Meese Seeks $10 Million to Fight Crack

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III proposed Thursday that Congress spend an additional $10 million to heighten the government’s war against the potent form of cocaine known as crack.

The plan includes hiring 50 Drug Enforcement Administration special agents and a support staff of 32 to assist local law enforcement agencies in 24 metropolitan areas where the problem is considered the worst.

Other steps would include expanding DEA intelligence programs and providing additional training for state and local police.

Concern about crack is a major force behind the White House drive against illegal narcotics. The proposal announced Thursday, however, is separate from the massive anti-drug legislative packages that have been passed by the House and Senate, a Justice Department spokesman said. The two bills must be reconciled before being signed into law.

‘Special Efforts’

“Special drug trafficking problems require special efforts, and we believe that new steps are appropriate to help in a number of areas that have serious crack problems,” Meese said. No congressional action is expected on the Justice Department request until the next legislative session, which begins in January.

In a report issued with the request, the Reagan Administration said crack is “being abused in near-epidemic proportions in some communities.” Los Angeles was among the first places where use of the drug was noted, as early as 1981, the report said.

Although no reliable figures are available, various government agencies have said they believe that crack use is growing rapidly, despite reports that abuse of other illegal narcotics is leveling off.

The DEA released a study last week saying that crack use is concentrated in a few major metropolitan areas and suggested that the scope of the problem may have been exaggerated by the news media. The Justice Department spokesman said Meese’s proposal was an effort to focus anti-crack efforts on those cities where the problem is most serious.

Aiding Local Governments

The second report was issued by the National Drug Enforcement Policy Board, which Meese chairs, and was requested by Congress in July to develop a plan for assisting local governments in fighting the drug.

Crack, which is easily manufactured, is available for as little as $10 a portion, which is far cheaper than more traditional forms of cocaine, the policy board report said.

It is smoked rather than sniffed, and users may become addicted in six to 10 weeks, the report said, contrasted with several years of use before addiction to sniffed cocaine. Among the worst consequences of crack abuse are brain hemorrhages, convulsions and heart attacks, it said.

“The present crack situation, in short, is bleak,” the report said.