TOP DRUG OFFICIAL PRAISES IOWA LAB LAW

DES MOINES -- Mayor Wayne Holliday and other officials in the
Northeast Iowa town of Hazelton didnt set out to change the world
when they took aim at methamphetamine labs in 2002.

But at Statehouse ceremony Tuesday, Hazelton was credited with
delivering the first punch in a three-year struggle to knock out
Iowas homegrown meth trade.

"We did it to clean up our town, said Holliday, who has been mayor of
Hazelton, population 950, for 10 years. At the time we done it, we
were told we couldnt do it. We said, Yes we can."

What they did was become the first Iowa community to put tough
restrictions on the sale of methamphetamine ingredients from cold
tablets containing pseudoephedrine to batteries and starter fluid.
Purchasers were required to show ID and sign a logbook that police monitored.

Holliday said the first meth cooker was caught just one day after the
towns ordinance took effect.

Other towns soon followed Hazeltons lead. In 2005, the Iowa
Legislature approved the nations toughest limits on the sale of
pseudoephedrine. National restrictions recently cleared Congress and
President Bush is expected to sign them into law.

U.S. officials are now negotiating with China, Germany and India to
limit the manufacture and importation of pseudoephedrine products.

On Tuesday at the Statehouse, Holliday sat alongside lawmakers and
Gov. Tom Vilsack as the nations top drug policy czar praised Iowa for
helping show the nation how to shut down meth labs.

"Your example has not only made lives better here ... but it is no
exaggeration that there are children you will never meet and families
you will never hear thank you from whose lives are being saved," said
John Walters, director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy.

"That is an enormous gift to the country as well as an enormous gift
to the state," Walters said.

Since Iowa's restrictions on the purchase of pseudoephedrine took
affect last May, the number of meth labs seized in the state has
dropped 76 percent. That drop in lab cases has saved local law
enforcement agencies an estimated $2 million so far.

Child abuse cases tied to meth lab exposure have dropped 57 percent
according to the Iowa Department of Human Services. Vilsack said the
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has seen a sharp drop in the
number of burn cases tied to meth lab explosions and fires.

Adult drug offenses have dropped 6 percent and cases involving
possession of meth ingredients plummeted 80 percent, according to
state officials.

"Hazelton, you took the lead, but many others followed," said Marvin
Van Haaften, director of the Governors Office of Drug Control Policy
in Iowa. "That kind of sums up Iowa."

Before the law, Holliday said local leaders saw a sharp rise in child
abuse, break-ins and other meth-related crimes. Firefighters were
repeatedly called to put out blazes started by meth labs that got out
of control.

"The breaking and entering, the child abuse, stuff like that, was
getting crazy. It was a real quiet town when I first moved there,"
Holliday said. "You just saw our little town pulled apart."

"So the mayor, city attorney, city council and county sheriff worked
three months on an ordinance to take key ingredients away from
meth-makers. The new rules took effect in December 2002."

Since then, Hazelton has had just one meth lab seizure.

But Vilsack cautioned that meth is still the states No.1 drug issue.
Despite the drop in labs, meth is still flowing in from outside Iowa
and resources are scarce for law enforcement and treatment.

"Meth is still a problem in our state, make no mistake about it," Vilsack said.