Association, are appealing to the U.S. House and Senate budget Committees to restore this vital funding.

"Eliminating this grant program gives the criminals an even greater advantage over our communities and law enforcement officers," he said. "Such an elimination of the valuable grant program puts the future of our children, families, and friends in grave danger."

Other criminal justice programs facing cuts include: a Justice Department methamphetamine initiative from $52.6 million to $20 million, representing a 60 percent cut; and the High-density Drug Trafficking Areas program from $227 million to $100 million.

In addition, the COPS program was significantly cut in the proposed budget. The budget proposes $118 million for the program, down from $606 million last year, an 80 percent decrease. However, $96 million of this amount is actually funding that will be carried over from the fiscal year 2005 budget. That means the president has proposed only $22 million in new funding for the COPS Office.

Overall, Bush has proposed spending $12.4 billion to fight the war on drugs, a 2.2 percent increase from last year. Most of the additional funds will target border control programs and crop eradication in an effort to intercept the drugs before they reach the United States.

"Every year almost 20,000 Americans die due to drug abuse and its related consequences," said Timothy Lane, TNOA president. "The Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates that the cost of illegal drugs to our society is over $150 billion per year. Since the Byrne program was founded, it has successfully funded drug education and enforcement programs. If Byrne funding were eliminated, many task forces would be eliminated. State and local law enforcement would be stripped of one of its most effective tools in fighting illegal drugs."