WAR ON DRUGS TAKES AN ODD TURN

If the federal government truly believes in fighting the war on drugs, it
sure has an odd way of showing it.

Since 1994, the number of drug arrests at checkpoints along the U.S. border
with Mexico has exploded, as has the number of cases local district
attorneys are expected to prosecute. Now some Texas district attorneys are
saying they need some help.

While we agree the war on drugs is an important battle, we side with the
DA's and believe the feds need to pitch in and help out.

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, and the U.S. Customs Service make the arrests. The
feds handle the bigger cases, but the local district attorneys are expected
to prosecute the smaller ones - those involving less than 50 pounds of
marijuana.

At least four Texas district attorneys in counties along the border have
said they will stop taking the cases as of July 1. The district attorney in
Laredo stopped accepting the border drug-arrest cases in 1997.

District attorneys along the border in New Mexico, Arizona and California
said they aren't planning to join Texas DA's in refusing such cases.

Texas district attorneys are upset that the U.S. government will not
reimburse the counties for jail expenses, court costs or public defenders'
fees.

Justice Department officials said the matter was discussed last week.
Depart-ment spokesman John Russell said the department "hopes that we can
have a resolution of this issue in a few weeks."

Let's hope the resolution will include allocating enough money so Texas
district attorneys along the border can fight the war on drugs with guns
instead of slingshots.