What is the Bush administrations position on stemming the meth abuse problem?
While deputy drug czar Scott M. Burns has defended the administration’s approach of not focusing on one illicit drug over another, officials in the Office of National Drug Control Policy have become more vocal in their support of lawmakers’ efforts to control pseudoephedrine. President Bush’s proposed 2007 budget suggests a mixed commitment to combating the meth epidemic.While the budget provides $40 million to the DEA for the clean-up of methamphetamine lab sites (a 100 percent increase over the 2006 allocation), it also contains some changes that have drawn criticism from congressional lawmakers. The budget proposes transferring the High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Program, which funds anti-drug efforts in the hardest-hit regions and is currently operated by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, to the Department of Justice. The administration argues that the transfer will allow for better coordination of anti-drug efforts of other federal agencies and allow the pro
