Q: What is the new "Meth Watch" program?
A: Deploying a community-wide effort to curb the trafficking, production and use of methamphetamine is a necessary approach to have long-term success. For a decade now, Iowa has fought the devastating aftermath wrought by the illegal drug in our places of employment, schools, homes and communities. Using an innovative community-oriented strategy, Iowa launched in November an effort aimed at clamping down on those who "home-cook" methamphetamine. The voluntary "Meth Watch" program sends a signal to those who seek to buy the necessary ingredients to manufacture the drug. The list of ordinary, everyday items may be found at local grocery, pharmacy and convenience stores, including: cold and asthma tablets containing pseudoephedrine and ephedrine; acetone, rubbing and isopropyl alcohol; iodine, starter fluid, gas additives and drain cleaner; lithium batteries, rock salt, matchbooks, lye and paint thinner; aluminum foil, coffee filters and propane tanks.
Just like the local "Neighborhood Watch" program so familiar to many Iowans, which enlists the eyes and ears of residents to deter crime, the "Meth Watch" program will put people on notice. Participating retailers will have a new tool at their disposal to identify the necessary precursors to make meth and help keep their communities drug-free. From the federal level, I'm working to make it more difficult for methamphetamine producers to obtain large quantities of the precursor chemical psuedoephedrine.
Q: Why is the meth problem still so pervasive in Iowa?
A: Despite enormous efforts by policymakers, employers, educators, law enforcement authorities, drug treatment specialists and community leaders, methamphetamine continues to tear apart families in Iowa. A look at the numbers shows the staggering toll methamphetamine places on taxpayers, too. Just consider the estimates for 2003 alone: Nearly $20 million drained from state coffers to treat 6,170 people who were screened or admitted for meth addiction treatment by the state at an average cost of about $3,200 each; at least $2.5 million spent by state narcotics agents and environmental clean-up folks responding to more than 1,249 meth labs and toxic dump sites; the state imprisoned more than 1,674 meth users last year at a cost of $23,400 per inmate.
Iowa is confronting a tough challenge. That's why I'm so glad to see a community-wide effort working together to solve it neighborhood by neighborhood. I applaud the public-private partnership underway with the launch of Iowa's "Meth Watch" initiative.
From my leadership position as chairman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus, I will continue to pursue public policies that address this devastating addiction that has taken hold in America's heartland. Close to home, I also launched an extensive first-of-its kind statewide initiative to address Iowa's drug problem at the grassroots. Called "Face It Together," or FIT, the community-based effort is modeled to help Iowans work together to keep their schools, workplaces and communities drug-free.