Pubdate: Tue, 07 Mar 2006
Source: Globe-Gazette (IA)
Copyright: 2006 Globe-Gazette
Contact: http://www.globegazette.com/sitepages/modules/editorltr.shtml
Website: http://www.globegazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1568
Author: Todd Dorman, Des Moines Bureau
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

TOP DRUG OFFICIAL PRAISES IOWA LAB LAW

DES MOINES  -- Mayor Wayne Holliday and other officials in the 
Northeast Iowa town of Hazelton didnt set out to change the world 
when they took aim at methamphetamine labs in 2002.

But at Statehouse ceremony Tuesday, Hazelton was credited with 
delivering the first punch in a three-year struggle to knock out 
Iowas homegrown meth trade.

"We did it to clean up our town, said Holliday, who has been mayor of 
Hazelton, population 950, for 10 years. At the time we done it, we 
were told we couldnt do it. We said, Yes we can."

What they did was become the first Iowa community to put tough 
restrictions on the sale of methamphetamine ingredients  from cold 
tablets containing pseudoephedrine to batteries and starter fluid. 
Purchasers were required to show ID and sign a logbook that police monitored.

Holliday said the first meth cooker was caught just one day after the 
towns ordinance took effect.

Other towns soon followed Hazeltons lead. In 2005, the Iowa 
Legislature approved the nations toughest limits on the sale of 
pseudoephedrine. National restrictions recently cleared Congress and 
President Bush is expected to sign them into law.

U.S. officials are now negotiating with China, Germany and India to 
limit the manufacture and importation of pseudoephedrine products.

On Tuesday at the Statehouse, Holliday sat alongside lawmakers and 
Gov. Tom Vilsack as the nations top drug policy czar praised Iowa for 
helping show the nation how to shut down meth labs.

"Your example has not only made lives better here ... but it is no 
exaggeration that there are children you will never meet and families 
you will never hear thank you from whose lives are being saved," said 
John Walters, director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy.

"That is an enormous gift to the country as well as an enormous gift 
to the state," Walters said.

Since Iowa's restrictions on the purchase of pseudoephedrine took 
affect last May, the number of meth labs seized in the state has 
dropped 76 percent. That drop in lab cases has saved local law 
enforcement agencies an estimated $2 million so far.

Child abuse cases tied to meth lab exposure have dropped 57 percent 
according to the Iowa Department of Human Services. Vilsack said the 
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has seen a sharp drop in the 
number of burn cases tied to meth lab explosions and fires.

Adult drug offenses have dropped 6 percent and cases involving 
possession of meth ingredients plummeted 80 percent, according to 
state officials.

"Hazelton, you took the lead, but many others followed," said Marvin 
Van Haaften, director of the Governors Office of Drug Control Policy 
in Iowa. "That kind of sums up Iowa."

Before the law, Holliday said local leaders saw a sharp rise in child 
abuse, break-ins and other meth-related crimes. Firefighters were 
repeatedly called to put out blazes started by meth labs that got out 
of control.

"The breaking and entering, the child abuse, stuff like that, was 
getting crazy. It was a real quiet town when I first moved there," 
Holliday said. "You just saw our little town pulled apart."

"So the mayor, city attorney, city council and county sheriff worked 
three months on an ordinance to take key ingredients away from 
meth-makers. The new rules took effect in December 2002."

Since then, Hazelton has had just one meth lab seizure.

But Vilsack cautioned that meth is still  the states No.1 drug issue. 
Despite the drop in labs, meth is still flowing in from outside Iowa 
and resources are scarce for law enforcement and treatment.

"Meth is still a problem in our state, make no mistake about it," Vilsack said.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman