POLICY ON CLEANING UP METH LABS TO BE REVISED

A new Justice Department policy that threatens to hurt the funding of local drug task forces will be revised, according to statements from the offices of both U.S. senators from Missouri.

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., said a meeting between Justice Department officials and Missouri law enforcement representatives will be held next week to work out the details of the revision. A statement from U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, D-Mo., said she sought the change along with Bond.

State law enforcement agencies have attacked the new policy, which would require them to pay a licensed contractor to clean up meth labs instead of letting the Department of Natural Resources do the job. The cost of the private contractor is $4,000 compared to $68 per cleanup for the DNR, according to Sgt. Kevin Glaser, coordinator of the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force.

Local drug task forces that refuse to comply would sacrifice their share of nearly $8.7 million in federal grant funding that goes to the state to fight drugs.

Glaser wrote Bond a letter laying out the issues. He says most of the meth labs busted in Southeast Missouri are small compared to those in California.

"It's a matter of them not knowing the problem we're faced with," Glaser said. "If we encounter 55-gallon drums we're going to have to call in a licensed contractor. But a quart of ether and a half gallon of drain cleaner, we can deal with that effectively."

Capt. James Keithley of the Missouri Highway Patrol was in Washington, D.C., this week talking with Justice Department officials about the special conditions Missouri drug enforcement officers face in dealing with meth labs.

Ernie Blazar, Bond's spokesman, didn't know whether next week's meeting will be held in Missouri or in Washington, D.C. "Part of the process that is going to be used is to find out how we best revise this rule to insure that the sheriffs and members of the drug task force are not using money on something that is not needed," he said.

The meth problem is not going to go away, Glaser says. "It boils down to how you are going to address the situation of cleaning them up. Missouri has a very effective, safe way of doing it."