HOUSE VOTES TO APPROVE $600,000 TO COMBAT USE OF METH IN IOWA

The Iowa House voted Tuesday to spend nearly $600,000 on new efforts to
combat methamphetamine.

Some $350,000 would be spent in the next budget year on programs to educate
the public, especially schoolchildren, about the dangers of the highly
addictive drug.

An additional $236,000 would be allocated to the Iowa Department of Public
Safety for undercover drug buys and for a proposed reward fund for
informants.

The anti-meth provisions were inserted in a health and human rights budget
bill, which the House approved on an 88-7 vote and returned to the Senate
for more debate.

A separate bill moving through the Legislature provides for stiffer
penalties for repeat offenders of drug possession laws, enforcement of
mandatory minimum sentences for meth dealers and new law enforcement tools
to nab drug-using motorists.

State lawmakers this session have reacted with alarm to the explosive
growth of meth use in Iowa and heavy trafficking in the drug. Both
Republicans and Democrats have offered anti-meth plans.

In the House, Democrats contend the plan endorsed by the Republican
majority doesn't go far enough. One complaint is that it contains no
additional money for drug-abuse treatment.

Without treatment, "the problem will go on. It will continue to ruin our
families," said Rep. Michael Moreland, D-Ottumwa.

Republicans counter that tens of millions of dollars already are being
spent on treatment programs in Iowa. The House, in an amendment to the
bill debated Thursday, called for an inter-agency study of the
effectiveness of such programs.

Some Democrats also criticized a proposed "Meth Stoppers" reward fund. An
informant could receive a $1,000 reward for a tip leading to conviction of
a dealer or a successful meth lab bust.

"This smacks a little of vigilante efforts," said Rep. Richard Myers,
D-Iowa City. "It could turn people into amateur police officers."

Backers of the proposal said it is no different from other crime hot lines
and reward programs for tipsters.

Both the House and Senate versions of the health and human rights budget
bill would shift more than $1 million from the state's gambling treatment
fund to other programs, including the anti-meth initiatives approved
Tuesday.

Some lawmakers complain that too much of the rnoney flowing into the
gamblers' treatment program is being spent on television advertising. They
want to cap the program's income from lottery and gambling tax revenue.
The House voted in favor of a one-year cap set at $1.9 million.

Jonathan Roos can be reached at
(515) 284-8443 or
roosj@news.dmreg.com.

The Des Moines Register
Wednesday, April 8, 1998, Page 4M
letters@news.dmreg.com