Huntsville, Ala. - U.S. Representative Bud Cramer (D-Ala.) hosted a forum today with law enforcement officials from every county in North Alabama to discuss the available federal resources and the law enforcement perspective on the fight against methamphetamine abuse.

"As we all know too well, meth production and abuse has increased in North Alabama and has surpassed cocaine in abuse across the state," said Cramer.  "While much progress is being made, I know that the fight against meth is straining the personnel and financial resources of our local law enforcement agencies.  I commend the outstanding work being conducted by our local law enforcement officers and I'm always looking for ways on the federal level to provide them with the resources they need to successfully fight the meth problem."

At the request of Representative Cramer, David Buchanan from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) was on hand to share information about the federal resources available to local law enforcement agencies to help deal with the meth problem.  Mr. Buchanan is the Assistant Director of the COPS office and works with law enforcement groups, mayors, police chiefs, sheriffs, and the media on COPS initiatives.

Representative Cramer has been on the forefront in the fight against methamphetamine abuse since arriving in Congress in 1991 and has secured over $1.5 million to help Alabama law enforcement agencies curb meth usage.

Cramer is a member of the Congressional Caucus to Fight and Control Methamphetamine, a bipartisan group with over 100 members that work together to raise national awareness of the problems and dangers associated with the abuse and production of meth. 

Representative Cramer is a member of the Commerce, Justice, State and the Judiciary Appropriations Subcommittee.  This subcommittee funds programs like the COPS Program and the Byrne Grant Program that provide assistance to law enforcement to combat meth.  In the House-passed Fiscal Year 2005 Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary Appropriations Bill, $60 million was included to help fight our nation's meth "hot spots" around the country and $50 million was included in the CJS Appropriations Bill for the nation's drug court programs.

Most recently, Representative Cramer cosponsored legislation with Congressman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) to help communities more thoroughly clean the sites where meth labs are found.  The Meth Remediation and Enforcement Act focuses on improving the procedures and standards needed to decontaminate a meth lab site and addresses environmental factors such as groundwater contamination and leftover chemical residue.  This bill also supports research to develop meth lab detection technologies with an emphasis on field test kits.