An epidemic is defined as a rapid and extensive development of growth, usually of something unpleasant, among a group of people than would normally be expected.
Epidemic. That's certainly an accurate way to define what's been infiltrating communities across the country in the form of a highly addictive drug called methamphetamine.
In the last decade, the drug once associated with motorcycle gangs in the '70s has been raging across America. The versatile, affordable, readily cooked drug cuts a swath through all socio-economic circles and ratchets up enormous economic burdens borne by the workplace, emergency rooms, law enforcement, environmental clean-up agencies and judicial systems.
And let's not forget the immeasurable devastation brought upon the families and friends of the addicted.
Users stop at nothing to feed their addiction, neglecting and putting their young children in harm's way and risking their own lives to cook up a batch of meth in make-shift labs.
Law enforcement authorities, employers, civic leaders, and elected officials in Iowa have long identified methamphetamine as a plague upon our way of life. Community coalitions work together to contain the spread of meth and prevent new users from ever getting started.
State lawmakers in Iowa enacted one of the toughest statutes in the nation this year aimed at keeping pseudoephedrine, one of the primary ingredients used to make meth, out of the hands of wrongdoers. It models a successful law in Oklahoma that restricts sales of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine.
Using my chairmanship of the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control and senior assignment on the Senate Judiciary Committee, I advocate public policies that put teeth in the enforcement of our international drug trafficking laws; ramp up public awareness to educate Americans about the perilous consequences of the use and production of the toxic poison, from rotted teeth to severe skin burns and extreme weight loss; and, recognize the full-scale social, environmental and economic devastation unleashed by those who do whatever it takes to feed their drug habit.
As a federal lawmaker, I also oversee the federal purse strings and work to channel tax dollars where they can make the best difference distributed among state and local communities who work day in and day out to keep schools, businesses and neighborhoods drug-free. I support funding for High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) to give officials more resources to root out areas facing extraordinary drug trafficking, use and the crime that goes along with it.
And when federal authorities aren't paying good enough attention to the problem, I raise a red flag. In August I wrote to the Office of National Drug Control Policy to express my concerns about its questionable efforts to stop the use of methamphetamine in the United States. We need a coordinated nationwide response to address this epidemic.
According to the U.S. Attorney General's office, 45 meth labs or dump sites have been seized each day by law enforcement for the last three years. In Iowa, the number of seized meth labs reached a record 1,301 as reported in 2004 by the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement.
As federal lawmakers iron out legislation that would set a national baseline aimed at restricting the sales of over-the-counter cold medications used to manufacture meth, I won an effort in the U.S. Senate to ensure that federal law would not weaken state laws already on the books. Our bipartisan bill also would provide funding to help local authorities prepare rapid response teams trained to rescue young children endangered by meth-addicted parents.
As a lifelong Iowan, it is extremely disturbing to see methamphetamine poison our way of life. As a father and grandfather, I'm glad I can help do something about it from the federal level. Working together with community coalitions, law enforcement authorities, health officials and government leaders, we must continue a coordinated effort to contain this epidemic before it poisons another generation of Americans.