BAY AREA TO RECEIVE $1 MILLION TO FIGHT DRUG WAR

White House Wants Regional Strategies

Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

The federal government earmarked $1 million in startup funds yesterday for
a coordinated effort with local authorities to go after heroin and
methamphetamine in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The plan is part of a nationwide anti drug campaign targeting 22
regional areas that was announced in Washington, D.C., by White House
drug chief Barry McCaffrey.

``What we are facing is not a national drug problem but a series of
regional drug epidemics,'' said McCaffrey, adding that antidrug efforts
must be customized to fit specific regional problems.

The retired Army general noted that while drug use remains a serious
problem, drugrelated crimes are on the decline and the number of Americans
using drugs is also decreasing. ``We are seeing results,'' he said.

The San Francisco Bay Area was named in March as one of the country's 22
``highintensity drug trafficking areas.''

According to yesterday's report by the Office of National Drug Control
Policy, the Bay Area has 120 major drug trafficking organizations, 170
smaller rings and 22 moneylaundering cartels targeted by federal efforts.

Annual profits from the Bay Area trade are estimated at more than $500
million. And 60 to 85 percent of all arrests were drug related.

Last year, 69 methamphetamine labs were raided, compared to 35 the year
before. In the decade from 1985 to 1995, methamphetamine emergency room
cases jumped 384 percent, the report found.

The report said the $1 million startup money will serve a 10county area
clustered around San Francisco but does not include Santa Cruz and Sonoma
counties, which did not designate representatives to the drug task force.
The program will also focus on the cities of Oakland, Richmond and San Jose.

The report said the Bay Area is a ``strategic point for movement of
narcotics and chemicals,'' and its commercial and financial centers foster
the drug trade.

Northern California is increasingly used by Mexican ``polydrug''
organizations that officials say typically trade in methamphetamine and
blacktar heroin. The report notes that the ports of Oakland and San
Francisco are used by drug smugglers who employ containerized shipments.

The plan, which will be implemented over the next year, will also set up a
special task force dubbed Operation Bay Flight that will target heroin
trafficking at Oakland International Airport.

The strategy calls for using the $1 million in new funds to create a Bay
Area Narcotics Information Network to serve as a clearinghouse for
information and coordination among the agencies involved. Steve Wood, a
retired agent formerly in charge of the local U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency
office, will head the network that will be based in San Francisco.

San Francisco police Lieutenant Kitt Crenshaw of the narcotics unit said
the city is No. 1 nationwide, per capita, in emergency room admissions for
heroin and No. 3 in methamphetaminerelated emergencies. Heroin and
methamphetamine hospital treatment costs reached $5 million last year, he
said.

``The market is saturated with Mexican heroin,'' Crenshaw said, noting the
price has plunged to $400 an ounce from $2,000 an ounce previously.
Methamphetamine also is readily available. On Saturday, police seized more
than 14 pounds of the drug, worth $500,000 on the street, he said.

©1997 San Francisco Chronicle