DRUG SCANNERS RAISE CONCERN

Are there any limits to Iowa's war on drugs?

After seeing high-tech ion scanners used to screen Iowa prison visitors and
truck drivers for traces of controlled substances, civil libertarians
wonder where the machines will be used next.

"Our main concern is that current Iowa law does not provide any assurance
against the use of these" in the business workplace, said Ben Stone,
executive director of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union.

"If you are fired because an employer ran a piece of cloth against your
desk and found drugs, you are not protected. There is a great danger that
technology is going too fast for Iowa laws."

The Iowa Department of Corrections recently began using electronic ion
scanners to screen visitors at all nine state prisons. The goal is to curb
drug smuggling. In addition, thousands of truck drivers on Iowa's
interstate highways are being scanned for illegal drugs by Iowa National
Guard troops assisting law-enforcement officers.

State officials contend ion scanners are a reliable, scientifically proven
tool.

But civil libertarians cite repeated cases in which Iowa prison visitors
have claimed they were falsely accused of having traces of illegal drugs on
their hands or clothes.

Ion Track Instruments Inc. of Wilmington, Mass., is a leader in ion track
technology. Company officials said they are supplying scanning equipment to
check for drugs and explosives at airports, embassies, border crossings,
prisons, military bases and other security facilities worldwide.

Joanne Arsenault, Ion Track's director of sales and marketing, said her
company - at least for now - has no plans to introduce ion scanners into
the workplace. It's probably more cost-effective for business owners simply
to give urine tests to employees to check for illegal drugs, she said.

Arsenault also said her company's equipment has repeatedly been tested and
approved by government scientists in the United States and Canada.

"If you have a properly running machine, operated by a trained officer, you
are not going to have any false alarms," Arsenault said. "When we sell this
equipment, we sell it with training, so they have very good training." Her
company recently sent instructors to Iowa to provide additional training
for state prison employees.

New technology

The scanners in Iowa's prisons use trace-detection technology, which makes
use of minute amounts of vapors given off and microscopic particles left
behind when narcotics and explosives are packaged and handled.

The technology is so sophisticated that it could detect a concentration
equivalent to a single packet of sugar dissolved in 100 Olympic-sized
swimming pools, Ion Track officials said.

Paper filter

Samples are collected from Iowa prison visitors by wiping a person's hands
and pockets with a paper filter or by using a hand vacuum. The sample is
inserted into the machine for analysis and the results are provided within
10 seconds. Similar equipment is used to scan log books and drivers'
licenses during safety checks at highway truck scales.

Heather Johll is among those who question Iowa's use of ion scanners.

Johll, who lives in North Fond du Lac, Wis., drove nine hours to visit her
fiance in February at the Clarinda prison in southwest Iowa. She said she
was shocked when she was ordered to leave the prison after the ion scanner
reported she tested positive for marijuana. She drove home, went to a
hospital and requested a drug test, which showed no signs of any drugs, she
said.

The ion scanner's results at Clarinda were "an inaccurate representation of
who I am," Johll said.

Clarinda prison Superintendent Mark Lund said a person's negative blood or
urine test doesn't necessarily invalidate a positive reading by the ion
scanner.

"This doesn't mean they are drug dealers," Lund said. "It is possible for
them to be in contact with people who are using drugs or who are exposed to
illegal drugs and they wouldn't even know it."

Questions also have been raised about use of plainclothes Iowa National
Guard troops to operate ion scanners at highway truck scales.

Critics point to the federal Posse Comitatus Act, which is intended to keep
the military out of civilian law enforcement.

Posse law

Maj. Michael Kuehn, a lawyer for the Iowa National Guard, said the Posse
Comitatus Act only prevents the U.S. Army and Air Force from enforcing
civilian law. The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have similar restrictions, but
the law doesn't apply to state National Guard troops unless they are called
to federal duty, he said.

Congress has specifically authorized the National Guard to be involved in
counter-drug programs, Kuehn added. The Iowa National Guard owns the ion
scanners used to check truck drivers and operates the machines in a support
role for law-enforcement officers. Law officers make any decisions about
further searches, or arrests of truck drivers, he said.