Branstad: FIGHTING DRUGS REQUIRES 'ETERNAL VIGILANCE'

Governor urges more public service announcements during October, which is
DrugFree Iowa Month.

By Erin Schulte
Register Staff Writer

Gov. Terry Branstad on Wednesday blamed poor communication for a recent
surge in teenage drug use. "When it comes to drugs, silence is
acceptance," Branstad said. "That is the point: It is eternal vigilance on
this." A recent Iowa Department of Education Youth Survey showed a sharp
increase in marijuana and tobacco use by high school seniors. Use of
alcohol remained stable, but at high levels. The results were reported by
The Des Moines Register in June. Wednesday, Branstad said that after years
of successful antidrug advertising, less attention has been paid to the
drug problem recently. Fewer television ads, an effective way of reaching
teens, have been shown. So Branstad challenged the media to double their
use of public service announcements about drugs during October, which is
DrugFree Iowa Month. "As alarming as these trends are," he said of
highschool drug use, "even more disturbing is an increase in the use of
marijuana, tobacco and alcohol by tenth, eighth and sixthgraders."

Public Service Ads Also at Wednesday's news conference, new antidrug
public service announcements for television and print were introduced by
the Partnership for a DrugFree Iowa. They target young children and older
adults. In light of recent findings that middleschool girls are using
methamphetamines to lose weight, Branstad said, parents and educators need
to tell youngsters that the drug is nothing to toy with. "This is one of
the most dangerous, serious drugs we have," he said. And because
methamphetamine use appears to be starting at a very young age, programs
that target middleschool students, like D.A.R.E., should try to tackle the
problem early. Branstad said the number of meth labs in Iowa also
contributed to teen use of the drug. Already this year, 41 labs have been
raided; last year, 31 labs were raided.

Governor's Experience The governor told a story of his own brush with the
state's drug dealers, one that showed how rampant the problem has become.
While he was lieutenant governor, he rented out a house on his property to
a man he thought sold fish for a living. He was wrong. Police arrested the
neighbor, and he went to prison. "This guy was dealing drugs living right
next door to the lieutenant governor," Branstad said. Tommy Thompson, vice
president of the Partnership for a DrugFree Iowa, said an article he read
in The Des Moines Register before the news conference Wednesday morning
made him feel like he was the boy trying to plug a hole in a leaking dike.
The story was about teenage girls getting hooked on methamphetamine after
using it as a weightloss aid. "We will plug all the holes," Thompson said.
"We will win this fight."

Youth Survey Some results of the 1996 Iowa Department of Education Youth
Survey.

12 percent of Iowa high [wpschool seniors say they are regular or heavy
users of marijuana, up from 8 percent in 1993.

24 percent of Iowa's12th graders report regular or heavy use of tobacco, up
from 18 percent in 1993

39 percent of Iowa high school seniors say they are regular or heavy users
of alcohol, unchanged from 1993... but a very high level.