P-D:
Budget battle could hurt Mo. meth fight
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — One of the first major disagreements over President Bush’s budget proposal could hurt Missouri’s efforts to fight methamphetamine.
Missouri, which has had more meth lab seizures than any other state in the country for more than a decade, depends on money from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program to fund its drug-fighting efforts.
Currently the state gets almost $9 million from the program, with $6.3 million going to state law enforcement and $2.7 million to city and county police departments.
Last year, the president tried to kill the program. Under his current budget proposal, the program would get an extra $30 million for 2009, with a total budget of $200 million. Since 2002, the program’s funding has been cut from $900 million.
I thought Talent-Feinstein and equivalent state laws stopped the trailer park operations. Not that there isn’t any more meth problems — there are still addicts, and Hispanic gangs are filling in the supply void.
