L.A. Seeks Drug Czar’s Enforcement Help
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The Los Angeles City Council has asked federal drug czar William J. Bennett to declare the city a “high-intensity drug-trafficking zone,” but officials in Washington said that even if the city wins the dubious distinction, it is unlikely that any special enforcement funding or manpower will be coming west any time soon.
A spokesman for Bennett said Wednesday that any decision on designating high-intensity areas under a provision of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 is months away.
Larry Cirignano, a spokesman for the office of drug control policy, said that Bennett has not decided whether he will exercise those provisions of the law that allow special teams of federal law enforcement agents to be sent to problem regions. But if such designations are to be made, Cirignano said, Washington would be the first and probably the only site for a test.
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