METH FIGHT EARNS IOWA PRAISE

It's not often Iowa gets a pat on the back for taking the lead on a
national problem, but that will be the case this morning.

John Walters, the nation's drug czar, plans to pay a visit to the
Statehouse to thank state leaders for passing the most aggressive
measure in the country to combat the spread of methamphetamine. In 10
months' time, the state's law restricting the sale of the highly
addictive drug's main ingredient has achieved the most dramatic
decline in meth production of virtually anywhere.

Others have taken notice, too.

"It's amazing," marveled Marvin Van Haaften, who heads Iowa's office
of drug control policy. "I just spoke by telephone to a legislative
subcommittee in Vermont. I'm talking to a Japanese newspaper next
week. I'm going to Calgary in April."

Since last May -- when Iowa restricted sales of virtually all
medicines made with pseudoephedrine to pharmacies -- the number of
meth-making labs seized statewide has declined 76 percent. Drug foes
such as Walters hope that new national legislation expected to be
signed soon by President Bush will have a similar effect.

Unlike Iowa's law, the Meth Elimination Act passed by Congress
continues to allow cold and allergy sufferers to buy pseudoephedrine
products in other retail outlets such as grocery or convenience
stores, although it does require those medicines to be locked up or
kept behind store counters. Buyers will be required to show
identification and sign a log before purchasing pseudoephedrine, as
is the case under the Iowa law.

"It will have an impact," Van Haaften said of the national
legislation. "But I think we're much better off having it in pharmacies."

Van Haaften and Ken Carter, who heads the state's narcotics bureau,
said drug agents across the state are working more cases involving
Mexican drug traffickers, since less of their time is consumed by the
hundreds of toxic labs that once littered Iowa. Some Mexican cartels,
they said, have teamed up with Colombian traffickers, resulting in
more cocaine finding its way to Iowa.