EMERSON REVIVES EFFORT TO FIGHT DRUG WAR

U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson says it will take more than federal dollars to win the war on drug trafficking.

"The fact of the matter is that the drug problem has to be fought from every level of society, from the federal government to state governments to local governments to our churches and our communities and our families," she said Friday.

Emerson spoke to Southeast Missouri reporters via a conference call.

Emerson is scheduled to host an 8th District anti-drug summit Tuesday. It comes at a time of proliferating methamphetamine trafficking in Southeast Missouri. Missouri ranks second behind only California in the number of methamphetamine labs in the state.

The summit, slated to begin at 9 a.m., will be an interactive video conference involving presenters at six colleges in the region.

Emerson and Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Ferrell will be at Southeast Missouri State University's clinical education lab in the Scully Building.

The other sites are Three Rivers Community College at Poplar Bluff, the Bootheel Education Center at Malden, Mineral Area College at Park Hills, Southwest Missouri State University's West Plains campus and the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Besides Emerson and Ferrell, scheduled presenters include Missouri Highway Patrol and SEMO Drug Task Force officers, the West Plains assistant police chief, a drug counselor, a high school guidance counselor and a high school student.

A question and answer session will follow the presentations.

Emerson said this will mark the first time that all six universities have been linked together for an interactive video conference.

The summit is open to the public, but reservations are encouraged because of limited seating at the sites. Reservations may be made by contacting Emerson's district offices in Cape Girardeau, Farmington and Rolla.

Emerson said she hopes the summit will provide some suggestions on how to win the war on drugs.

She said she would like to see a pilot program implemented in some area to attack the drug problem on all fronts. Emerson said the nation doesn't have a unified strategy in the war on drugs. A pilot program in the 8th District could serve as a model approach for the nation, she said.

Emerson said there needs to be a massive education effort involving schools, churches, community leaders and parents.

She emphasized the parents' role in keeping children from using illegal drugs.

"An awful lot of parents seem less involved with their kids, what they are doing after school and what their friends are doing," she said.

Emerson said she still checks up on her high-school-age daughter. "She says drugs are rampant around her high school in Virginia," Emerson said.

The Cape Girardeau Republican said too many people have a "devil-may-care" attitude about drugs. She said drugs are as addictive as tobacco and more life threatening in the short run.

Methamphetamine is a major problem in Southeast Missouri and the nation because it can easily be produced with household chemicals, Emerson said.

The congresswoman said the nation needs tougher sentencing of juveniles in drug cases. She said legislation has been proposed in Congress that would impose life sentences on those convicted of manufacturing or distributing illegal drugs.

"It would be the hope of those of us who are sponsoring the legislation that if people knew they would be behind bars for life that they would be less inclined to manufacture or distribute," Emerson said.