DRUG TASK FORCE LAUNCHED WITH $2 MILLION FEDERAL GRANT

A drug task force formed recently in the 17-county area in South Central
Iowa was given a boost Saturday when Senator Tom Harkin (D- Iowa) announced
that $2 million in federal money has been made available for South Central
Iowa Methamphetamine Clandestine Lab Task Force.

At a press conference at the Iowa State Highway Patrol office near Osceola,
law enforcement officers from the 17 counties gathered to hear the
announcement and inspect the new van fully equipped for methamphetamine lab
investigations. The task force will be made up of 17 law enforcement
personnel from South Central Iowa. Five members of the task force will be
working full time and 12 more members will be working part-time. They will
be supervised by a full time agent Jerry Nelson from the Iowa Division of
Narcotics Enforcement, with an office to be set up in the new Iowa State
Highway Patrol Post Headquarters 2 near Osceola.

Bruce Upchurch, Director of the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy
moderated the press conference, introducing as well as Senator Harkin, the
director of the new $2 million dollar forensics laboratory in the State of
Iowa, which will be heavily used by the drug task force; both Iowa Federal
attorneys, Chuck Larson of the Northern Iowa District and Steve Collaton of
the Southern Iowa District, and Iowa State Patrol Chief Garrison.

Senator Harkin secured the $2 million in federal funding to set up the
South Central Iowa Meth Task force - the 17-county organization of local,
state and federal law enforcement officials to better coordinate efforts to
find and eradicate Meth labs in this region, particularly in the rural
areas, where the demand is the greatest.

Records have shown that 55 percent of the drug manufacturing operations
discovered in the State of Iowa have been located in these 17 South Central
Iowa Counties of Appanoose, Clarke, Dallas, Davis, Decatur, Jasper, Lucas,
Madison, Marion, Monroe, Polk, Ringgold, Story, Union, Wapello, Warren and
Wayne. Also working with the task force will be the National Guard Counter
Drug program and the U.S. Attorney's offices, which will provide
investigative assistance and resources.

Harkin helped secure the resources following discussion with Upchurch, who
told Harkin that this part of the state had experienced a sharp increase in
Meth lab activity compared to the rest of the state.

In 2000, 641 Meth labs were seized statewide - 365 of those labs were found
in this 17-county region. Already in the first two months of 2002, 52 labs
have been seized in the region, compared to 47 at the same time last year.

The task force will not only focus on finding these labs, but will
pro-actively work to prevent them through more intense investigations in
this coordinated effort.