OMINOUS WARNINGS ABOUT METH FOR IOWANS

U.S. should step up drug interdiction in S.E. Asia

Recently, I visited parts of the "Golden Triangle" in Thailand and Burma,
source of virtually all of the world's heroin. But what I learned in the
jungles of Southeast Asia was that the methamphetamine challenge facing Iowa
is about to become even more challenging.

I spent several days with Bruce Upchurch, an Iowan who heads the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration's drug-interdiction effort in Burma. Assuming
that in the "home of heroin" I would be inundated with horror stories of the
havoc wreaked by that drug, Upchurch instead informed me that the production
and trafficking of amphetamine (the major ingredient in methamphetamine)
were reaching epidemic proportions.

Upchurch's report is echoed by a Nov. 28 article in the Bangkok Post, "Speed
Pill Production on Sharp Rise": " ... amphetamine precursors, mostly from
China, have been smuggled into the north of Thailand, especially across the
Burmese and Laotian borders, for the production of speed pills," and that
the problem was "becoming more serious by the day."

The Northern Narcotics Control Center in Thailand reported that
"intelligence agencies know of at least 22 amphetamine-production plants
across the Burmese and Laotian borders, and at least 12 in Thailand." These
are commercial-type operations making illegal drugs at the rate of 200
million amphetamine tablets a year, and bear no similarity to Iowa's
clandestine labs.

Thai Gen. Chettha Thanajaro, anti-narcotics adviser to Deputy Prime Minister
Sanan Kachornprasart, said that rooting out the labs would not be easy,
since drug production areas are also the strongholds of the Wa rebel group.
He said the amphetamine-trafficking ringleader, Surachai "Bang Ron"
Ngernthongfoo, would not be able to run so large a drug network without the
support of Burmese police, military and political leaders.

The reports from Southeast Asia send two ominous messages for Iowans: If the
people in the "home of heroin" are turning to amphetamines in droves, what
does that say about the depth of the drug's deadly allure in this state?
Iowa may soon add Southeast Asian drug lords to the list of its meth
suppliers, along with the Mexican drug cartel and local meth cookers.

In my 1995 report to the Legislature, I stated,

" 'Alarming' is the word that best describes the rapidly rising use of
methamphetamine (meth) in Iowa during the last year. Also known as 'crank,'
a dramatic escalation in the trafficking and use of meth is being reported
by law-enforcement agencies, state-funded substance-abuse treatment centers,
and the corrections system ... all of whom faced new challenges in dealing
with a dubious trend that has mushroomed over the last 12-18 months. Meth
use is so common in central Iowa that arrests for drug possession now nearly
outnumber drunken-driving arrests."

The problem has grown many fold since I issued that report. And now with
the Southeast Asia's drug lords starting to add millions of highly addictive
"speed pills" to their American export business, the healthy and wholesome
way of life in Iowa stands in dire jeopardy.

The federal government needs to step up its drug-interdiction efforts in
Southeast Asia, Mexico and around the world. It will always be difficult
for Upchurch and other Americans to cut off international drug sources,
because they are often found in the strongholds of rebel group, and
relationships with nations are not always solid. For example, the United
States has no ambassador in Burma. We must redouble our efforts to sound the
alarm by:

* Designating a "drug czar" or community leader in each county.

* Asking each school district to conduct an assembly of at least one hour
each semester on meth, using speakers from the medical community and a
student peer who has suffered the wrath of meth.

* Requiring supervised probation and treatment for all convicted of
marijuana possession (marijuana is clearly the major gateway drug to meth).

* Giving positive consideration to the very firm penalties proposed by
Governor-elect Tom Vilsack for sale of meth to minors.

Anyone not impressed by the newspaper headlines reporting the mounting
crisis in Iowa may wish to spend a week in the Burmese jungle watching meth
production move into high gear. Perhaps then the prevention slogan "Life or
Meth" would take on new meaning.

CHARLES W. LARSON is chairman of the Iowa Board of Parole and a member of
the President's Commission on Drug-Free Communities. From 1995 to 1998,
Larson served as Iowa's drug-policy coordinator. He previously served as the
U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Iowa and as the commissioner of
Public Safety for Iowa.