NATIONAL LAW WOULD WEAKEN IOWA'S METH LAWS

Iowa's three-month-old limits on the sale of pseudoephedrine -- a legal
cold remedy that doubles as a key methamphetamine ingredient -- have
succeeded in slashing the number of hidden homegrown labs churning out the
highly-addictive drug.

That's the good news. The bad news is that a federal government still
appears determined to screw things up.

As usual, it all started with good intentions. Members of Congress saw what
states such as Oklahoma, Iowa and Missouri are doing to limit access to
pseudoephedrine. They correctly believed a set of national sales limits
would be a good idea.

Iowa's congressional delegation argued that Iowa's strict law should be the
national model, confining the sale of most pseudoephedrine products to
licensed pharmacies with tight limits on how much consumers can purchase.

That would seem reasonable, but not to business interests who have
remarkable power to twist and complicate even the most rational proposals.
Wal-Mart, drug companies and others want a weaker national law that's less
of a burden on their bottom line. And they want every state to fall in line.

President Bush entered the debate a few weeks back with a bill that
appeared to be ghost-written by Wal-Mart and its allies. The measure would
allow consumers to buy 10 times as much pseudoephedrine in a single trip to
the store as Iowa's law. And it included no pharmacy-only mandate.

That means a meth cooker could make just three convenience store stops to
get enough medicine to make a one-ounce batch. It would be a major setback
for Iowa's efforts to defeat secret labs.

During June, July and August, the first three full months after Iowa's law
took effect, 52 lab seizures were reported by state and local law officers.
Last year there were 249 labs seized during that period.

Iowa officials want a nationwide law. Iowa cookers thwarted by our law are
traveling in droves to Wisconsin, Illinois and other nearby states with
weaker laws to buy ingredients.

"If the feds would do the right thing, it would take care of that
overnight," said Ken Carter, director of Iowa's Division of Narcotics
Enforcement.

But when it comes to meth, the feds have trouble doing the right thing.
Last year they cut $1.7 million from Iowa's share of drug-fighting grants,
forcing officials to erase funding for two drug task forces, five
prosecutors and five narcotics officers. This year, the best Iowa can hope
for is status quo. A budget proposal in the U.S. House would cut funding
yet again.

Marvin Van Haaften, director of the Governor's office of Drug Control
Policy, said there are bright spots. With meth labs being seized on the
Capitol's doorstep in nearby Virginia, the problem is becoming real inside
the beltway.

Van Haaften also expects that Illinois and Wisconsin will consider
pseudoephedrine limits similar to Iowa's law.

"A lot of good things are happening behind the scenes," Van Haaften said.
"Yes, I'm scared that the federal government in a rush to have a uniform
law will weaken ours. That worries me."