Congressional Unit Seeks Funds for L.A. Drug Fight

Describing Los Angeles as the nation’s chief drug-trafficking center, members of California’s congressional delegation Wednesday urged the Bush Administration to provide the city with the same federal drug-fighting resources it has given the District of Columbia.

The legislators called on William J. Bennett, director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy, to declare Los Angeles a “high-intensity drug-trafficking area,” a designation that could bring with it millions of dollars in federal aid to build prisons and bolster local law enforcement.

Fight Problem

“We urge the federal government to fight the problem at the source and wage an all-out war on drugs and gangs in Los Angeles and Southern California,” they said in a letter to Bennett signed by Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) and Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica).

But Bennett aides temporarily rebuffed the request, saying the Administration will grant no further emergency aid to cities until Bennett formulates a national anti-drug strategy this fall.

“We need to work out the parameters, to figure out what a high-intensity drug-trafficking area is,” said Larry Cirigniano, a Bennett spokesman.

He said the definition would be “part and parcel of the strategy.”

The demand for equal treatment for Los Angeles comes amid growing criticism of Bennett for giving undue attention to Washington, which has the nation’s highest murder rate but has never been regarded as a major drug-trafficking area.

When a major Washington drug ring was broken up last weekend, the California legislators noted, federal and local officials said that the organization was supplied with its cocaine by the Crips, a Los Angeles gang.

Very Evident

“Washington, D.C., has become a major focus for federal anti-drug efforts largely because the problems in the capital city are so evident to the Administration and to Congress,” the Californians said in the letter. “Until the federal government attacks the problem at its source--here in Los Angeles, it will continue.”